Reed Elsevier picks up, discards
Anglo-Dutch publisher/information company Reed Elsevier, playing yet another hand of corporate gin rummy, announced an acquisition and a deacquisition. Reed Elsevier owns legal database Lexis/Nexis and has other publishing ventures, including a major line of scientific, technological, and health publications, books and journals, both in print and online.
First, it announced it would buy US-based risk-management analytics specialist ChoicePoint. The deal was for $3.5 billion. ChoicePoint consults with insurers and other financial institutions, calculating and controlling risk. Its activities include background checking, drug testing, fraud verification, and customer research. ChoicePoint was spun off itself from credit reporting giant Equifax.
Reed Elsevier plans to merge ChoicePoint with its own Lexis/Nexis Risk Information and Analytics Group. The move will make the company the leader in that field.
The company also said it would divest its Reed Business Information branch. Reed Business Information publishes Variety, Publishers Weekly, Broadcasting & Cable, Electronic News, and over 130 other trade publications. Some reckon the division could sell for $2 billion. Reportedly, Reed Elsevier is eager to get out of the business of selling ad space, preferring high-cost subscriptions. It is also part of a move from printed matter to online information.
In 2007, Reed Elsevier sold its education division, which included the Harcourt and Holt Rinehart textbook divisions, as well as testing services, Part went to Houghton Mifflin, part to Pearson. Reed Elsevier had acquired Harcourt in 2001.
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