Clarivate (ex Thomson Reuters company) announced their intention to acquire Proquest. From the
press release:
Clarivate plc (NYSE: CLVT),
a global leader in providing trusted information and insights to
accelerate the pace of innovation, today announced a definitive
agreement to acquire ProQuest, a leading global software, data and
analytics provider to academic, research and national institutions, from
Cambridge Information Group, a family-owned investment firm, and other
partners including Atairos, for $5.3 billion, including refinancing of ProQuest debt. The consideration for the acquisition is approximately $4.0 billion in cash and $1.3 billion
of equity. The transaction, which is subject to customary closing
conditions, including regulatory approvals, is expected to close during
the third quarter of 2021.
With a mission to accelerate and improve education, research and
innovation, ProQuest delivers content and technology solutions to over
25,000 academic, corporate and research organizations in more than 150
countries. The acquisition will establish Clarivate as a premier
provider of end-to-end research intelligence solutions and significantly
expand its content and data offerings as the addition of ProQuest will
materially complement the Clarivate Research Intelligence Cloud™.
Why We Remember More By Reading (The Conversation)
The benefits of print particularly shine through when experimenters
move from posing simple tasks – like identifying the main idea in a
reading passage – to ones that require mental abstraction – such as drawing inferences from a text. Print reading also improves the likelihood of recalling details – like “What was the color of the actor’s hair?” – and remembering where in a story events occurred – “Did the accident happen before or after the political coup?”
Studies show that both grade school students and college students
assume they’ll get higher scores on a comprehension test if they have
done the reading digitally. And yet, they actually score higher when
they have read the material in print before being tested.
Educators need to be aware that the method used for standardized testing can affect results. Studies of Norwegian tenth graders and U.S. third through eighth graders
report higher scores when standardized tests were administered using
paper. In the U.S. study, the negative effects of digital testing were
strongest among students with low reading achievement scores, English
language learners and special education students.
New Order: Audio First (WSJ - Paid)
“The Bomber Mafia” is part of an effort by Pushkin Industries Inc.,
an audio company that Mr. Gladwell co-founded, to become a major
provider of highly produced “original” audiobooks. Such projects sound
more like podcasts than traditional audiobooks, since they often feature
original scores, as well as archival and interview tape.
Industry giants including Bertelsmann SE’s Penguin Random
House and Amazon.com Inc.’s Audible also produce high-production
original audiobooks with sound effects and a cast of multiple actors,
representing significant competition for Pushkin.
RBmedia Acquires McGraw Hill Professional Audiobook Publishing Business
RBmedia, the largest audiobook producer in
the world, today announced the acquisition of McGraw Hill Professional’s
audiobook publishing business, which includes its catalog of previously
published titles, as well as a multi-year agreement to become the
exclusive audio publisher for all of McGraw Hill Professional’s new
titles.
“We are excited to participate more fully in
the rapidly expanding audiobook category by partnering with RBmedia,”
said Scott Grillo, President of McGraw Hill Professional. “Leveraging
RBmedia’s unique abilities in spoken audio will help us reach business
and trade professionals and all those striving to advance their
education or careers. RBmedia creates exceptional audio productions that
serve our authors well and will help them monetize audio rights at a
high level. Our publishing program will be stronger because of this
unique collaboration.”
Note: Overdrive purchased RB Digital the company's library platform in 2020 (Press Release)
Who Deserves a Book Deal - Just about Anyone? (Vox)
Is the industry’s purpose to make the widest array of
viewpoints available to the largest audience possible? Is it to curate
only the most truthful, accurate, and high-quality books to the public?
Or is it to sell as many books as possible, and to try to stay out of
the spotlight while doing so? Should a publisher ever care about any
part of an author’s life besides their ability to write a book?
These questions are becoming more and more urgent within
the private realms of publishing, amid debates over which authors
deserve the enormous platform and resources that publishers can offer —
and when it’s acceptable for publishers to decide to take those
resources away.
Within the media watering hole of Twitter, it can look as
though these concerns are being imposed from the outside: by
progressive authors calling on their publishers to abstain from signing
right-wing writers; by angry YA fans and Goodreads readers; by petitions
and boycotts and special interest groups. But the conversation about
who deserves a publishing deal is also happening within the
glass-and-steel walls of the industry itself.
Employed but Pissed at Simon & Schuster (The New Republic)
Inside Merger Mania: (The Wrap - Register)
On the tail of massive acquisitions in the entertainment and media
space, such as AT&T’s $85 billion purchase of Time Warner in 2018,
thew 2019 re-merger of ViacomCBS and Disney’s $71 billion acquisition of
21st Century Fox in 2019, major book publishers are embarking on their
own consolidations in an effort to cement their place in an increasingly
competitive environment. But are any of these major acquisitions
anti-competitive, as critics have argued?
*******
Are you considering an investment in new technology? Check out my report on software and services providers.
(PubTech Report)
Michael Cairns is a business strategy consultant and executive. He
can be reached at michael.cairns@infomediapartners.com or (908) 938 4889
for project work or executive roles.
On May 17, Clarivate announce a proposed deal to acquire Ann Arbor based Proquest. (See here). In the last few days, Clarivate has reported more details including 2020 full year financials for Proquest. 
