After Y2K, assuming we're still around, we'll all hearken back to those "innocent" 80's as the "golden age" of ESL publishing. Pretty soon it will be like watching movies from the 30's and 40's. We'll talk about how young and naïve we were. All the throat-cutting will be forgotten in the rush of nostalgia. Actually, some friends and I have already been wistfully reminiscing about the "good old days at PHR." In fact, coinciding with the first Wacky World which appeared at TESOL '96, was the first PHR reunion dinner.

To attend, you had to have worked there, but no longer be employed there. We had close to forty people crying in our beers over yesteryear. There won't be one this year because everyone who was at the dinner has been reunited at either Pearson or Heinle. Well, almost everyone.

So here's an update of the infamous chart from two years ago. Most of this stuff is still pretty accurate. I've added new comments in italics. My apologies in advance to anyone or any company I've ignored or incorrectly represented.

THE INNOCENT 80'S

Mergers/Acquisitions -- and -- Effects on ESL Publishing

HBJ acquires Holt Rinehardt Winston from CBS
HBJ has a college ESL list that it doesn't know what to do with. Today the B and J are gone, and a G has been added; J has already been at two other companies, McGraw Hill and now Pearson.

Prentice Hall acquires ELS, the ESL list only, not the schools.
Prentice Hall gets first international core series and is ready to venture overseas see how innocent it all seems.

Simon and Schuster acquires Prentice Hall
Aaah, If they only knew...Prentice hall gets large capital backing, so it can spend, spend, spend...on buying more companies If you live by fishing, you'll die by being fished.

Hachette acquired Regents
French seek foothold in U.S. marketŠsecretly plan to replace English with French as Lingua Franca.

Regents acquires ALA, the ESL list only, not the schools
Chain schools get out of publishing, as they should. Regents gets commercial ESL software. A lot of good it did them

Prentice Hall International (UK) acquires Pergamon ESL List from Robert Maxwell
An early tycoon must have realized the ESL business was too nuts even for him. Actually, Maxwell had bigger fish to fry. And he would soon be sleeping with the fishes.

Prentice Hall acquires Regents from Hachette
Remember everyone saying that this was the acquisition to end all acquisitions (just like WWI)? Here was the first mega multiple imprint ESL publisher with feet in all market sectors, school, college, adult, and international.

McGraw Hill acquires Random House, ESL list only.
McGraw gets infusion of new ESL product, but still doesn't know where to put it or what to do with it. (they could have asked me, I'd have told them...)

Janus acquires Alemany
Where are they now? Not even the names exist as imprints anymore, except as imprints on our memories.

Prentice Hall Regents acquires Janus Alemany
Such an appetite! Janus was folded into Globe, Alemany into PHR - who couldn't digest it.

Harper and Row (who was Row?) acquires Newbury House
A good example of a sweet innocent little start-up, Newbury House. The owner became a zillionaire, and everyone else was out on the street.

Harper and Row acquire Scott Foresman and Little Brown
Just how little was Brown? Here's Harper with a big old college ESL list and hey! they don't know what to do with it - I'da old them.

Rupert Murdoch, who's still very much with us, acquires Harper and Row, changes name to Harper Collins
Here's Harper, a part of the giant News Corporation, with li'l ol' ESL tucked in there somewhere.

Robert Maxwell acquires Collier MacMillan
Remember how he was always competing with Murdoch?

National Textbook acquires Institute of Modern Languages ESL list
Anybody remember IML? - they had great Vocational ESL materials...

Litton acquires American Book
Litton a conglomerate gets tiny ESL list with one core series, they are baffled, but not for long. Atlantis ESL publishing company created - If you're going to use mythology, why pick a name that suggests doom?

International Thomson acquires Litton Publishing
Atlantis, sinks back into the netherworld after one year and Heinle & Heinle becomes repository of all Thomson ESL product. Not the first time mythology repeats itself.

MILLENIUM MADNESSŠTHE 90'S

Pearson Group acquires Addison Wesley and Longman
Here's where the fun really begins. Pearson, I believe, already owned Longman, then acquired Addison Wesley. Two giants, one in the US one in the UK are merged, proving that two heads aren't better than one. So why not add more?

McGraw Hill acquires MacMillan school division, creates Glenco which acquires Scott Foresman Adult Ed list from Harper Collins
Old, old list finds new new home. Now that they've got it, what do they do with it? deja vu all over again

Prentice Hall International acquires Cassell ELT list
List has a few American English series. The Yanks have the audacity to enter the British English market. Brits in an uproar. But not for long (If you can't beat Œem, buy Œem!)

Heinle & Heinle (ITP) acquires MacMillan US ESL list.
Heinle starts to grow, and grow, and grow, and...oops

Heinle & Heinle acquires Newbury House, Little brown, Scott Foresman college ESL lists from Harper Collins.
Has already incorporated Wadsworth ESL titles from ITP Heinle ends up with more college ESL imprints than any other company (so far) Since they are ESL specialists, they know what to do with the titlesŠkill the imprints.

Longman acquires Lingual House
Small Japanese/American ESL publisher gets swallowed. the owners once again prove that you can make money in ESL publishing...sell out!

Prentice Hall International acquires part of MacMillan UK ELT list.
Gets renamed "Phoenix" - Ashes to ashes

General Cinema acquires HBJ, changes name to Harcourt General
Future of ESL list is uncertain at HG. All editorial, sales and marketing is handled by an outside consultant.

Longman UK acquires Collins ELT, and two years later, Nelson ELT lists
The Brits are clearly not immune to the feeding frenzy.

Viacom, a small media entertainment company acquires Paramount, a much bigger media entertainment company which also owns Simon & Schuster and Prentice Hall
The "parent" knows nothing about ESL publishing, but that's OK, Œcause who does? That's entertainment...

Prentice Hall acquires MacMillan Higher Education list PHR gets EFL video series, but will it fly in the U.S. (not likelyŠoh well, it's only money) Addison Wesley Longman acquires Scott Foresman school list from Harper Collins A new powerhouse in school publishing emerges, and this time they know what to do with it.

HERE'S WHAT'S HAPPENED SINCE MARCH '97 (that I know about, 'course I've been out of touch)

Harcourt General acquires Steck-Vaughn After shuffling the deck a bit. All the school and adult ESL goes to Steck. College ESL stays with Holt

ELS schools, acquired by Berlitz, in turn acquired by SONY
It was fun while it lasted. Look for re-entry into software and /or text publishing

The Tribune Corporation, parent of Contemporary, acquires National Textbook Company
It's all in Chicago anyway. Why not keep it there? Besides all those Scott people who are out of work need someplace to go.

Scholastic buys Mary Glasgow
Yes, there were/are a few independent ELT publishers left in the UK. Ol' Mar' was one of them

Alemany sold off in dribs and drabs to Alta and Delta by PHR
Both of these distributors are now publishing on their own as well. Someday, they might buy us all, after they duke it out between themselves.

Von Holspring, which already owned MacMillan UK, buys Heinemann...
The Germans love global publishing. Bertlesmann, which owns Bantam, Doubleday, Dell and Random House among others, controls 70% of the N.Y. Times best seller list ...and sells

St. Martins' ESL list to Cambridge University Press
Yes, St. Martin's was owned by MacMillan UK. Guess they felt that American English wasn't worth the trouble. They're probably right. CUP gets to play mogul.

Pearson acquires Simon & Schuster
La Piece d'Resistance. In case you don't remember, these are the guys who already own Addison, Wesley, Longman, Scott, and Foresman. Now they get Prentice, Hall and Regents. And about 65-70% of the US ESL market as well. It's now called Pearson ELT.