Fact Check: Does the Robert Maxwell Estate Still Control Mcgraw Hill Textbooks?
The kernel of truth behind the rumor dates back to the aggressive media consolidation boom of the late 1980s. Robert Maxwell controlled Maxwell Communication Corporation (MCC), a sprawling transatlantic conglomerate that owned the British tabloid The Daily Mirror, the New York Daily News, and scientific publisher Pergamon Press.
In November 1988, Maxwell won a hostile, $2.6 billion takeover battle for American publishing house Macmillan Inc. Macmillan had a massive footprint in primary and secondary educational materials. McGraw-Hill, meanwhile, operated a competing, capital-intensive textbook division.
Rather than battle head-to-head in an increasingly expensive market, the two corporations struck a deal. In 1989, Maxwell Communication Corporation and McGraw-Hill pooled their kindergarten through 12th-grade educational publishing assets to form the Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Publishing Company.
The transaction was a 50-50 joint venture, not an acquisition of McGraw-Hill by Maxwell. McGraw-Hill remained an independent, publicly traded entity that retained full ownership of its college publishing division, financial services, and flagship credit-rating service, Standard & Poor's. Maxwell held no equity in McGraw-Hill itself.
