Just days after the Cengage and McGraw-Hill merger announcement, Wiley announced a deal to buy the assets of ed-tech firm Knewton, in a transaction expected to close by the end of the month. The price was not disclosed — though Knewton was reportedly being offered at a “fire sale” price, with EdSurge saying, “There were other buyers bidding for Knewton’s assets, with the transaction prices discussed in the $10 million range.” One of the first big ed-tech companies, New York-based Knewton had raised over $180 in funding. “No industry analyst we spoke with believes the sale price was anywhere near […]
Higher Ed
Chegg to Outsource Print Textbook Business to Ingram
Building substantially on an initiative that began last August, Chegg.com will transition the handling of all print textbook inventory over to Ingram under a renewable, five-year agreement as the company that started as a textbook rental play moves towards becoming an all-digital “student hub.” (Digital textbook rentals will become Chegg’s biggest business, in which they compete directly with Ingram’s CourseSmart, among many other players.) Chegg is positioning the move as a full reboot of the company, whose stock has languished since it went public in late 2013 — in part because Chegg has lost money since launching in 2007, and those […]
Safari Books Now Fully Owned By O’Reilly Media, and More
O’Reilly Media has become sole owner of Safari Books, buying out Pearson’s 50 percent stake for an undisclosed sum (though it’s expected Pearson will announce how much it was paid in their next financial report later this year.) Safari, founded in 2001 as a joint entity between O’Reilly and Pearson, will continue to operate as an independent company, and no changes will be made to staff, product, offices, and operations. In a blog post about the change, founder and ceo of O’Reilly Media Tim O’Reilly said the company “came to believe that there are substantial opportunities for both organizations working […]
Inkling Closes Consumer Business to Focus on Enterprise Side; Lays Off 25 Percent of Staff
Inkling is officially closing its consumer retail business and has laid off something close to 25 percent of staff as a result. (CEO Matt MacInnis confirmed the layoffs to TechCrunch, indicating that 25 percent “was a little high.”) The company will focus on the enterprise/platform side, licensing their technology to publishers and large companies creating content for in-house use. MacInnis indicates that part of the business is performing well “and will continue hiring, he said.” MacInnis already discussed the company’s shift in a Fast Company article in March, “What Happened When A Digital Textbook Company Was Forced to Redefine Its […]
Taste Barnes & Noble College’s New Yuzu
A yuzu is a hybrid citrus fruit with curiously high ratio of seeds to juice — which makes it the perfect name for Barnes & Noble College’s new textbook app: “Yuzu is a next-generation digital education platform that enhances the everyday learning experience and makes college the rewarding journey it’s meant to be.” It has launched as an iOS app and web reader (but for now it only works in iOS 7, and the latest versions of Safari). A replacement for Nook Study, this is the “higher education digital product” that the company touted on their last earnings call, and […]
Briefs: Trudeau Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison; Carnegie & Greenaway Awards Shortlists; and More
Allen Guelzo has won the inaugural Guggenheim-Lehrman Prize in Military History for GETTYSBURG: The Last Invasion (Knopf). The $50,000 prize was announced Monday night at a ceremony held at the New-York Historical Society. The Carnegie and Kate Greenaway Medal shortlists were announced this morning, with the winners to be named on June 23. Anne Fine, Rebecca Stead, and Susan Cooper landed on the Carnegie list, while Jon Klassen appears twice on the Greenaway shortlist for THIS IS NOT MY HAT and THE DARK (text by Lemony Snicket). Onetime bestselling weight-loss “guru” and infomercial staple Kevin Trudeau was sentenced to 10 […]