The latest in a series of reorganizations of McGraw-Hill’s textbook division sounds so happy that you could almost overlook the news that they are eliminating another 340 jobs from the unit, taking a pre-tax charge of $14 million. Those cuts follow two previous purges since early 2008 that already eliminated 455 jobs within the education line, still making this latest reduction the single largest of the three rounds of layoffs. The company’s announcement, however, simply focuses on “creating achievement-focused preK-12 education group to help students develop 21st century skills.” That new focus somehow accounts for most of the layoffs: “the […]
Layoffs
Random UK Layoffs Claim 33 Positions; Cambridge Likely to Limit Printing Cuts
A month ago Random House UK announced their intention to cut staff by approximately 5 percent (as did Harper UK) and now the Bookseller says that the company announced the elimination of 33 jobs today. Individuals were not named, but the magazine says that cutbacks included Transworld senior publishing director Francesca Liversidge and other “senior editorial” people.Bookseller In other UK publishing layoffs, lobbying of the eighteen academics who comprise the Syndicate that governs Cambridge University Press has raised “hope that at least half of the [book printing] jobs threatened by the restructuring will be saved,” the Guardian reports. Director of […]
Lonely Planet to Shrink Staff by 10 Percent
With travel (and travel publishing) in a slump due to the recession, Lonely Planet is eliminating approximately 50 jobs worldwide, or about 10 percent of their workforce, with up to 40 of the layoffs in Australia. Spokesperson Adam Bennett says “it represents the decline of the guidebook market in tough times.” Some reductions will come through not renewing employment contracts, and others from direct layoffs. (There will be modest cuts in the UK and US offices as well.) Acting chief executive Stephen Palmer notes, “Even the most optimistic forecasts do not predict any sustained recovery until 2010 at the earliest, […]
People and Company News
Nicholas Brealey Publishing has bought Davies-Black Publishing, a line of books about business and career management, from CPP, Inc (formerly Consulting Psychologists Press). The Davies-Black list of approximately 115 books will continue to be distributed by NBN, which also distributes Nicholas Brealey in the US and Canada. Ingram Digital ceo James Gray is moving over to chief strategy officer for all of Ingram’s content groups, as svp Mike Lovett moves up to CEO of Ingram Digital. At Gotham, Patrick Mulligan has been promoted to senior editor. He has been at the imprint for almost six years. Melissa Possick has joined […]
More Cuts at McGraw-Hill Education
McGraw-Hill announced “it restructured a limited number of business operations and corporate functions in the fourth quarter of 2008 to serve its markets more efficiently in the current economic environment while positioning the company for future growth.” Included in those cuts they shed another 215 jobs in the McGraw-Hill Education division, the hardest-hit of the four areas that were restructured. Those reductions came on top of 240 positions eliminated at the Education division earlier in the year.Announcement
Holiday Layoffs at Baker & Taylor
The wholesaler, which had credit insurance cover pulled by Euler Hermes earlier this month, has laid off “just under” 60 people, or 2 percent of overall staff. Included in the cuts are two executives for entertainment and music purchasing, LJ reports. CEO Thomas Morgan says “We have taken a fresh look at our organizational structure and made some adjustments…. We are continuing to pursue retail business that meets our financial objectives and are moving forward with a number of new retail accounts.” He notes, “During challenging economic times, it is our desire to cut all non-employee expenses first, but we […]