In a move that will combine two privately held firms that specialize in creating custom course materials for higher education, XanEdu and SharedBook, which includes AcademicPub, its self-service coursepack division, will merge. The deal is expected to be completed in the next 30 days.
The new corporate entity will operate under the XanEdu brand and XanEdu CEO John DeBoer will continue as CEO. SharedBook and AcademicPub CEO Carol Vanderlip will become a member of the XanEdu board of directors and the staff of both companies will report to DeBoer. The merger will include SharedBook’s AcademicPub as well as non-education operations like SharedBooks’ Blog2Print division.
XanEdu works with faculty and college bookstores at more than a 1,000 institutions to create legal customized course materials in print and digital formats. Launched in 2013, SharedBook’s AcademicPub is a self-service online platform that allows faculty to locate material, clear permissions and easily create customized coursepacks in minutes.
"The combined value proposition for customers is immense," said DeBoer. "Separately, we each solve different industry needs. Together, we become the best end-to-end provider in the market, providing both full-service and do-it-yourself options.”
