Murdoch's News Corp Nears Deal To Acquire Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Consumer Arm: WSJ

News Corp NWSA is close to acquiring the consumer arm of educational publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Co HMHC, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

What Happened: The deal, whose financial terms were not disclosed, would help Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp add a portfolio of high-profile novels from authors such as George Orwell, Philip Roth and J.R.R. Tolkien to HarperCollins, its publishing arm. 

The deal could be made public on Monday and would be the New York-based News Corp’s second acquisition in less than a week.

Boston-based Houghton will use the cash from the deal to pay down debt and focus on its digital-first strategy in education, according to the report.

News Corp, which owns the Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Co and other news organizations in the United Kingdom and Australia, has been of late shedding its non-core assets and is now looking at expansion through select acquisitions.

Why It Matters: The media company is focusing investments on growth areas including books, digital real estate, and the Dow Jones unit, the report noted. The deal comes at a time when most media organizations globally are on a cost-cutting drive to tide over the COVID-19 impact.

Last year, News Corp moved to sell its coupon-publishing unit News America Marketing and video-advertising platform Unruly.

The media group announced plans to buy Investor’s Business Daily for $275 million last week, adding another publication catering to investors to its portfolio. The Dow Jones unit, which also publishes MarketWatch and Barron’s, will operate Investor’s Business Daily.

Price Action: Shares of News Corp, which have risen 41.6% so far this year, closed 1.85% lower at $25.7 on Friday and those of Houghton were down 0.17% at $5.98.

Photo by Edgar Zuniga Jr. on Flickr

Posted In: M&ANewsSmall CapMediaRupert Murdoch
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