Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (; HMH) is an American
publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
of
textbook
A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it. Textbooks are produced to meet the needs of educators, usually at educational institutions. Schoolbooks are textbook ...
s, instructional technology materials, assessments,
reference work
A reference work is a work, such as a paper, book or periodical (or their electronic equivalents), to which one can refer for information. The information is intended to be found quickly when needed. Such works are usually ''referred'' to ...
s, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults. The company is based in the
Boston Financial District.
It was formerly known as Houghton Mifflin Company, but it changed its name following the 2007 acquisition of
Harcourt Publishing. Prior to March 2010, it was a subsidiary of
Education Media and Publishing Group Limited, an Irish-owned holding company registered in the
Cayman Islands and formerly known as
Riverdeep
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Learning Technology, originally started as Riverdeep Interactive Learning, is a publishing house for educational online and CD-ROM products based in San Francisco, Boston and Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1995, Riverdeep wa ...
.
History
Ticknor and Allen, 1832
In 1832,
William Ticknor
William Davis Ticknor I (August 6, 1810 – April 10, 1864) was an American publisher in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and a founder of the publishing house Ticknor and Fields.
Life and work
William Davis Ticknor was born on August 6, 1810, on th ...
and John Allen purchased a bookselling business in Boston and began to involve themselves in publishing;
James T. Fields joined as a partner in 1843. Fields and Ticknor gradually gathered an impressive list of writers, including
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803April 27, 1882), who went by his middle name Waldo, was an American essayist, lecturer, philosopher, abolitionist, and poet who led the transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century. He was seen as a champ ...
,
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion.
He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that t ...
, and
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau (July 12, 1817May 6, 1862) was an American naturalist, essayist, poet, and philosopher. A leading Transcendentalism, transcendentalist, he is best known for his book ''Walden'', a reflection upon simple living in natural su ...
. The duo formed a close relationship with Riverside Press, a Boston printing company owned by
Henry Oscar Houghton
Henry Oscar Houghton (; April 30, 1823 – August 25, 1895) was an American publisher, co-founder of Houghton Mifflin, and a mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Biography
Houghton was born into a poor family in Sutton, Vermont. At age thirteen, ...
. Houghton also founded his own publishing company with partner Melancthon Hurd in 1864, with
George H. Mifflin
George Harrison Mifflin (1845 - 1921) was an executive in the publishing business. He served as president of Houghton Mifflin.
Mifflin was born in Boston. He graduated from Harvard. He joined Hurd and Houghton in 1867 and worked for its subsidia ...
joining the partnership in 1872.
In 1878,
Ticknor and Fields
Ticknor and Fields was an American publishing company based in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded as a bookstore in 1832, the business would publish many 19th century American authors including Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Henry James, ...
, now under the leadership of
James R. Osgood
James Ripley Osgood (1836–1892) was an American publisher in Boston. He was involved with the publishing company that became Houghton Mifflin.
Life and work
James Ripley Osgood was born in Fryeburg, Maine, on February 22, 1836. A reputed child ...
, found itself in financial difficulties and merged its operations with Hurd and Houghton. The new partnership, named Houghton, Osgood and Company, and based in Boston's
Winthrop Square, held the rights to the literary works of both publishers. When Osgood left the firm two years later, the business reemerged as Houghton, Mifflin and Company. Despite a lucrative partnership with Lawson Valentine, Houghton, Mifflin and Company still had debt it had inherited from Ticknor and Fields, so it decided to add partners. In 1884, James D. Hurd, the son of Melancthon Hurd, became a partner. In 1888, three others became partners as well: James Murray Kay, Thurlow Weed Barnes, and Henry Oscar Houghton Jr.
Shortly thereafter, the company established an Educational Department, and from 1891 to 1908, sales of educational materials increased by 500 percent. The firm incorporated in 1908, changing its name to Houghton Mifflin Company. Soon after 1916, Houghton Mifflin became involved in publishing
standardized test
A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a predete ...
s and testing materials, working closely with such test developers as E. F. Lindquist. By 1921, the company was the fourth-largest educational publisher in the United States.
In 1961, Houghton Mifflin famously passed on Julia Child's ''
Mastering the Art of French Cooking
''Mastering the Art of French Cooking'' is a two-volume French cookbook written by Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, both from France, and Julia Child, who was from the United States. The book was written for the American market and published ...
'', giving it up to
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers in ...
who published it in 1962. It became an overnight success, and is considered by many to be the bible of French cooking. Houghton Mifflin's strategic error was depicted in the 2009 film ''
Julie & Julia
''Julie & Julia'' is a 2009 American biographical comedy-drama film written and directed by Nora Ephron starring Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, Stanley Tucci, and Chris Messina. The film contrasts the life of chef Julia Child in the early years of her ...
''.
In 1967, Houghton Mifflin became a publicly traded company on the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
under the stock symbol .
In 1979, Houghton Mifflin acquired the complete catalog of ''Parnassus Press'', a Berkeley, California small press, established in 1957 by Herman Schein, the husband of writer-illustrator Ruth Robbins. Works by authors included:
Ursula K. Le Guin
Ursula Kroeber Le Guin (; October 21, 1929 – January 22, 2018) was an American author best known for her works of speculative fiction, including science fiction works set in her Hainish universe, and the '' Earthsea'' fantasy series. She was ...
,
Theodora Kroeber
Theodora Kroeber (March 24, 1897 – July 4, 1979) was an American writer and anthropologist, best known for her accounts of several Native Californian cultures. Born in Denver, Colorado, Kroeber grew up in the mining town of Telluride, and wor ...
,
Nicolas Sidjakov,
Edward Ormondroyd
Edward Ormondroyd (born 8 October 1925) is an American writer of children's books. He is best known for ''David and the Phoenix'', a fantasy novel. His time travel in fiction, time travel novel ''Time at the Top'' was Time at the Top, filmed for ...
,
Charlotte Zolotow
Charlotte Zolotow (born Charlotte Gertrude Shapiro; June 26, 1915 – November 19, 2013) was an American writer, poet, editor, and publisher of many books for children. She wrote about 70 picture book texts.
The writers she edited include Paul Fl ...
,
Anne B. Fisher
Anne Benson Fisher (February 1, 1898 – March 5, 1967) was an American writer of fiction and non-fiction whose primary emphasis was California. Her two most significant works were her novel ''Cathedral in the Sun'' (1940) and her contribution to ...
,
Allen Say
Allen Say (born James Allen Koichi Moriwaki Seii in 1937; surname written in Japanese) is a Japanese-American writer and illustrator. He is best known for ''Grandfather's Journey'', a children's picture book detailing his grandfather's voyage fr ...
,
Beverly Cleary
Beverly Atlee Cleary (née Bunn; April 12, 1916March 25, 2021) was an American writer of chapter books, children's and young adult fiction. One of America's most successful authors, 91 million copies of her books have been sold worldwide sin ...
,
Crawford Kilian
Crawford Kilian (born February 7, 1941) is a Canadian novelist and a college professor. He is also the former public education columnist for the Vancouver Province newspaper. Kilian holds an undergraduate degree from Columbia University and master ...
,
Adrien Stoutenburg
Adrien Stoutenburg (December 1, 1916 – April 14, 1982) was an American poet and a prolific writer of juvenile literature. Her poetry collection ''Heroes, Advise Us'' was the 1964 Lamont Poetry Selection.
Life
Stoutenburg was born in Darfur ...
, and
Sam DeWitt
Samuel Aaron DeWitt (November 1, 1891 – January 22, 1963) was a businessman, poet, playwright, and politician. He was a New York State Legislator who represented Bronx's 7th district from 1919 until his expulsion from the assembly in 1920 d ...
. In 1979, Houghton Mifflin acquired Clarion Books, the children's division of
Seabury Press
HarperOne is a publishing imprint of HarperCollins, specializing in books that aim to "transform, inspire, change lives, and influence cultural discussions." Under the original name of Harper San Francisco, the imprint was founded in 1977 by 13 em ...
. In 1980, Houghton Mifflin acquired the educational publishing operations of
Rand McNally
Rand McNally is an American technology and publishing company that provides mapping, software and hardware for consumer electronics, commercial transportation and education markets. The company is headquartered in Chicago, with a distribution c ...
.
Under (new from 1991) president
Nader F. Darehshori Houghton Mifflin acquired
McDougal Littell
Holt McDougal is an American publishing company, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, that specializes in textbooks for use in high schools.
The Holt name is derived from that of U.S. publisher Henry Holt (1840–1926), co-founder of the e ...
in 1994, for $138 million, an educational publisher of secondary school materials, and the following year acquired
D.C. Heath and Company, a publisher of supplemental educational resources. In 1995, the company acquired Chapters Publishing, a publisher of cooking, garden, and craft titles. In 1996, the company created their Great Source Education Group to combine the supplemental material product lines of their School Division, McDougal Littell, and Heath.
In 1998, HMH announced a sub-brand called LOGAL Software, which was to release a new line of interactive science software called ''
Science Gateways
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
'', to support the United States curriculum. As of 2017, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is offering the "Logal Science" brand as a licensing opportunity on its website.
In 2017, it was announced that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt would be getting involved in TV production with a planned 2019 Netflix series that will revive the ''
Carmen Sandiego
''Carmen Sandiego'' (sometimes referred to as ''Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?'') is a media franchise based on a series of computer games created by the American software company Broderbund. While the original 1985 '' Where in the World ...
'' franchise.
Mergers and acquisitions activities, 2001–
Mergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...
(M&A) activities have had major effects on this company.
Vivendi purchase
In 2001, Houghton Mifflin was acquired by French media giant
Vivendi Universal
Vivendi SE is a French mass media holding company headquartered in Paris. Widely known as the owner of Gameloft, Groupe Canal+, Havas, Editis, Prisma Media, Vivendi Village and Dailymotion, the company has activities in television, film, video ...
for $2.2 billion, including assumed debt. Vivendi Universal already owned the British children's publisher Kingfisher, which became a Houghton Mifflin imprint. In 2002, facing mounting financial and legal pressures, Vivendi sold Houghton to private equity investors
Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. is an American private equity firm based in Boston investing in middle market growth companies across financial technology and services, healthcare and technology & business solutions.
History
Founded in 1974 by ...
,
Bain Capital
Bain Capital is an American private investment firm based in Boston. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, public equity, impact investing, life sciences, and real estate. Bain Capital invests across a range of industry se ...
, and
Blackstone Group
Blackstone Inc. is an American alternative investment management company based in New York City. Blackstone's private equity business has been one of the largest investors in leveraged buyouts in the last three decades, while its real estate b ...
for $1.66 billion, including assumed debt (approximately 25% less than Vivendi had paid a year earlier).
Riverdeep merger with Houghton Mifflin
On December 22, 2006, it was announced that
Riverdeep PLC had completed its acquisition of Houghton Mifflin. The new joint enterprise would be called the Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group. Riverdeep paid $1.75 billion in cash and assumed $1.61 billion in debt from the private investment firms Thomas H. Lee Partners, Bain Capital, and Blackstone Group. Tony Lucki, a former non-executive director of Riverdeep, remained in his position as the company's chief executive officer until April 2009.
Houghton Mifflin sold its professional testing unit, Promissor, to
Pearson plc
Pearson plc is a British multinational corporation, multinational publishing and education company headquartered in London, England.
It was founded as a construction business in the 1840s but switched to publishing in the 1920s.J. A. Spende ...
in 2006. The company combined its remaining assessment products within Riverside Publishing, including San Francisco-based
Edusoft.
Harcourt merger
On July 16, 2007, Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep announced that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire the
Harcourt Education
Harcourt () was an American publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for adults and children. The company was last based in San Diego, California, with editorial/sales/marketing/rights offices in New York City an ...
, Harcourt Trade, and Greenwood-Heinemann divisions of
Reed Elsevier
RELX plc (pronounced "Rel-ex") is a British multinational information and analytics company headquartered in London, England. Its businesses provide scientific, technical and medical information and analytics; legal information and analytics; ...
for $4 billion. The expanded company would become Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. McDougal Littell was merged with Harcourt's Holt, Rinehart & Winston to form
Holt McDougal.
In October 2007, Houghton Mifflin sold Kingfisher to
Macmillan Publishers
Macmillan Publishers (occasionally known as the Macmillan Group; formally Macmillan Publishers Ltd and Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC) is a British publishing company traditionally considered to be one of the 'Big Five' English language publi ...
.
On December 3, 2007,
Cengage Learning
Cengage Group is an American educational content, technology, and services company for the higher education, K-12, professional, and library markets. It operates in more than 20 countries around the world.(Jun 27, 2014Global Publishing Leaders ...
(formerly Thomson Learning) announced that it had agreed to acquire the assets of the Houghton Mifflin College Division for $750 million, pending regulatory approval.
On November 25, 2008, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced a temporary freeze on acquisition of new trade division titles, allegedly in response to the
economic crisis of 2008
The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...
. The publisher of the trade division resigned, apparently in protest. Many observers familiar with the publishing industry saw the move as a devastating blunder.
Harcourt Religion was sold to
Our Sunday Visitor
Our Sunday Visitor (OSV) is a Catholic publishing company in Huntington, Indiana, which prints the American national weekly newspaper of that name, as well as numerous Catholic periodicals, religious books, pamphlets, catechetical materials, i ...
in 2009.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt restructuring
On July 27, 2009, the ''
Irish Independent
The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis.
The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines.
Traditionally a broadsheet new ...
'' newspaper reported that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's controlling shareholder
EMPG
Education Media and Publishing Group, more commonly known as EMPG, is a holding company registered in the Cayman Islands with no operating subsidiaries. It also has a minority interest in an affiliate that focuses on markets outside the USA cal ...
was in the process of a re-structuring negotiations with its unsecured-debt holders that would lead to the conversion of the debt into equity. The news story reported that the unsecured debt holders would receive a 45% equity stake. As a result, the royal family of Dubai via their
Istithmar World
Istithmar World ("istithmar" (Arabic) for "investment" (English)) is an investment firm based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). This company is a state-run business owned by Dubai World, a Dubai government-owned company, and was established ...
Capital investment vehicle became major stakeholders.
Estimates were that EMPG would cut its debt from $7.3bn to $6.1bn. On August 15, 2009, the ''
Financial Times
The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...
'' reported in an interview with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's CEO at the time, Barry O'Callaghan, that the refinancing had received approval of more than 90% of lenders. The terms included the holding company debt converting into 45% of the fully diluted common equity, an effective 25 percent relaxation of financial covenants, second lien lenders agreeing to convert their holdings into a PIK instrument, reducing annual interest costs by $100m, and a further $50m increase its working capital facility.
Second round restructuring
A further restructuring of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's debts was confirmed by the company on January 13, 2010.
The proposed restructuring materially impacted the shareholders of
EMPG
Education Media and Publishing Group, more commonly known as EMPG, is a holding company registered in the Cayman Islands with no operating subsidiaries. It also has a minority interest in an affiliate that focuses on markets outside the USA cal ...
, the former holding company of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
[ Potential wipe out of EMPG's shareholders]
Recapitalization in 2010
On February 22, 2010, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced that EMPG and HMH had reached an agreement to restructure the finances of the company and recapitalize its balance sheet with a substantial fresh cash investment by institutional investors.
The agreement, supported by 100% of HMH's creditors, highlighted a reduction in the senior debt to $3 billion from the current $5 billion, with new equity issued to the senior debt holders (including
Paulson & Co. and
Guggenheim Partners
Guggenheim Partners is a global investment and advisory financial services firm that engages in investment banking, asset management, capital markets services, and insurance services.
Organization
The firm is headquartered in New York City ...
),
conversion of the $2 billion mezzanine debt into equity and warrant, receipt of $650m of new cash from the sale of new equity. In addition to the key highlights, HMH announced its new $100m Innovation Fund, to invest in the next generation of technology for the education industry.
The ''Irish Times''
reported that the investments by the then equity holders of EMPG, including HMH's CEO at the time,
Barry O'Callaghan
Barry O'Callaghan (born 1969) is a business executive and financier. Currently he is the Chairman and CEO of Rise Global. He formerly led Riverdeep for a decade, later known as EMPG and HMH. He grew the small educational software company into th ...
, private clients of Davy Stockbrokers, Reed Elsevier, and others of over $3.5 billion would be written down to zero. Additionally, the Irish Independent reported that following the restructuring, the investors of EMPG would have a nominal investment in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via warrants over 5% of the company if it exceeded the $10 billion valuation
placed on the company at the time of the merger between Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep and Harcourt. In addition to the warrants in HMH, the EMPG shareholders would continue to own a stake in the international investment vehicle,
EMPGI
Education Media and Publishing Group International, more commonly known as EMPGI, is an education company with operations in China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Libya. EMPGI pays licensing fees to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for exclusive overseas non- ...
which has stakes in China, the Middle East and elsewhere.
The ''Financial Times'' reported
that no management changes were expected as part of the deal with both the CEO at the time,
Barry O'Callaghan
Barry O'Callaghan (born 1969) is a business executive and financier. Currently he is the Chairman and CEO of Rise Global. He formerly led Riverdeep for a decade, later known as EMPG and HMH. He grew the small educational software company into th ...
and the CFO, Michael Muldowney expected to remain in their roles. The Times reported that a new nine-member board was to be created with the CEO the only executive representative, one independent, two representative of Paulson & Co, and one director from each of Apollo, BlackRock, Guggenheim Partners, Fidelity and Avenue Capital.
On March 10, 2010, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced that it had completed its re-capitalization.
In addition to a new investment of $650 million of equity, the debt levels of the company were reduced by approximately 60% and the annual interest payments by over 75%. According to the Irish State Broadcaster,
RTÉ
(RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...
, the old equity investors based in Ireland has lost all their investment.
The ''
Irish Independent
The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis.
The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines.
Traditionally a broadsheet new ...
'' reported that the old shareholders were denied a shareholders meeting to vote or discuss the restructuring.
The former shareholders have been left with warrants over 5% of the company, in the case its value recovers to previous levels.
On September 19, 2011, it was announced that Linda K. Zecher would be replacing Barry O'Callahan as chief executive officer and Director of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt after O'Callahan resigned. In July 2012, Zecher detailed her plans for post-bankruptcy to D.C. Denison at The Boston Globe. Zecher went to HMH from Microsoft.
In 2012, HMH acquired the culinary and reference portfolio of
John Wiley & Sons
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, in p ...
, including
CliffsNotes
CliffsNotes are a series of student study guides. The guides present and create literary and other works in pamphlet form or online. Detractors of the study guides claim they let students bypass reading the assigned literature. The company cl ...
and ''
Webster's New World Dictionary
''Webster's New World Dictionary of the American Language'' is an American dictionary first published in 1951 and since 2022 published by Harper Collins Publishers.
Overview
The first edition was published by the World Publishing Company of Cl ...
''.
The company went public in November 2013.
In 2014, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt sponsored
Curious George (TV series)
''Curious George'' is an American animated children's television family comedy series based on the children's book series of the same name which features Jeff Bennett as the voice of Ted Shackelford (credited as "The Man with the Yellow Hat" --f ...
on
PBS Kids
PBS Kids is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Some public television children's programs are not produced by PBS member stations or transmitted by PBS. Instead, ...
replacing
Chuck E. Cheese
Chuck E. Cheese (formerly known as Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza Time Theatre, Chuck E. Cheese's Pizza and simply Chuck E. Cheese's) is an American family entertainment center and pizza restaurant chain founded in 1977 by Atari's co-founder Nolan Bu ...
.
On May 13, 2014, HMH bought
Channel One News
Channel One News was an American news content provider. The daily news program was accompanied by commercial advertising for marketing in schools, with supplementary educational resources. The Peabody award-winning Channel One News program was ...
. In 2015, Houghton Mifflin struggled to find a charity that would accept royalties for ''
Mein Kampf
(; ''My Struggle'' or ''My Battle'') is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became antisemitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germ ...
'' by
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
.
On February 15, 2017, John J. ("Jack") Lynch, Jr., the former CEO of Renaissance Learning, was named the new CEO of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
In 2018, HMH sold its Steck-Vaughn adult education titles to Paxen Publishing and its
Riverside
Riverside may refer to:
Places Australia
* Riverside, Tasmania, a suburb of Launceston, Tasmania
Canada
* Riverside (electoral district), in the Yukon
* Riverside, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Alberta
* Riverside, Manitoba, a former rural m ...
test publishing subsidiary to Alpine Investments.
Sale to HarperCollins
On March 29, 2021,
The Wall Street Journal
''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
reported that
HarperCollins
HarperCollins Publishers LLC is one of the Big Five English-language publishing companies, alongside Penguin Random House, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, and Macmillan. The company is headquartered in New York City and is a subsidiary of News Cor ...
, a division of American mass media and publishing company
News Corp
News Corporation, stylized as News Corp, is an American mass media and publishing company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The second incarnation of the News Corporation (1980–2013), original News Corporation, it was formed ...
, had reached a deal to buy HMH Books & Media for US$349 million. The sale includes HMH's trade publishing division and computer game franchises such as ''
Carmen Sandiego
''Carmen Sandiego'' (sometimes referred to as ''Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego?'') is a media franchise based on a series of computer games created by the American software company Broderbund. While the original 1985 '' Where in the World ...
'' and ''
The Oregon Trail''. The deal would allow HMH to pay down its debt so it could further its digital-first strategy in educational publishing. The deal was completed on May 10.
Acquisition by Veritas Capital
On February 22, 2022, a
tender offer
In corporate finance, a tender offer is a type of public takeover bid. The tender offer is a public, open offer or invitation (usually announced in a newspaper advertisement) by a prospective acquirer to all stockholders of a publicly traded corpo ...
was announced by
Veritas Capital
Veritas Capital is a New York-based private-equity firm founded in 1992 that invests in companies providing critical products and services, primarily technology-enabled products and services, to government and commercial customers worldwide. The ...
to acquire HMH at a price of $21 per share, or about $2.8 Billion. The tender deadline was originally April 1st, before being extended to April 6th on March 29th. Prior to the tender date, the stock generated a lot of hype on internet forum
WallStreetBets
r/wallstreetbets, also known as WallStreetBets or WSB, is a subreddit where participants discuss stock and Option (finance), option trading. It has become notable for its colorful and profane jargon, aggressive trading strategies, and for playin ...
, with over 36,000 contracts traded for the June 17th $22.5 strike price
call options
In finance, a call option, often simply labeled a "call", is a contract between the buyer and the seller of the call Option (finance), option to exchange a Security (finance), security at a set price. The buyer of the call option has the righ ...
. Many investors purchased call options based on numerous reports from institutional investors with large stakes in the company, claiming that the $21 per share offer was undervaluing the company. On April 6th, 57% of $HMHC shares were put up for tender, leading to the tender offer going through and HMH going private. Once the sale was completed, the stock of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt was delisted from Nasdaq.
Leadership changes
On September 22, 2016, Zecher resigned from HMH and was replaced by Interim CEO and Board Member L. Gordon Crovitz. Crovitz is a former publisher of the ''Wall Street Journal''. On February 15, 2017, John J. "Jack" Lynch Jr., the former CEO of Renaissance Learning, was named the new CEO of HMH.
Lynch brought former employee Jim O'Neill back to the company to lead the core division as GM and EVP.
Catalog
HMH is also home to media brands like Carmen Sandiego and The Oregon Trail; and brands including The Whole30; ''
The Best American Series {{italic title
''The Best American Series'' is a series of anthologies that is published annually by Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins. Each title within the series covers a specific genre such as short stories or mysteries. The works for ...
''; ''
The American Heritage'' and ''
Webster's New World Dictionaries''; ''
Better Homes and Gardens''; ''
How to Cook Everything
''How To Cook Everything'' (John Wiley & Sons, 1998, ) is a general cooking reference written by ''New York Times'' food writer Mark Bittman and aimed at United States home cooks. It is the flagship volume of a series of books that include sever ...
''; the
Peterson Field Guides The Peterson Field Guides (PFG) are a popular and influential series of United States, American field guides intended to assist the layman in identification of birds, plants, insects and other natural phenomena. The series was created and edited by ...
;
CliffsNotes
CliffsNotes are a series of student study guides. The guides present and create literary and other works in pamphlet form or online. Detractors of the study guides claim they let students bypass reading the assigned literature. The company cl ...
; and many children's books, including the "
Curious George
Curious George is a fictional monkey who is the title character of a series of popular children's picture books written by Margret and H. A. Rey. Various media, including films and TV shows, have been based upon the original book series.
Geor ...
" series and ''
The Little Prince
''The Little Prince'' (french: Le Petit Prince, ) is a novella by French aristocrat, writer, and military pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. It was first published in English and French in the United States by Reynal & Hitchcock in April 1943 an ...
''; as well as publishing the works of
J. R. R. Tolkien
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien (, ; 3 January 1892 – 2 September 1973) was an English writer and philology, philologist. He was the author of the high fantasy works ''The Hobbit'' and ''The Lord of the Rings''.
From 1925 to 1945, Tolkien was ...
for United States distribution.
Some other noted books include:
* ''
The Handmaid's Tale
''The Handmaid's Tale'' is a futuristic dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which h ...
'',
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born November 18, 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, teacher, environmental activist, and inventor. Since 1961, she has published 18 books of poetry, 18 novels, 11 books of non-fiction, nin ...
(1987) (
E-book
An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...
version)
See also
*
*
Books in the United States
As of 2018, several firms in the United States rank among the world's biggest publishers of books in terms of revenue: Cengage Learning, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill Education, Scholastic, Simon & Schuster, and Wiley.
H ...
*
McGraw-Hill Education
McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...
*
Pearson Education
Pearson Education is a British-owned education publishing and assessment service to schools and corporations, as well for students directly. Pearson owns educational media brands including Addison–Wesley, Peachpit, Prentice Hall, eCollege, ...
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
Finding aid to the Houghton Mifflin Company letters (1859–1860) at Columbia University. Rare Book & Manuscript Library.
{{Authority control
Houghton Mifflin books Houghton may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Houghton, South Australia, a town near Adelaide
* Houghton Highway, the longest bridge in Australia, between Redcliffe and Brisbane in Queensland
* Houghton Island (Queensland)
Canada
* Houghton Townshi ...
Book publishing companies based in Massachusetts
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Private equity portfolio companies
The Blackstone Group companies
Publishing companies established in 1880
Education companies established in 1880
American companies established in 1880
Publishing companies of the United States
Educational publishing companies of the United States
Educational publishing companies
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012
2013 initial public offerings
2022 mergers and acquisitions
Privately held companies based in Massachusetts