As part of the McGraw-Hill Cos.'s companywide initiative that will eliminate 925 positions--5% of its workforce--approximately 575 employees are being laid off in the publisher's education group. The majority of the cuts will come in MHC's international operations as the company discontinues local publishing activities in favor of consolidating those activities at a few sites. Publishing for the Spanish market, for example, is being consolidated into two locations, Mexico City and Madrid.
The company is also closing its business training courseware operations. The lifelong-learning unit delivered online business training to corporations. A spokesperson for MHC said the company remains interested in the corporate training field, but will put its resources in another part of the market. A few additional cuts are taking place in new-media operations.
MHC will take a total restructuring charge of $159 million, consisting of $129 million in asset write-downs and $30 million in severance costs. The charge for the education group will be $62 million.
