The saga of the Blackwell family’s quarrel on how best to use their business assets seems to have ended with a degree of harmony, following the successful bid of £572m by John Wiley & Sons for Blackwell Publishing.
The long-running feud between controlling family members of Blackwell Publishing it would seem have at least now been calmed. Financial newspaper the FT reports that after initial moves by Taylor & Francis to buy the organisation in 2002 for £300m backed by Blackwell’s then group chairman, Toby Blackwell, were originally scuppered by other major shareholders in the family, including Nigel Blackwell, the group’s current chairman.
Difficulties also arose when a deal to sell the Blackwell book shop chain, a separate company, to Blackwell Publishing, saw several family members in key share ownership positions incite another rebellion to keep control of the chain in 2004. Toby Blackwell’s now stands to make £95m to Nigel Blackwell’s £100m. Electronic Publishing Services (EPS) pointing out that the current deal has vindicated his original position in its latest report.
After the official announcement of the acquisition, market commentators are looking with interest into the implications for both companies with EPS, stating “Blackwell will provide Wiley with higher exposure in the higher education market with its textbooks and course materials; add some weight in professional publishing and make Wiley a much bigger stake holder in STM and the journals market.”
The deal which is due for completion in early 2007 will ensure that Wiley becomes an even bigger player in scientific publishing circles, second only to Reed Elsevier.
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