Obamas sign book deal worth 'tens of millions'

Milo Yiannopoulos may no longer have a lucrative book deal, but guess who does? Barack and Michelle Obama.

The former POTUS and FLOTUS have signed with Penguin Random House to release two separate books, the publishing company announced Tuesday. It won a hotly contested auction for the Obamas' books between top publishing houses.

Terms of the deal have not been announced, but multiple reports citing sources in the publishing industry said the bidding process had reached tens of millions of dollars. One report by the Financial Times put the number north of $60 million.

To put that in perspective, President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton received $10 million and $15 million for their books, respectively. Assuming the Obamas split their winnings evenly, the president would more than double the record payout for a presidential memoir.

Simon & Schuster -- the publishing house that signed Yiannopoulos, then dropped him in the wake of massive outrage -- was also involved in the auction. But Penguin Random House won the bidding late Tuesday.

"We are very much looking forward to working together with President and Mrs. Obama to make each of their books global publishing events of unprecedented scope and significance," Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle said.

Barack Obama has already penned three bestselling titles. Dreams From My Father was a well-received 1995 memoir about coming to terms with his family history. The Audacity of Hope was a more political tome, released around the time he arrived in the Senate in 2006. Of Thee I Sing was a children's book written while Obama was president-elect in 2008 and published in 2010.

The high price commanded for this latest book deal may reflect the hope that Obama will finally unload all his frustration at the unprecedented obstruction and opposition from Republicans during his time in the White House -- maybe even including how he feels about his successor's attempts to question the fact that he was born in the United States.

Then again, he may take a leaf from Michelle's playbook: when they go low, we go high.

Neither dates nor preliminary titles for the books were released -- but given the tortoise-like speed of writing and publishing such hefty tomes, it would be very surprising if you see them before 2018.