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Finance

Acquisitions: Harper Focus Buys Cider Mill Press

October 4, 2022
By Erin Somers

HarperCollins Focus has acquired Cider Mill Press, a publisher of gift books specializing in “cookbooks, elegant wine and spirits projects, humor books, and children’s classics.” Cider Mill Press and children’s imprint Applesauce Press will become imprints under HarperCollins Focus. Cider Mill founder John Whalen Jr. will continue on with the company. John Whalen III joins HarperCollins Focus as vp, publisher of both Cider Mill Press and Applesauce Press. He was previously responsible for all operational oversight of the imprints. Laura Minchew, senior vp, group publisher for HarperCollins Focus Children’s and Gift books will oversee the Cider Mill publishing operations within […]

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Bertelsmann Sees Multiple Deals In Trouble

October 3, 2022
By Michael Cader

Bertelsmann’s recent international managers’ meeting focused on plans to invest from €5 billion to €7 billion euros across the company by 2025 — but as the FT underscores, right now the company’s ambition to acquire is facing multiple obstacles. Besides the Simon & Schuster acquisition, now in doubt pending the verdict of Judge Florence Pan, a plan to merge their French television business M6 with the larger TF1 was dropped in September after a hearing before the country’s competition authority, which had “significant problems.” The same month, customer services provider Marjorel — half owned by Bertlesmann — and call center […]

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Gibbs Smith Employees Purchase Second Half of Company

September 14, 2022
By Katy Hershberger

Independent publisher Gibbs Smith is now entirely employee-owned, after workers finalized a deal to purchase the second half of the company on August 31. In 2015, cofounders the late Gibbs and Catherine Smith sold half of the company to employees, and in the new deal the company’s employees purchased Catherine Smith’s 50 percent share via a third-party trustee. “We are excited to fulfill Gibbs and Catherine Smith’s dream of becoming a fully employee-owned company,” ceo Brad Farmer, representing the company’s executive management team, said in a release. “Being 100% ESOP owned is a dynamic change in the company’s status and is […]

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Merriam-Webster Parent Britannica Hopes for IPO or Capital Raise

September 9, 2022
By Michael Cader

Britanica Group is hoping to launch an IPO “as soon as next year,” Bloomberg reports, “according to people with knowledge of the matter,” who are apparently trying to seed interest in the market. CEO Jorge Cauz confirms in an interview, “We are seeing significant increases in revenue and increases in margin. So we want to continue to grow obviously. But since the market changes so rapidly, especially after Covid, we do want to tap into the public markets to accelerate that growth.” Those knowledgable people are hoping the parent of Merriam-Webster “could be valued at more than $1 billion.” The […]

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Scholastic Acquires Learning Ovations

September 6, 2022
By Katy Hershberger

Scholastic has bought Learning Ovations, the creator of literacy screening and assessment system A2i, for an undisclosed amount. The publisher will integrate Learning Ovations’ staff and technology into Scholastic Education Solutions’ literacy platform. A2i was developed with research from educator Dr. Carol Connor and researchers at Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) and University of California, Irvine. “Carol Connor was a teachers’ teacher, dedicated both to helping every child learn to read – regardless of background, disadvantage or learning challenge – and to supporting teachers with tools that are both deeply rigorous and easy to use,” evp, president Scholastic Education […]

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Berkett Details the S&S Bidders

August 16, 2022
By Michael Cader

Most of ViacomCBS executive Alex Berkett’s testimony on Monday morning was in closed session. But he confirmed for the record that the final three bidders for Simon & Schuster were PRH, Vivendi and HarperCollins. The other invited bidders in the first round were “another strategic buyer” (e.g. a company in publishing), and a financial buyer, identified as based on “relationships that we had with certain human beings at one of the private equity firms and their background in the publishing business.” (This means, presumably, Richard Sarnoff at KKR). And “there was a very small strategic buyer that had a financial […]

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