Quebecor World Inc. was a

printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...

subsidiary of Quebecor Inc. based in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. It comprised a number of small and large print shops throughout the world. In 2010, Quebecor World (now known as

Worldcolor World Color Press Inc. ("Worldcolor") (formerly Quebecor World) was a company which provided high-value and comprehensive print, digital, and related services to businesses worldwide. World Color and its subsidiaries printed various commercial pro ...

) was acquired by Wisconsin-based

Quad/Graphics Quad (formerly Quad/Graphics) is an American commercial printing company which offers marketing strategy and management services, based in Sussex, Wisconsin. It was founded as a printing company on July 13, 1971, by Harry V. Quadracci. Since 20 ...

History

Quebecor Printing started in 1954 with a single printing press. It began its expansion outside of Canada in 1985, when it bought Pendell Printing, a

Midland, Michigan Midland is a city in and the county seat of Midland County, Michigan. The city's population was 42,547 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Midland Micropolitan Statistical Area, part of the larger Saginaw-Midland-Bay City Comb ...

-based company. In 1988, it purchased the printing plants of

Bell Canada Enterprises BCE Inc., formerly Bell Canada Enterprises Inc., is a publicly traded Canadian holding company for Bell Canada, which includes telecommunications providers and various mass media assets under its subsidiary Bell Media Inc. Founded through a cor ...

. This was followed by the 1990 purchase of Maxwell Graphics' shops.

Merger with World Color Press

In 1999, Quebecor Printing merged with

World Color Press World Color Press Inc. ("Worldcolor") (formerly Quebecor World) was a company which provided high-value and comprehensive print, digital, and related services to businesses worldwide. World Color and its subsidiaries printed various commercial pr ...

in a US$2.7 billion deal to create Quebecor World. (

was founded in 1904 in

St. Louis, MO St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which ...

. World Color had pursued major expansions in 1996 and 1997, purchasing Ringier America and

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 ...

's Book Services Group.)

Financial struggles

Quebecor entered a difficult period in the early 2000s as the market has gradually shifted focus to

digital media Digital media is any communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital electronics device. ' ...

. In response, the company's Board of Directors named

Wes Lucas Wes W. Lucas (born May 2, 1963) is an American business executive. He is currently an Operations Partner at Gryphon Investors in their Industrial Growth team. Prior to Gryphon, he was President and Chief Executive Officer at SIRVA since 2008. C ...

President and CEO, replacing Pierre Karl Péladeau, and announced a reorganization of its American book and magazine platforms, closing plants in

Kingsport, TN Kingsport is a city in Sullivan and Hawkins counties in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, its population was 55,442. Lying along the Holston River, Kingsport is commonly included in what is known as the Mountain Empire, w ...

, Phoenix, Arizona, and

Brookfield, WI Brookfield is a city located in Waukesha County, Wisconsin, Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States in the Milwaukee metropolitan area. It had a population of 37,920 in the 2010 census. Brookfield is the third-largest city in Waukesha County. ...

. Quebecor World (USA) Inc. filed for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

bankruptcy protection on January 21, 2008 at the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, as well as for protection under the

Companies' Creditors Arrangements Act The ''Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act'' (CCAA; french: Loi sur les arrangements avec les créanciers des compagnies) is a statute of the Parliament of Canada that allows insolvent corporations owing their creditors in excess of $5 million to ...

at the Superior Court of Québec at Montreal. At the time of bankruptcy, the company's clients included printing publications for

Time (magazine) ''Time'' (stylized in all caps) is an American news magazine based in New York City. For nearly a century, it was published Weekly newspaper, weekly, but starting in March 2020 it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New ...

Parade (magazine) ''Parade'' was an American nationwide Sunday newspaper magazine, distributed in more than 700 newspapers in the United States until 2022. The most widely read magazine in the U.S., ''Parade'' had a circulation of 32 million and a readership of 5 ...

, and also catalogs for

Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ret ...

. In May 2009, Chicago-based printer

RR Donnelley R.R. Donnelley is an American Fortune 500 integrated communications company that provides marketing and business communications, commercial printing, and related services. Its corporate headquarters are located in Chicago, Illinois, United State ...

tendered an unsolicited bid to purchase Quebecor World,"U.S. printer to swallow former Quebecor World,"
CBS News (January 26, 2010). which was rejected as the company emerged from creditor protection in July (having changed its name back to "Worldcolor Press"). On July 2, 2010, Sussex, Wisconsin-based printer

purchased

Locations

Quebecor had facilities in the United States, Canada, Brazil, France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Spain, Austria, Sweden, Switzerland, Finland, Chile, Argentina, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, and India. Former QW plant in

Richmond Hill, Ontario Richmond Hill (Canada 2021 Census, 2021 population: 202,022) is a city in south-central Regional Municipality of York, York Region, Ontario, Canada. Part of the Greater Toronto Area, it is the York Region's third most populous municipality and th ...

was shuttered in early 2009, but the

Aurora, Ontario Aurora ( 2021 population: 62,057) is a town in central York Region in the Greater Toronto Area, within the Golden Horseshoe of Southern Ontario, Canada. It is located north of the City of Richmond Hill and is partially situated on the Oak Ridges ...

location was acquired by

and since sold to

TC Transcontinental Transcontinental Inc., operating as TC Transcontinental, is a Montreal-based packaging, commercial printing and specialty media company. The company was established in 1976 as a direct marketing company, and later expanded into newspaper printing ...

in 2013.

References

4. http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/u-s-printer-to-swallow-former-quebecor-world-1.947690

External links