Greenwood-Heinemann

Houghton Mifflin Co., a leading educational publisher, announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Harcourt Education, Harcourt Trade and Greenwood Heinemann divisions of Reed Elsevier. Houghton Mifflin will acquire the Harcourt businesses for $4 billion, which will consist of $3.7 billion in cash and $300 million in common stock of Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group PLC. “When Reed Elsevier announced its intention to sell the Harcourt businesses, we were thrilled to have the opportunity to combine these businesses,” said Barry O’Callaghan, the principal shareholder of Houghton Mifflin. “The addition of the Harcourt businesses to Houghton Mifflin will strengthen our position

Textbook giant Harcourt Education, Reed Elsevier Group’s global education publishing division, named a new president and chief operating officer to head the company’s domestic business earlier this week. Lloyd G. “Buzz” Waterhouse, 54, assumed the role of president and COO, a newly created post, on Wednesday. The former CEO and chairman of The Reynolds and Reynolds Co., a software provider that provides automobile dealerships with computer software, held several management positions with IBM during his career, including its academic and education units. Waterhouse will oversee several Harcourt business units, including Harcourt School Publishers, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Harcourt Achieve, Harcourt Trade Publishers and Greenwood-Heinemann. Buzz