Wiley to acquire Blackwell Publishing

John Wiley & Sons is to acquire Blackwell Publishing for £572m. The announcement of the deal today ends a long period of speculation about the future of the STM publishing unit within the Blackwell family-owned group of companies.

Based in Oxford, Blackwell Publishing's revenue in 2005 was about £210m, or $380m, which is about the same as Wiley's global Scientific, Technical and Medical (STM) business. Blackwell's publishing programs include journals, books and online content in the sciences, technology, medicine, the social sciences and humanities. Blackwell Ltd, the book library service and retailing business, is a separate entity and is not part of the acquisition.

"The combination of Blackwell Publishing and Wiley, two of the world's most respected global publishers, is a rare opportunity with highly favorable, long-term strategic implications," said William J. Pesce, Wiley's President & Chief Executive Officer. "We look forward, with genuine enthusiasm, to collaborating with our new colleagues at Blackwell Publishing. Together, we will deliver even greater value than we could as separate entities to all stakeholders - our customers, authors, society partners and shareholders. The combined business will publish approximately 1,250 scholarly peer-reviewed journals and an extensive collection of books with
global appeal. This deep reservoir of must-have content will be delivered to customers in print and electronically, advancing our goal of providing
more access to more content to more people than ever before in the history of the two companies."

Rene Olivieri, CEO of Blackwell Publishing (Holdings) Ltd., added, " Combining Blackwell and Wiley, with our complementary strengths, presents a unique opportunity to create a global publishing business with deep
strength in every major academic and professional field. Furthermore, there is outstanding cultural compatibility between our two firms that will not only smooth a successful transition to a single business, but also
provide a platform for enhanced capabilities for the publishing partners and customers of the combined companies."

Nigel Blackwell, Chairman of Blackwell Publishing (Holdings) Ltd ., said, "Wiley and Blackwell are two great firms sharing the same cultural values, and in particular, a common publishing ethic. Marrying them together makes perfect sense both commercially and for the benefit of the global academic and professional community."