In remarks at UBS Warburg's annual media conference, Jean-Marie Messier, chairman of Vivendi Universal, said that the company's Houghton Mifflin subsidiary would soon be a major publisher not only of English-language educational materials, but of Spanish programs as well. "When you look at the U.S., you see a bilingual market," Messier told analysts. To help HM increase its output of Spanish-language product, it will work with Spanish publishers owned by Vivendi, Messier said.
The first Spanish-language materials will be ready for publication in 2002. The first product due out is a Spanish-language edition of HM's k—6 reading series, Houghton Mifflin Reading. HM is using materials from Vivendi's Anaya publishing subsidiary in the program's anthologies. The Spanish edition of Houghton Mifflin Reading is expected to be ready for the California reading adoption slated to occur next year.
An HM spokesperson said the publisher is also working on a number of other Spanish-language initiatives, which include translating college texts for sale in Spain and Latin America; translating materials from its supplementary education division Great Source; and publishing Spanish-language versions of titles from HM's trade division.
Messier said the integration of HM "is going well," and he expects the company to exceed its performance target for 2001 and do well again in 2002.
