PW: TM Stands by Decision to Sell Mosby, Bender

Apr 20, 1998

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TM Stands by Decision to Sell Mosby, Bender
-- 4/20/98
The announcement last October that Reed Elsevier and Wolters Kluwer were planning to merge was the last step in a series of actions that convinced Times Mirror that it should exit the professional book business, the company said in its annual report. The Reed announcement came after TM's April decision to combine Matthew Bender and Mosby into one unit, a decision that prompted 16 of Mosby's 19 top executives to leave the medical publisher.
With the turmoil at Mosby and the consolidation in the legal publishing business that left Bender far behind the leaders, the Reed announcement caused TM executives to believe they could not compete in either the medical or legal market. The collapse of the Reed-WK merger was not enough to change the minds of the TM executives, and in fact may have convinced them more than ever that they should sell Bender and Mosby, since both Reed and WK were likely to be on the lookout for new acquisitions. TM said it expects to have a deal done by summer.

According to TM's 10-k filing, sales at Mosby and Bender rose about 12% in 1997 to approximately $498 million. The company's share of equity from the Shepard's joint venture project it operated with Lexis-Nexis generated $13.1 million, TM reported.
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A version of this article appeared in the 04/20/1998 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: