Houghton Mifflin
Encyclopedia
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (ˈ) is an educational and trade publisher in the United States
. Headquartered in Boston
's Back Bay, it publishes textbook
s, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference work
s, and fiction
and non-fiction
for both young readers and adults.
. Prior to March 2010, it was a subsidiary of Education Media and Publishing Group
Limited, an Irish-owned holding company registered in the Cayman Islands
and formerly known as Riverdeep
.
and James Thomas Fields
had gathered an impressive list of writers, including Ralph Waldo Emerson
, Nathaniel Hawthorne
, and Henry David Thoreau
. The duo formed a close relationship with Riverside Press, a Boston printing company owned by Henry Oscar Houghton
. Shortly after, Houghton also founded a publishing company with partner George Mifflin. In 1880, Ticknor and Fields
and Houghton and Mifflin merged their operations, combining the literary
works of writer
s with the expertise of a publisher and creating a new partnership named Houghton, Mifflin and Company. The company still had debt from when it merged from Houghton, Osgood and Company, so it decided to add partners. In 1884, James D. Hurd, the son of Melancthon Hurd became a partner. Three people in 1888 became partners as well: James Murray Kay, Thurlow Weed Barnes, and Henry Oscar Houghton, Jr.
Shortly thereafter the company established an Educational Department, and from 1891 to 1908 sales of educational materials increased by 500 percent. Soon after 1916, Houghton Mifflin became involved in publishing standardized test
s and testing materials, working closely with such test developers as E.F. Lindquist. The company was the fourth-largest educational publisher in the United States
in 1921.
In 1961, Houghton Mifflin famously passed on Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking
, giving it up to Alfred A. Knopf
who later published it in 1962. It went on to become an overnight success and is considered by many to be the bible of French cooking. Houghton Mifflin's strategic error was depicted in the 2009 film Julie & Julia
.
In 1967, Houghton Mifflin became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange
under the stock symbol HTN. The company is currently privately held and no longer trades under this symbol.
During the 1990s, Houghton Mifflin acquired both McDougal Littell, an educational publisher of secondary school materials, and D.C. Heath and Company, a publisher of supplemental educational resources. In 1996, the company created their Great Source Education Group to combine the supplemental material product lines of their School Division and these two companies.
(M&A) activities have had major effects on this company.
investors Thomas H. Lee Partners
, Bain Capital
, and The Blackstone Group for $1.66 billion, including assumed debt (approximately 25% less than Vivendi had paid a year earlier).
had completed its acquisition of Houghton Mifflin. The new joint enterprise would be called the Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group. Riverdeep paid $1.75 billion in cash and assumed $1.61 billion in debt from the private investment firms Thomas H. Lee Partners
, Bain Capital
and The Blackstone Group. Tony Lucki, a former non-executive director of Riverdeep, remained in his position as the company's chief executive officer until April 2009.
Houghton Mifflin sold its professional testing unit, Promissor, to Pearson plc
in 2006. The company combined its remaining assessment products within Riverside Publishing, including San Francisco-based Edusoft.
for $4 billion. The expanded company would become Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. McDougal Littel was merged with Harcourt's Holt, Rinehart & Winston to form Holt McDougal.
On December 3, 2007, Cengage Learning
(formerly Thomson Learning) announced that it had agreed to acquire the assets of the Houghton Mifflin College Division for $750 million, pending regulatory approval.
On November 25, 2008, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced a temporary freeze on acquisition of new trade division titles, allegedly in response to the economic crisis of 2008. The publisher of the trade division resigned, apparently in protest. Many observers familiar with the publishing industry saw the move as a devastating blunder.
Harcourt Religion was sold to Our Sunday Visitor
in 2009
newspaper reported that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's controlling shareholder EMPG
was in the process of a re-structuring negotiations with its unsecured-debt holders that would lead to the conversion of the debt into equity. The news story reported that the unsecured debt holders would receive a 45% equity stake. As a result, the royal family of Dubai via their Istithmar World
Capital investment vehicle became major stakeholders. Estimates were that EMPG would cut its debt from $7.3bn to $6.1bn. On August 15, 2009, the Financial Times
newspaper reported in an interview with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's CEO, Barry O'Callaghan, that the refinancing had received approval of more than 90% of lenders. The terms included the holding company debt converting into 45% of the fully diluted common equity, an effective 25 per cent relaxation of financial covenants, second lien lenders agreeing to convert their holdings into a PIK instrument, reducing annual interest costs by $100m, and a further $50m increase its working capital facility.
, the former holding company of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
The agreement, supported by 100% of HMH's creditors, highlighted a reduction in the senior debt to $3 billion from the current $5 billion, with new equity issued to the senior debt holders (including Paulson & Co.
and Guggenheim Partners
), conversion of the $2 billion mezzanine debt into equity and warrant, receipt of $650m of new cash from the sale of new equity. In addition to the key highlights, HMH announced its new $100m Innovation Fund, to invest in the next generation of technology for the education industry.
The Irish Times reported that the investments by the then equity holders of EMPG, including HMH's CEO, Barry O'Callaghan
, private clients of Davy Stockbrokers, Reed Elsevier, and others of over $3.5 billion would be written down to zero. Additionally, the Irish Independent reported that following the restructuring, the investors of EMPG would have a nominal investment in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via warrants over 5% of the company if it exceeded the $10 billion valuation placed on the company at the time of the merger between Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep and Harcourt. In addition to the warrants in HMH, the EMPG shareholders would continue to own a stake in the international investment vehicle, EMPGI
which has stakes in China, the Middle East and elsewhere.
The Financial Times reported that no management changes were expected as part of the deal with both the CEO, Barry O'Callaghan
and the CFO, Michael Muldowney expected to remain in their roles. The Times reported that a new nine-member board was to be created with the CEO the only executive representative, one independent, two representative of Paulson & Co, and one director from each of Apollo, BlackRock, Guggenheim Partners, Fidelity and Avenue Capital.
On 10 March 2010, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced that it had completed its re-capitalization. In addition to a new investment of $ 650 million of equity, the debt levels of the company were reduced by approximately 60% and the annual interest payments by over 75%. According the Irish State Broadcaster, RTE
, the old equity investors based in Ireland has lost all their investment. The Irish Independent
reported that the old shareholders were denied a shareholders meeting to vote on discuss the restructuring. The former shareholders have been left with warrants over 5% of the company, in the case its value recovers to previous levels.
Go Math!, a K–6 product, was named a Reader's Choice Top 100 product by District Administration in 2010.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. Headquartered in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
's Back Bay, it publishes textbook
Textbook
A textbook or coursebook is a manual of instruction in any branch of study. Textbooks are produced according to the demands of educational institutions...
s, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference work
Reference work
A reference work is a compendium of information, usually of a specific type, compiled in a book for ease of reference. That is, the information is intended to be quickly found when needed. Reference works are usually referred to for particular pieces of information, rather than read beginning to end...
s, and fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
and non-fiction
Non-fiction
Non-fiction is the form of any narrative, account, or other communicative work whose assertions and descriptions are understood to be fact...
for both young readers and adults.
History
The company was formerly known as Houghton Mifflin Company but changed its name following the 2007 acquisition of Harcourt PublishingHarcourt (publisher)
Harcourt was a United States publishing firm with a long history of publishing fiction and nonfiction for children and adults. The company was based in San Diego, California, with an Editorial / Sales / Marketing / Rights offices in New York City and Orlando, Florida.In 2007, the U.S...
. Prior to March 2010, it was a subsidiary of Education Media and Publishing Group
EMPG
Education Media and Publishing Group, more commonly known as EMPG, is a holding company registered in the Cayman Islands with no operating subsidiaries. It also has a minority interest in an affiliate that focuses on markets outside the USA called EMPGI...
Limited, an Irish-owned holding company registered in the Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands
The Cayman Islands is a British Overseas Territory and overseas territory of the European Union located in the western Caribbean Sea. The territory comprises the three islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, and Little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica...
and formerly known as Riverdeep
Riverdeep
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Learning Technology originally started as Riverdeep Interactive Learning, is a publishing house for educational online and CD-ROM products based in San Francisco and Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1995, Riverdeep was principally the creation of the Irish ex-investment banker...
.
Potted history
In 1832, William TicknorWilliam Ticknor
William Davis Ticknor I was an American publisher in Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and a founder of the publishing house Ticknor and Fields.-Life and work:...
and James Thomas Fields
James Thomas Fields
James Thomas Fields was an American publisher, editor, and poet.-Early life and family:He was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire on December 31, 1817 and named James Field; the family later added the "s". His father was a sea captain and died before Fields was three...
had gathered an impressive list of writers, including Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
, Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
, and Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...
. The duo formed a close relationship with Riverside Press, a Boston printing company owned by Henry Oscar Houghton
Henry Oscar Houghton
Henry Oscar Houghton was an American publisher, co-founder of Houghton Mifflin, and a mayor of Cambridge, Massachusetts.-Biography:...
. Shortly after, Houghton also founded a publishing company with partner George Mifflin. In 1880, Ticknor and Fields
Ticknor and Fields
Ticknor and Fields was an American publishing company based in Boston, Massachusetts.-Early years:In 1832 William Davis Ticknor and John Allen began a small publishing business which operated out of the Old Corner Bookstore located on Washington and School Streets in Boston, Massachusetts...
and Houghton and Mifflin merged their operations, combining the literary
Literature
Literature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
works of writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
s with the expertise of a publisher and creating a new partnership named Houghton, Mifflin and Company. The company still had debt from when it merged from Houghton, Osgood and Company, so it decided to add partners. In 1884, James D. Hurd, the son of Melancthon Hurd became a partner. Three people in 1888 became partners as well: James Murray Kay, Thurlow Weed Barnes, and Henry Oscar Houghton, Jr.
Shortly thereafter the company established an Educational Department, and from 1891 to 1908 sales of educational materials increased by 500 percent. Soon after 1916, Houghton Mifflin became involved in publishing standardized test
Standardized test
A standardized test is a test that is administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner. Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions, conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in a...
s and testing materials, working closely with such test developers as E.F. Lindquist. The company was the fourth-largest educational publisher in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1921.
In 1961, Houghton Mifflin famously passed on Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Mastering the Art of French Cooking
Mastering the Art of French Cooking is a two-volume French cookbook written by Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, both of France, and Julia Child of the United States...
, giving it up to Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf
Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. is a New York publishing house, founded by Alfred A. Knopf, Sr. in 1915. It was acquired by Random House in 1960 and is now part of the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group at Random House. The publishing house is known for its borzoi trademark , which was designed by co-founder...
who later published it in 1962. It went on to become an overnight success and is considered by many to be the bible of French cooking. Houghton Mifflin's strategic error was depicted in the 2009 film Julie & Julia
Julie & Julia
Julie & Julia is a 2009 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Nora Ephron starring Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Amy Adams, and Chris Messina...
.
In 1967, Houghton Mifflin became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange is a stock exchange located at 11 Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, New York City, USA. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed companies at 13.39 trillion as of Dec 2010...
under the stock symbol HTN. The company is currently privately held and no longer trades under this symbol.
During the 1990s, Houghton Mifflin acquired both McDougal Littell, an educational publisher of secondary school materials, and D.C. Heath and Company, a publisher of supplemental educational resources. In 1996, the company created their Great Source Education Group to combine the supplemental material product lines of their School Division and these two companies.
Creation of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Mergers and acquisitionsMergers and acquisitions
Mergers and acquisitions refers to the aspect of corporate strategy, corporate finance and management dealing with the buying, selling, dividing and combining of different companies and similar entities that can help an enterprise grow rapidly in its sector or location of origin, or a new field or...
(M&A) activities have had major effects on this company.
Vivendi purchase
In 2001, Houghton Mifflin was acquired by French media giant Vivendi Universal for $2.2 billion including assumed debt. In 2002, facing mounting financial and legal pressures, Vivendi sold Houghton to private equityPrivate equity
Private equity, in finance, is an asset class consisting of equity securities in operating companies that are not publicly traded on a stock exchange....
investors Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners is a private equity firm based in Boston, Massachusetts specializing in leveraged buyouts, growth capital, special situations, industry consolidations, and recapitalizations....
, Bain Capital
Bain Capital
Bain Capital LLC is a Boston-based private equity firm founded in 1984 by partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company. Originally conceived as an early-stage, growth-oriented investment fund, Bain Capital today manages approximately $65 billion in assets, and its strategies include private...
, and The Blackstone Group for $1.66 billion, including assumed debt (approximately 25% less than Vivendi had paid a year earlier).
Riverdeep merger with Houghton Mifflin
On December 22, 2006, it was announced that Riverdeep PLCRiverdeep
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Learning Technology originally started as Riverdeep Interactive Learning, is a publishing house for educational online and CD-ROM products based in San Francisco and Dublin, Ireland. Founded in 1995, Riverdeep was principally the creation of the Irish ex-investment banker...
had completed its acquisition of Houghton Mifflin. The new joint enterprise would be called the Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group. Riverdeep paid $1.75 billion in cash and assumed $1.61 billion in debt from the private investment firms Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners
Thomas H. Lee Partners is a private equity firm based in Boston, Massachusetts specializing in leveraged buyouts, growth capital, special situations, industry consolidations, and recapitalizations....
, Bain Capital
Bain Capital
Bain Capital LLC is a Boston-based private equity firm founded in 1984 by partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company. Originally conceived as an early-stage, growth-oriented investment fund, Bain Capital today manages approximately $65 billion in assets, and its strategies include private...
and The Blackstone Group. Tony Lucki, a former non-executive director of Riverdeep, remained in his position as the company's chief executive officer until April 2009.
Houghton Mifflin sold its professional testing unit, Promissor, to Pearson plc
Pearson PLC
Pearson plc is a global media and education company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is both the largest education company and the largest book publisher in the world, with consumer imprints including Penguin, Dorling Kindersley and Ladybird...
in 2006. The company combined its remaining assessment products within Riverside Publishing, including San Francisco-based Edusoft.
Harcourt merger
On July 16, 2007 Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep announced that it signed a definitive agreement to acquire the Harcourt Education, Harcourt Trade and Greenwood-Heinemann divisions of Reed ElsevierReed Elsevier
Reed Elsevier is a publisher and information provider operating in the science, medical, legal, risk and business sectors. It is listed on several of the world's major stock exchanges. It is a FTSE 100 and FT500 Global company...
for $4 billion. The expanded company would become Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. McDougal Littel was merged with Harcourt's Holt, Rinehart & Winston to form Holt McDougal.
On December 3, 2007, Cengage Learning
Cengage Learning
Cengage Learning is a publisher of print and digital information services for the academic, professional and library markets, and delivers customized learning solutions for colleges, universities, professors, students, libraries, government agencies, corporations and professionals around the...
(formerly Thomson Learning) announced that it had agreed to acquire the assets of the Houghton Mifflin College Division for $750 million, pending regulatory approval.
On November 25, 2008, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced a temporary freeze on acquisition of new trade division titles, allegedly in response to the economic crisis of 2008. The publisher of the trade division resigned, apparently in protest. Many observers familiar with the publishing industry saw the move as a devastating blunder.
Harcourt Religion was sold to Our Sunday Visitor
Our Sunday Visitor
Our Sunday Visitor is a Roman Catholic publishing company in Huntington, Indiana which prints the American national weekly newspaper of that name, as well as numerous Catholic periodicals, religious books, pamphlets, catechetical materials, inserts for parish bulletins and offertory envelopes....
in 2009
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt restructuring
On July 27, 2009, the Irish IndependentIrish Independent
The Irish Independent is Ireland's largest-selling daily newspaper that is published in both compact and broadsheet formats. It is the flagship publication of Independent News & Media.-History:...
newspaper reported that Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's controlling shareholder EMPG
EMPG
Education Media and Publishing Group, more commonly known as EMPG, is a holding company registered in the Cayman Islands with no operating subsidiaries. It also has a minority interest in an affiliate that focuses on markets outside the USA called EMPGI...
was in the process of a re-structuring negotiations with its unsecured-debt holders that would lead to the conversion of the debt into equity. The news story reported that the unsecured debt holders would receive a 45% equity stake. As a result, the royal family of Dubai via their Istithmar World
Istithmar World
Istithmar World is an investment firm based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates . This company is a state-run business owned by Dubai World, a Dubai government-owned company, and was established in 2003...
Capital investment vehicle became major stakeholders. Estimates were that EMPG would cut its debt from $7.3bn to $6.1bn. On August 15, 2009, the Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
newspaper reported in an interview with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's CEO, Barry O'Callaghan, that the refinancing had received approval of more than 90% of lenders. The terms included the holding company debt converting into 45% of the fully diluted common equity, an effective 25 per cent relaxation of financial covenants, second lien lenders agreeing to convert their holdings into a PIK instrument, reducing annual interest costs by $100m, and a further $50m increase its working capital facility.
Second round restructuring
A further restructuring of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's debts was confirmed by the company on 13 January 2010. The proposed restructuring materially impacted the shareholders of EMPGEMPG
Education Media and Publishing Group, more commonly known as EMPG, is a holding company registered in the Cayman Islands with no operating subsidiaries. It also has a minority interest in an affiliate that focuses on markets outside the USA called EMPGI...
, the former holding company of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Recapitalization in 2010
On 22 February 2010, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced that EMPG and HMH had reached an agreement to restructure the finances of the company and recapitalize its balance sheet with a substantial fresh cash investment by institutional investors.The agreement, supported by 100% of HMH's creditors, highlighted a reduction in the senior debt to $3 billion from the current $5 billion, with new equity issued to the senior debt holders (including Paulson & Co.
Paulson & Co.
Paulson & Co. Inc. is a hedge fund sponsor owned by its employees and founded in 1994 by John Paulson.-Overview:Paulson & Co. Inc. is an employee-owned, hedge fund headquartered in New York, New York...
and Guggenheim Partners
Guggenheim Partners
Guggenheim Partners, LLC is a privately held, diversified financial services firm that engages in investment banking, capital markets services, investment management, and investment advisory. The firm is headquartered in Chicago and New York with over 1,400 professionals located in 20 cities...
), conversion of the $2 billion mezzanine debt into equity and warrant, receipt of $650m of new cash from the sale of new equity. In addition to the key highlights, HMH announced its new $100m Innovation Fund, to invest in the next generation of technology for the education industry.
The Irish Times reported that the investments by the then equity holders of EMPG, including HMH's CEO, Barry O'Callaghan
Barry O'Callaghan
Barry O'Callaghan is an Irish businessman, Chairman and CEO of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt , and the Chairman of Education Media and Publishing Group , the Cayman Island holding company for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt....
, private clients of Davy Stockbrokers, Reed Elsevier, and others of over $3.5 billion would be written down to zero. Additionally, the Irish Independent reported that following the restructuring, the investors of EMPG would have a nominal investment in Houghton Mifflin Harcourt via warrants over 5% of the company if it exceeded the $10 billion valuation placed on the company at the time of the merger between Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep and Harcourt. In addition to the warrants in HMH, the EMPG shareholders would continue to own a stake in the international investment vehicle, EMPGI
EMPGI
Education Media and Publishing Group International, more commonly known as EMPGI, is an education company with operations in China, India, Saudi Arabia, and Libya...
which has stakes in China, the Middle East and elsewhere.
The Financial Times reported that no management changes were expected as part of the deal with both the CEO, Barry O'Callaghan
Barry O'Callaghan
Barry O'Callaghan is an Irish businessman, Chairman and CEO of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt , and the Chairman of Education Media and Publishing Group , the Cayman Island holding company for Houghton Mifflin Harcourt....
and the CFO, Michael Muldowney expected to remain in their roles. The Times reported that a new nine-member board was to be created with the CEO the only executive representative, one independent, two representative of Paulson & Co, and one director from each of Apollo, BlackRock, Guggenheim Partners, Fidelity and Avenue Capital.
On 10 March 2010, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced that it had completed its re-capitalization. In addition to a new investment of $ 650 million of equity, the debt levels of the company were reduced by approximately 60% and the annual interest payments by over 75%. According the Irish State Broadcaster, RTE
RTE
RTÉ is the abbreviation for Raidió Teilifís Éireann, the public broadcasting service of the Republic of Ireland.RTE may also refer to:* Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, 25th Prime Minister of Turkey...
, the old equity investors based in Ireland has lost all their investment. The Irish Independent
Irish Independent
The Irish Independent is Ireland's largest-selling daily newspaper that is published in both compact and broadsheet formats. It is the flagship publication of Independent News & Media.-History:...
reported that the old shareholders were denied a shareholders meeting to vote on discuss the restructuring. The former shareholders have been left with warrants over 5% of the company, in the case its value recovers to previous levels.
Awards and accolades
Go George Go!, a mobile app for preschoolers, received the Editor's Choice Award from the Children's Technology Review in 2011.Go Math!, a K–6 product, was named a Reader's Choice Top 100 product by District Administration in 2010.