• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Login
  • Register

Publishers Lunch

The Publishing Industry's Daily Essential Read

  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help

HMH Speaks: "Streamlining" Underway, with "Reduction of Some [Hundreds of?] Positions"

December 5, 2008
By Michael Cader

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt confirmed today “it is moving forward with the planned combination of various of its businesses into a new K-12 organization comprised of School Publishers, Holt McDougal, Supplemental Publishers, Heinemann, HMH Learning Technology and International Publishers. These businesses were brought together with the acquisition of Harcourt by Houghton Mifflin in December 2007, and the integration process has been underway since that time.” They note that “the streamlining of the business will result in the elimination of some positions, even as new roles are created that will let the company serve educators and students in new and unique ways.” (In a November announcement about this consolidated K-12 division, run by president Mike Lavelle, the company had said they were already “shifting from integration to transformation.”)

Following the release of the company’s statement and an internal memo from ceo Tony Lucki, the WSJ says that “at least several hundred of the company’s 5,300 full-time employees are expected to lose their jobs, according to a person familiar with the situation.”

The new organizational structure “will have financial benefits for the company, which, in turn will help it weather the impacts of the current economic crisis.  In light of the challenging conditions worldwide, the company has taken a hard look at its business and is making changes in some of its other operations to lower expenses. These actions are consistent with those occurring within other companies across a full spectrum of businesses, and include the reduction of some positions in the company’s Trade and Reference and Riverside Publishing divisions.”

The statement adds that “the company is proceeding carefully and thoughtfully to assure that it is making the best, most productive use of its resources. Overall, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt anticipates that the changes being announced will better position the company to realize its long-term strategic objectives while taking into account the current economic environment.”

Separately, spokesman Josef Blumenfeld tells us that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt editor-in-chief Andrea Schulz “will manage the adult editorial group.” She now reports to HMH trade and reference president Gary Gentel. Blumenfeld declined to indicate if this is an interim or standing arrangement,

Filed Under: Finance, Free

sidebar

Primary Free Sidebar

Login


Forgot password
Quick Pass users click here to log in
Get Full Access
The publishing industry's essential daily read

Each Publishers Lunch Deluxe subscription includes full access to our searchable multi-year archive of industry news, a nightly email reporting 10 to 50 deal transactions, and our database of industry contacts, scripts, and posting privileges.

Learn More

RSS Automat

  • Rupert Murdoch to Retire from News Corp and Fox Boards September 21, 2023 NYT
  • OpenAI's New DALL-E3 Lets Artists Opt-Out of Future Training; Rejects Request to Mimic the Style of Living Artists September 20, 2023 TechCrunch
  • Another Response to AI-Generated Books: KDP Lowers Limit On Number of Titles You Can Create, "To Help Protect Against Abuse" September 18, 2023 KDP Forum
  • TikTok (and Instagram) Stars Sell Cookbooks September 18, 2023 NYT
  • Actor and UK Harry Potter Audiobook Narrator Stephen Fry Demonstrates How His Voice Was Copied By AI Without Permission September 18, 2023 Deadline
  • Neal Sofman, Legend of Bay Area Independent Booksellers, dies at 75 September 15, 2023 SF Chronicle
  • Major Textbook Publishers Trying Suing Shadow Library LibGen Again September 15, 2023 Torrent Freak
  • Deesha Philyaw Has Seven-Figure Deal with Mariner for "The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman" in 2025 and "Girl, Look" September 14, 2023 AP
  • Copyright Office Doubles Down on Declining to Register Award-Winning Midjourney-Created AI Art September 12, 2023 Copyright Review Board document
  • Sarah Weinman on How Richard Osman Found His Way to Mysteries and Success: "The simple answer is that they are really good" September 12, 2023 Esquire
© 2023 Publishers Lunch. All Rights Reserved.