Mediaweek (Vol 14, No 5): B&N and Paper Source, Modern Econ, Wiley Annual Report, McGraw Hill Sells +More

Efforts to modernize the teaching of economics (The Economist- subscription)

Students say that inequality is the most pressing economic problem of the day, according to a paper by Samuel Bowles of the Santa Fe Institute and Wendy Carlin of University College, London. But in many textbooks, they argue, the topic is merely appended to the core curriculum. In 1993 a study found race and gender bias in introductory textbooks.

McGraw Hill in $4.5B Deal (Reuters)

Platinum Equity would acquire textbook publishing and educational technology company McGraw Hill for $4.5 billion from Apollo Global Management Inc (APO.N), the companies said on Tuesday.

Founded in 1888, New York-based McGraw Hill generates over $1 billion in annual revenue from its digital products, which include learning tools and platforms for schools and colleges, the companies said in a joint statement.

Since Apollo acquired McGraw Hill in 2013, the company has grown its digital portfolio from less than a quarter of its total revenue to over 60% now, the companies said. It completed six digital-focused takeovers during this time.

The Training is Coming from Inside the CMS (NYTimes)

The work was exhaustive and time intensive. And, because the team spent so much time training reporters and editors on how to use Oak, that left less time to train them to master different story formats, move swiftly during breaking news, make stories more visual and other skills needed in the new tool.

To help make Oak training more efficient, the N.D.S. and Oak teams launched a project aimed at building guidance — such as tooltips, helper text and best practices — directly into Oak. The goal: Give reporters and editors the help they need, in the places where they work, at the moments they need it most.

Barnes & Noble owner to buy Paper Source out of bankruptcy (Trib)

The acquisition will let Paper Source “emerge from Chapter 11 with the support of a well-capitalized owner committed to the development and growth of the business,” Elliott said in a news release Tuesday.

The purchase price was more than $91.5 million, including $40 million in cash and $51.6 million in loans, according to bankruptcy court records.

The Thought Police Come for Individual Lines of Dialogue in Novels (National Review)

Tying an author to the views expressed by fictional characters represents a breathtaking new advance for the cause of asininity in our culture. Hilderbrand’s response should have been to remind all readers that Norman Lear is not Archie Bunker, and her publishing house Little, Brown should have clarified that it does not submit its published books for re-editing by the mob.

Wiley released 4thQ numbers (Wiley)

FISCAL YEAR 2021 SUMMARY

• GAAP results: Revenue of $1,942 million, Operating Income of $186 million, EPS of $2.63, and Cash Flow from Operations of $360 million
• Adjusted results (at constant currency): Revenue +4%, EBITDA +16%, and EPS +27%
• Free Cash Flow of $257 million, up 48% from prior year
• Digital products and tech-enabled services now at 82% of total revenue, up from 80% a year ago

 Four Myths about Building a Software Business (McKinsey)

The attraction is obvious: the value that leading companies have captured by shifting to digital business models. Moreover, nearly two-thirds of companies expect that the digitization of their core businesses will be (or already is) essential to remaining economically viable. Only about 8 percent of companies believe that their current business models will remain viable if they don’t digitize. But making the shift to digital requires not only upgrading your IT and tech infrastructure, but also transforming your entire business model through creating, or even becoming, a software business (in whole or part), scaling a software offering, or using software as the core of your competitive advantage.

But while getting software into the core of your business model—or launching entirely new software businesses—might seem an obvious play in the current business environment, that doesn’t mean it will be easy. In reality, there are few successful cases of nonsoftware companies building software businesses (Exhibit 2) and many notable failures, including from otherwise high-performing companies. Of the approximately $500 billion in total global software revenues in the year 2019, nonsoftware natives captured only 20 percent. Nontechnology players, for their part, brought in only 6 percent (Exhibit 3).

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