Wiley Acquisition of Blackwell Complete
A major publishing acquisition was completed in early February as John Wiley & Sons Inc. announced the finalization of its acquisition of Blackwell Publishing Holdings Ltd. The purchase price of $1.1 billion (U.S.) Wiley paid for the academic and professional publisher was financed with a combination of debt and cash. Blackwell’s publishing program will be merged with Wiley’s global scientific, technical, and medical business, Wiley representatives said.
The merged business is now the largest of the three owned by Wiley; its other publishing ventures are professional/trade and higher education.
“Wiley begins our third century of publishing by embarking on the path of growth and expansion, with our new colleagues,” said William J. Pesce, Wiley’s president and chief executive officer.
Leadership roles are being assumed by employees from both companies. Pesce announced the appointment of Wiley’s senior vice president, STM publishing, Eric A. Swanson, to lead the merged business and Blackwell CEO Rene Olivieri to serve as its chief operating officer. Olivieri is co-leader of the transition team along with Wiley Europe’s chief operating officer, Stephen Smith.
“We want to set the standard for publishing for the scientists, physicians, professionals and scholars who are our authors and readers,” Pesce said. “For our authors and society partners, we intend to provide best of class service through our extensive network of editorial, production, marketing and sales talent. For our customers, we intend to provide more access to more content to more people than ever before in the history of the two companies. For our colleagues, we intend to provide intellectually stimulating and rewarding opportunities.”
According to Wiley, the two companies will publish approximately 1,250 scholarly peer-reviewed journals, more than 1 million pages. BB
- Companies:
- Blackwell Publishing
- Places:
- U.S.