Richard Sarnoff, president of Random House Ventures, sees Random House's purchase of a minority stake in American Reading Company as an investment in Random's future, similar to the company's recent investment in Vocel, which delivers information to cell phones. "People have to learn to read," Sarnoff noted, something he believes ARC is well positioned to accomplish.
Based in King of Prussia, Pa., ARC is the developer of a standards-based reading system designed to improve students' reading skills and to raise reading scores. ARC uses a proprietary system to gauge the reading levels for about 16,000 titles. The books are color-coded and sold to schools for use by students in independent reading programs.
ARC's reading system has been used by 150,000 students and company founder Jane Hileman's goal is to reach one million students within five years. ARC will continue to buy books from all publishers, and Random will play no role in the management and day-to-day operations of the company.
