Fred Smith on Pearson Mergers and a Poem

Fred and others have been tracking the Pearson merger machine. See below Fred's poem. It has been noted that the Penguin- Random House merger involves Bertelsmann, the company that Klein left (most likely tossed) before he was rescued by Bloomberg and made chancellor.

Pearson continues to merge with other publishers and business partners. I just got a Pearson key chain as a prize in my CrackerJack box.

And with Pearson's buyout of Hallmark, I fear there will be a special line of cards to celebrate April Testing Day and the annual Jolly June Field Test Festival. To wit:

To Our Favorite Teacher

Thank you for all you do
Every day of the school year,
Getting us ready to pass each test,
Telling us we need not fear;

Getting us past the stress we feel,
Wiping away our doubts and tears,
Assuring us this is the way to go
For college success and good careers.

Long live Pearson and SED,
Grand masters of our fate;
Another year is coming
and the best tests yet;
We can hardly wait.

~Fred Smith

Merger update: European Commission clears Penguin Random House combination

April 05, 2013

Pearson and Bertelsmann today announce that they have been notified by the European Commission that it has approved the proposed merger of Penguin and Random House, without conditions.
The two companies announced their agreement to combine Penguin and Random House in October 2012. The proposed merger is currently under review by a number of other regulatory authorities around the world.  To date, approval has been granted by the US Department of Justice in the US, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and The New Zealand Commerce Commission. Pearson and Bertelsmann continue to expect the transaction to close in the second half of 2013, after all necessary approvals have been received
Following completion, Bertelsmann will own 53% and Pearson 47% of Penguin Random House. It will encompass all of Random House and Penguin Group’s publishing units in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa, as well as Penguin’s operations in China and Random House’s publishers in Spain and Latin America.  Pearson and Bertelsmann believe that the combined organisation, the world’s leading consumer publishing company, will have a stronger platform and greater resources to invest in rich content, new digital publishing models and high-growth emerging markets.
ENDS

For more information

Pearson

Simon Mays-Smith/ Tom Glover: + 44 (0) 207 010 2310

Penguin

Toby Jones: + 44 (0) 7977 191 686