On March 29, 2021, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp announced that it will acquire the Books & Media segment of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), which will be operated by one of its subsidiaries, HarperCollins Publishers. For a cash purchase price of $349 million, HarperCollins, one of the “big five” U.S. publishing companies, has significantly added to its backlist by acquiring the consumer publishing business. HMH has stated that it will transition to focus exclusively on K–12 education and digital sales.

HMH Books & Media has over 7,000 titles, including the classics 1984, Animal Farm and The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It has also published beloved children’s books, including Curious George, Martha Speaks, Five Little Monkeys, The Polar Express, Little Blue Truck, the “Giver” series, The Little Prince, and the “Click” middle grade graphic novel series. Beyond these bestsellers, HMH publishes the “Best American” anthology series and cookbooks including Instant Pot Miracle, the “How to Cook Everything” series, and the Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks.

According to Deadline, in 2020 over 60 percent of HMH Books & Media’s revenue was generated by its backlist.

HMH Books & Media also includes HMH Productions, which produces TV, feature films, and interactive media, including the animated Netflix TV series (and soon to be live-action film) Carmen Sandiego. Other television projects are currently in production, including adapting Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings into an Amazon TV series. HMH also has a prosperous audiobooks arm, launched in 2019.

“HMH is the largest learning technology company in the K–12 market, serving 90 percent of the schools, teachers and students in the U.S.,” HMH Communications Director Leah Riviere told LJ. “The divestiture of HMH Books & Media allows us to sharpen focus on this space at a pivotal moment for education in our country. The sale will provide the opportunity to deepen our digital first learning strategy, while also providing our talented Books & Media colleagues with the infrastructure and support to continue their excellent work.”

When asked whether the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the sale, Riviere said conclusively, “No.” Commenting further, she added, “While we are in a critical moment for education as we look toward post-pandemic learning and recovery, COVID-19 did not impact our solvency and only deepened HMH’s existing strategic focus. In fact, HMH has seen an acceleration of growth momentum in the ed tech space—with over 140 percent growth in software-as-a-service revenue and 300 percent growth in digital platform usage in 2020. This divestiture enables us to increase our focus on the education space, pay down debt and increase our profitability, which will in turn provide the opportunity to increase our positive impact for teachers and students.”

A HarperCollins spokesperson commented, “HMH Books & Media has a strong children’s and adult publishing program with many bestselling books, series, and franchises that are a complement to the HarperCollins publishing program.”

Consolidation has transformed the publishing industry in recent years. HarperCollins’s acquisition of HMH comes after this fall’s Simon & Schuster sale to Penguin Random House. Librarians are not the only ones concerned, as booksellers, authors, and agents worry over the continued dominance of the Big Five.

How will this affect libraries?

Michael Blackwell, director of St. Mary’s County Public Library, MD, and project leader for library ebook content advocacy organization ReadersFirst, is deeply concerned about the deal’s ramifications for library digital content. “Libraries will struggle even more to acquire and maintain long-term and rich digital content collections, with threats to preservation and costs of content,” he told LJ. According to Blackwell, HMH prices have generally been lower than those of HarperCollins.

Blackwell added, “The issue is the difference in licensing terms of the two companies. HMH has been licensing ebooks and digital audiobooks under a one copy/one user perpetual access license. None of the Big Five [publishing companies] currently offer that long-term option.”

When considering HMH’s notable authors, Blackwell commented, “Tolkien, Lois Lowry, George Orwell, and Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale will remain in high demand for years. Will [libraries] constantly have to relicense these titles, lessening our buying power? If HarperCollins uses its current licensing/cost model for the titles it is gaining, the financial impact will be dire and library budgets will be further strained to meet ebook demand.”

At least, he noted “With digital audiobooks, both HMH and HarperCollins offer a perpetual access license, so the impact may be less.”