Reed Elsevier To Sell LJ, Other RBI Publications
Andrew Albanese & Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 2/25/2008
• All of Reed Business Information for sale
• Parent acquiring ChoicePoint
• Publisher says LJ continues to move ahead
Reed Elsevier last Thursday announced plans to sell Reed Business Information (RBI), the parent company of Library Journal and sibling publications Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and Críticas. In a statement, Reed Elsevier CEO Crispin Davis said that the company was divesting its advertising-based business-to-business publishing unit and moving more aggressively into a "risk management business," fueled by a $4 billion acquisition of ChoicePoint, a company that provides data and analytics to the insurance industry. Last year Reed Elsevier sold Harcourt Education, another print-based business.
Davis did not identify potential buyers for RBI, which could draw $2 billion, and had no timeline for the sale, but expected "a strong level" of interest from both "strategic and private equity buyers." The New York Times reported that one such buyer might be Apax Partners, the British private equity group that last year bought American Lawyer Media (and Gale); indeed, The Mail on Sunday said that both Apax and the private equity firm Cinven were both interested. It’s unclear whether buyers would prefer to purchase RBI as a group or to choose specific publications, such as Variety.
Ron Shank, publisher of RBI’s Publishing Group, commented, "Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, School Library Journal, and Críticas are focused on expanding their peerless coverage of the news and trends in their respective sectors, providing insight and understanding of the market events that shape our businesses, and continuing the indispensable review of books and content products created for sale to consumers or for acquisition into library collections. We're moving ahead on schedule with innovative programs that enable our market partners to promote their products and services to our universe of readers and online communities."
