Thomson Sells and Buys
Posted On May 16 2007If you thought the world of Mergers & Acquisitions was hard to follow in the library systems marketplace, well buckle up for content providers. The Thomson Corporation has sold off its assets in Thomson Learning to Apax Partners and OMERS Capital Partners, for a total of about $7.75 billion in cash. (I love seeing “in cash.” . . . “Hey, can you break a trillion? I left my billions in my other wallet.”) The transaction includes Thomson Gale, Wadsworth, Delmar Learning, Brooks/Cole, and South-Western, and comes as no surprise since the intent was announced last fall. Details of the plan …
Google Acquires OCLC, World Domination Near Total
Posted On Apr 1 2007What do you get when the 800-pound gorilla mates with the elephant in the room? Well, it looks as though you might just get the OCLC division of Google, Inc. The Mountain View, California, search giant has announced that it will acquire 100% of OCLC, the library cooperative based in Dublin, Ohio. The news was reported today on the ALA TechSource blog. Screenshot provided by ALA TechsourceThe news should come as a shock to the library community, which has waffled for several years between loathing their supposed competition and acquiescing to Google’s leading position in the search market. On the other …
More Leadership Changes and Mergers
Posted On Feb 28 2007One rarely has time to get bored with the ILS industry these days. VTLS “Repositions” VTLS has announced that industry veteran Carl Grant will be stepping down as president and COO. Grant is completing the term of his contract and notified the VTLS Board of Directors that he “plans to move in a new direction in his career.” Vinod Chachra will resume his role as the company’s president and continue as CEO. Koha Changes Hands And just in case you thought mergers and acquisitions were only for proprietary software…LibLime has just acquired the Koha Division of New Zealand-based Katipo Communications, …