MHE Cuts 304 Jobs
As part of a companywide downsizing at the McGraw-Hill Cos., the McGraw-Hill Education group has eliminated 304 positions, about 3% of its workforce, and is taking a $16.3-million charge to account for the changes. In all, MHC is cutting 611 jobs worldwide. The cuts at MHE came in both its higher education/professional/international group as well as in the school publishing group.
Raincoast Exits Publishing
Vancouver-based Raincoast Books, the Canadian copublisher and distributor of the Harry Potter series, is closing its Canadian publishing operations in order to focus on its distribution and wholesale businesses. Raincoast represents around 50 domestic and foreign-owned publishers, and more than 80% of its business is generated by importing books from the U.S. Raincoast will close its domestic publishing program after the spring 2008 season and will eliminate about 20 positions.
The company will also consolidate its warehousing space, closing its smaller secondary warehouse in Mississauga, Ontario, by March 31, 2008.
Harcourt San Diego Office Closing
As part of the integration of the Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt trade operations, the San Diego office of Harcourt Trade will close by June 30; some of the 65 employees will be given the opportunity to relocate to offices in Boston and New York. In addition, Betsy Groban, who has led the HM children's group since 2006, has been named senior v-p and publisher, HMH Children's Book Group. Lori Benton, who had headed the Harcourt children's division, is leaving at the end of the month.
Cully Joins B&T
Baker & Taylor has appointed David Cully to the newly created position of executive v-p of merchandising at Baker & Taylor Marketing Services (BTMS). Cully, whose background includes spots at Barnes & Noble and S&S, will report to B&T president Arnie Wight. In his new role, Cully will manage all merchandising and purchasing functions at BTMS, as well as at B&T's new specialty markets group.
CQ Press for Sale
The Times Publishing Co., parent of Congressional Quarterly Inc. and the St. Petersburg Times, has put CQ's book publishing arm, CQ Press, up for sale. The unit publishes about 100 titles annually and has a 600-title backlist. CQ Press publishes for the library, college and professional markets, and has 135 employees.
Macmillan Buys Hayden-McNeil
Macmillan has acquired the custom textbook publisher Hayden-McNeil Publishing. H-M has 30 employees and specializes in custom college texts in science. The company will become part of Macmillan's college publishing group.
New Penguin China Rep
Azia Cheng has joined Penguin as a sales representative in China. She will be representing Penguin Books UK and Penguin Group (USA) as well as Penguin's agencies Bloomsbury, A&C Black and V&A. She is currently working out of the Penguin China office in Beijing, but will be moving to Shanghai. Previously, Cheng worked for CNPIEC in Shanghai.
