`For Dummies' publisher adds 3,000 titles
San Francisco Business Times - by Matthew Pfeffer Business Times Staff Writer
IDG Books Worldwide Inc. has acquired the MacMillan General Reference Group from U.K.-based Pearson plc for $83 million, continuing its global distribution and branding push.
The purchase gives Foster City-based IDGB, publishers of the "... for Dummies" series and Cliffs Notes book summaries, more than 3,000 additional titles. Those include Frommer's Travel Guides (and the frommers.com web site), J.K. Lasser Tax Guides, and Betty Crocker and Weight Watchers cookbooks.
"Macmillan is a well-branded company in the reference space," said IDGB President Steven Berkowitz. IDGB will leverage Macmillan's established presence -- and editorial talent -- in travel, pet care, cookbooks and other distribution areas to expand the Dummies line, Berkowitz said. The relative ease of consolidating the two companies' back-office functions and increasing efficiency made the acquisition more attractive, he added.
Berkowitz said Macmillan's strong brands fit well in IDGB's growth strategy. "Our focus is on branding," he said. "Business is about repeat customers. Branding makes customers want to come back to you."
Publicly traded IDGB had revenue of $140 million in its fiscal year 1998, and $82 million in its first two quarters in 1999. It acquired Lincoln, Neb.-based Cliffs Notes for $17 million in December 1998, and has opened offices in Canada, Singapore and Australia in the last nine months.
Earlier this summer Pearson plc also sold San Francisco-based publisher Jossey-Bass Inc. to New York-based John Wiley & Sons Inc. for $82 million.
The acquisition is expected to close by the end of July.
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