My Howler Yesterday I made one of my biggest errors in judgement ever in how the assorted Harry Potter news was handled/linked, and I apologize deeply to all who were surprised or upset and not warned away in time. There was no malicious intent and I didn’t think I was revealing anything since it was only an inference. (Others linked more prudently to the stories and didn’t think they were spoilers; the newspaper’s editor and reviewer say they revealed nothing. Every possibility and nuance is still on the table, and I didn’t read any of the true online spoilers, so […]

Scholastic Finishes with Slightly Better Quarter Scholastic reported slight improvement in fourth quarter income to $40.4 million, up $2 million from a year ago, on revenue of $612 million, up almost $11 million. In the release, CEO Dick Robinson explains that results would have been even better except that they weren’t: “We achieved our goals of improving operating efficiencies in school book clubs and other core businesses, driving growth in educational technology and reducing costs across the Company. As a result of this strong performance, earnings and free cash flow would have significantly exceeded prior year results, except for the […]

Merger Ripples Pearson is getting them from both sides. If the Dow Jones sale to Rupert Murdoch goes through, they will be under tremendous pressure to do something about Financial Times — either sell it, or partner up with someone to grow dramatically and compete. And with the Riverdeep Houghton/Harcourt merger pending, assuming its passes regulatory approval, Pearson will see its position as the dominant player in the US schools publishing threatened and will certainly move to defend, invest and grow there. Marketwatch More Potter Breaches Scholastic reports that they “recently learned that some individuals have received copies of Harry […]

It’s Official: Riverdeep Buys Harcourt Education US As previewed yesterday, then confirmed on our site and now everywhere, Reed confirmed the sale of Harcourt’s US Schools Education business to Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group for $4 billion ($3.7 billion in cash and $300 million in stock, which will leave Reed with an 11.8 percent stake in the parent company). Per our speculation, the Harcourt list will apparently be incorporated into Houghton Mifflin to “create a preeminent publisher with one of the industry’s most distinguished lists of authors.” Houghton ceo (and yes, former head of Harcourt Education) Tony Lucki will lead the […]

Riverdeep Tipped as Imminent Harcourt Buyer Barry O’Callaghan, the Irish businessman with the magical touch for raising capital to fuel mammoth educational purchases (at mammoth prices) is reported by the FT as being “close to acquiring the remaining units of Harcourt Education, the US publishing division of Reed Elsevier, in a deal which could be valued at around $4 billion. People familiar with the situation said the deal could be announced on Monday.” The trade divisions would stand as a sideshow to the expected combination of Houghton and Harcourt’s educational lines. But given that many observers expected most potential Harcourt […]

Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up   FICTION Debut Tara Yellen’s AFTER HOURS AT THE ALMOST HOME, about one night, […]