Pearson announced the $250 million sale of its K-12 courseware division to private equity group Nexus Capital Management, a sale which the company had been pursuing for at least a year as part of its simplification strategy. Chief executive John Fallon says it “frees us up to focus on the digital first strategy that will drive our future growth.” Nexus will pay just $25 million now, with the remainder due in an unconditional $225 million vendor note “expected to be repaid in three to seven years.” Thereafter, Pearson will continue to receive 20 percent of all future cash flows to equity holders, and 20 percent of net proceeds in the event the business is sold. The unit had sales of £364 million in 2018 with approximately £20 million of adjusted and statutory operating profit. The stock is down modestly in Monday trading in London.
Lagardere has sold its French magazine business for €52 million to Czech Media Invest, one of several 2019 deals — including the sale of financial news site Boursier.com and a radio station — that advance the company’s strategic refocus on its publishing and travel retail businesses. Last month, the company had announced it was in exclusive negotiations with the M6 group to sell its television business, excluding Mezzo, and the related advertising sales brokerages.
People
At Chronicle Books, Michaela Whatnall has been promoted to school & library marketing coordinator on the children’s marketing team. Stephanie Cargill-Greer has been promoted to export sales coordinator.
W.E.B. Griffin, 89, the military fiction author of almost 160 books, died on February 12. Over 50 million copies of his books are in print in more than ten languages.
Opening
The new NYC Center for Fiction will open on Tuesday in Downtown Brooklyn. The space includes a bookstore, cafe, 160-seat auditorium, and more.