Bertelsmann has agreed to acquire North Carolina-based educational software firm Relias Learning, paying in the “mid-hundreds of millions” of dollars to buyout firm Vista Equity Partners. Two sources tell Reuters that translates into roughly $540 million. Relias produces employee training software that is used by over 4,000 organizations, primarily in health care and human services (but also including such sectors as law enforcement and correctional facilities). Bertelsmann ceo Thomas Rabe notes in a statement, “Relias is the leading e-learning provider in the healthcare and compliance sectors, and the company profits from the three global megatrends of education, health and digitization.” Reuters quotes Rabe […]
Finance
McSweeney’s Becomes a Nonprofit
San Francisco-based publisher McSweeney’s announced it will go forward as a nonprofit organization, with the intent of obtaining 501(c)3 status next year. For now McSweeney’s, founded in 1998, will run as a fiscally sponsored project of SOMArts, which runs the South of Market Cultural Center in San Francisco. In a telephone interview with the SF Chronicle founder Dave Eggers explained the move: “We’ve always been a hand-to-mouth operation, and every year it gets just a little harder to be an independent publisher. An independent literary title that might have sold 10,000 copies 10 years ago might sell 6,000 now, for example.” […]
TPG Plans Majority Stake In CAA
The NY Post reports that private equity firm TPG plans to increase their stake in CAA from a 35-percent share to a controlling 51-percent holding. That deal “could be announced within the week, one source familiar with the talks said.” The paper’s sources say the long-term objective of taking control is to put the agency on a path to an IPO. (In other words, TPG has to increase their investment first in order to build a pathway to an exit.) “There is no real easy exit as it stands,” one source says. “The thought is to buy it and build […]
Briefs: Bloomsbury Considered Possible Osprey Buyer; Canongate 2013 Results; and More
On the heels of the Osprey Group selling off Angry Robot, Watkins, and Nourish earlier this month to entrepreneur Etan Ilfeld, the remaining divisions are still potentially up for sale, with Bloomsbury considered to be the most likely buyer, the Bookseller reports. They say the current speculation is that “both Bloomsbury and Hachette were in the running to acquire [Osprey]” but that Bloomsbury is the front-runner. That said, “neither Bloomsbury, Sullivan, Osprey chairman Robin Black nor Alcuin Capital would respond to requests for details of the sale.” Canongate reported strong results for 2013, with full-year sales at £10.4 million, up 7.8 percent […]
Harper Germany to Launch In 2015; Will Publish Silva In 16 Territories
HarperCollins is creating a HarperCollins Germany publishing program, expanding on the operation in Hamburg acquired as part of their purchase of Harlequin and launching in fall 2015 with approximately 50 Harper branded titles. The German initiative is itself just a first step, as Harper plans to take those 50 titles and others to in Japan, Sweden, Holland and Spain “in the coming months,” with more territories also in process. “In the markets where we own 100 percent of the [Harlequin] companies we’ll go very quickly,” says ceo Brian Murray. The Harlequin units operate as joint ventures in France, Italy and Brazil, where “there’s […]
The Talk of Frankfurt 2015: A Bertelsmann Buyout of Pearson’s Penguin Random House Share?
A Bloomberg article restates the already-known in provocative fashion: “Bertelsmann intends to increase its stake in book-publishing venture Penguin Random House as early as next year, according to people familiar with the matter. Bertelsmann, owner of 53 percent of the New York-based business, plans to acquire part or all of the 47 percent held by Pearson, the people said, asking not to be named discussing private deliberations. While Bertelsmann and Pearson aren’t in talks, Pearson is willing to sell and can do so starting October 2015 under a shareholder agreement, the people said.” Does the article actually say anything new and […]