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Pearson Pearson has acquired Wall Street English, the Chinese provider of language training services, for £97m, in order to expand its Longman Schools division. 16-Apr-2009 Pearson is planning to shed up to 80 jobs at the Financial Times newspaper, including 20 editorial jobs. 13-Jan-2009 Pearson is to acquire Fronter, the Norwegian online learning company with gross assets of £6.6m and offices in ten countries. 11-Dec-2008 Pearson is to sell its US-based data management business to M&F Worldwide for £167m. 18-Feb-2008 Pearson has acquired Money-Media, the US-based provider of money management information services, for undisclosed terms. 07-Jan-2008 Pearson has agreed to sell Groupe Les Echos, the French financial newspaper publisher, to LVMH for £167m. 07-Nov-2007 Pearson is to acquire eCollege, the US-based provider of online distance learning courses, for £241m. 15-May-2007 Pearson is to acquire Harcourt Education International of Oxford and Harcourt Assessment of the US from Reed Elsevier for £476m, in order to expand its educational publishing business. 07-May-2007 Pearson is to sell its government services division to Veritas Capital of the US for £340m, and is now looking to spend up to £280m on bolt-on acquisitions and the expansion of its existing operations. 12-Dec-2006 Pearson is planning to relocate its London-based business magazine operations to the same offices as the Financial Times newspaper. 25-Oct-2006 Pearson is to acquire Mergermarket, the provider of financial information to investment banks with offices in London, New York and Hong Kong, for £101m. 09-Aug-2006 Pearson is to restructure the editorial operations of the Financial Times, with the loss of up to 50 jobs. 12-Jul-2006 Pearson has acquired Chancery Software, the US student software company, for undisclosed terms. 01-Jun-2006 Pearson is to acquire an 80% stake in Paravia Bruno Mondadori Editori, the Italian publisher of educational books, for undisclosed terms. 08-May-2006 Pearson is to acquire National Evaluation Systems, the US provider of teacher certification tests, for an estimated £73m. 26-Apr-2006 Pearson is to acquire Promissor, the US-based professional examinations company with 130 test centres, for £23m. 25-Jan-2006 Pearson is to acquire AGS Publishing, the US educational publisher, from WRC Media for £148m. 24-Jun-2005 Pearson has sold its 79% stake in Recoletos, the Spanish newspaper publisher, to a management buy-in for £513m. 15-Dec-2004 Pearson is forming a business publishing joint venture with Wharton of the US, and expects to publish about 20 books a year. 19-Feb-2004 Pearson has acquired LessonLab, the US developer of education software, for undisclosed terms. 19-Sep-2003 Pearson is to shed an unspecified number of the 600 commercial and production staff at the Financial Times newspaper. 28-Jul-2003 Pearson is to invest £20m in a joint venture with Edexcel, which will administer public examinations under the name of London Qualifications. 02-May-2003 Pearson is in talks with the Department for Education and Skills about the acquisition of a stake in the Edexcel examinations board. 14-Apr-2003 Pearson has acquired S&P ComStock from McGraw-Hill for £74m, in order to expand its 60%-owned market data services subsidiary Interactive Data Corporation. 17-Jan-2003 Pearson is in talks with Dow Jones about the possibility of merging their newspaper printing and distribution operations in Europe, in order to cut costs. 30-Dec-2002 Pearson is to launch a new book publishing venture in Ireland through its Penguin division, and has expanded its US educational business with the acquisition of the art history textbook list of Harry N Abrams. 14-Aug-2002 Pearson is considering plans to combine its Lutterworth and Heathrow warehouses onto a single 500,000 sq ft site, either in the Thames Valley or the Midlands. 27-May-2002 Pearson is planning to auction off its FT Business division, which includes a number of finance magazines, and is expected to raise up to £70m. 26-Feb-2002 Pearson is to shed 49 jobs in its Dorling Kindersley and Penguin book publishing operations, in order to forge closer links between the two businesses. 26-Nov-2001 Pearson is investing £3.4m in a joint venture with CTV Media to provide English language training programmes in China, in preparation for the 2008 Olympics. 20-Nov-2001 Pearson is to shed up to 150 jobs in a new cost-cutting exercise at the Financial Times. 18-Oct-2001 Pearson has sold its FT Energy publishing business to McGraw-Hill for about £59m. 06-Sep-2001 Pearson is forming a joint venture with IBM to develop interactive learning services for the home, and trials will take place in the US and a number of European countries. 23-Apr-2001 Pearson is to shed 40 jobs in its Financial Times internet business, which will affect the technology, marketing and product management functions. 06-Apr-2001 Pearson is putting its newsletters business up for sale, and expects to raise about £85m. 13-Oct-2000 Pearson is to acquire National Computer Systems, the US educational services group, in a £1.7bn deal being funded by a rights issue. 01-Aug-2000 Pearson is to close the recently-acquired Family Learning division of Dorling Kindersley, which will affect up to 13,000 people who sold the books on a part-time basis. 21-Jul-2000 Pearson is planning to float Ricoletos, its Spanish newspaper subsidiary, with a valuation of about £1.3bn. 13-Jul-2000 Pearson has acquired The Forum Corporation, the US management training company, for £60m, in order to expand its FT Knowledge subsidiary and develop a global education business. 07-Jul-2000 Pearson is forming a joint venture with Pacific Century Cyber Works to develop interactive education channels for Asian TV and online networks. 03-Jul-2000 Pearson is acquiring an 87% stake in Family Education Network, the US online education company, for £85m. 30-Jun-2000 Pearson is to acquire Talkback Productions, the independent television production company, for £62m. 15-Jun-2000 Pearson is said to be planning to merge its TV business with CLT-Ufa, in order to create a pan-European TV and radio group worth more than £12bn. 07-Apr-2000 Pearson and Carlton Communications are in discussions to acquire TalkBack Productions, the producer of TV comedy programmes. 03-Apr-2000 Pearson is launching a £311m takeover bid for Dorling Kindersley, and aims to combine the business with its Penguin book publishing division. 31-Mar-2000 Pearson has sold its 50% stake in the AFX news service to Agence France Presse for a small consideration. 10-Mar-2000 Pearson is forming an alliance with AOL to develop an internet-based education network, and has also announced the acquisition of minority stakes in a number of online educational companies. 07-Mar-2000 Pearson has raised £250m in a share placing, in order to fund the expansion of its internet operations over the next two years. 27-Jan-2000 Pearson is looking to sell its 50% stake in the AFX news wire joint venture with Agence France Press. 15-Dec-1999 Informa has bought a portfolio of business magazines from Pearson for £13m, including titles such as New Media Markets and Mobile Communications. 09-Dec-1999 Pearson is in discussions with Endemol Entertainment of the Netherlands to co-operate in TV production projects. 25-Oct-1999 Pearson is planning to invest £120m in the internet side of its media business this year, but has dismissed rumours that it may sell Pearson Television. 03-Aug-1999 Pearson has acquired Thomson Financial Securities Management from Thomson Corporation of Canada for £94m, in order to strengthen its position as a leading supplier of securities pricing. 31-Jul-1999 Granada and Pearson have sold stakes in BSkyB to Vivendi of France for a total £825m, and Vivendi now owns almost 25% of the pay-TV group. 23-Jul-1999 Pearson is selling Macmillan General Reference USA to IDG Books Worldwide for £52m, as part of a strategy to sell a number of reference, professional and business operations. 01-Jul-1999 Pearson has sold its stake in the Lazards investment banking group for £425m, as part of a deal that also sets up a strategic alliance between Pearson and Telefonica of Spain. 25-Jun-1999 Pearson has acquired E Source, the US supplier of energy information, for £11m. 22-Jun-1999 Pearson has sold Macmillan Library Reference USA to Thomson Corporation of Canada for £53m. 19-Jun-1999 Pearson has sold Jossey-Bass, the US book publisher, to John Wiley & Sons for $82m. 25-May-1999 Pearson is selling US medical publisher Appleton & Lange to McGraw Hill for $46m, and Master Data Center to Information Holdings for $33m. 18-May-1999 Pearson is to sell its US higher-education publications to John Wiley & Sons of the US for £35m, in order to win approval for its acquisition of Simon & Schuster's educational publishing division. 12-May-1999 Pearson is planning to link up with Dow Jones to launch a daily business newspaper in Russia. 07-Apr-1999 Pearson is linking up with Gruner + Jahr of Germany to invest £60m in the launch of a German business newspaper. 01-Mar-1999 Pearson is selling the Extel name and financial research business to Primark of the US for £19m. 23-Feb-1999 Pearson Television is planning to acquire EVA Entertainment, the animation production company, for £2m. 01-Feb-1999 Pearson is looking to sell a number of publications recently acquired from Simon & Schuster, including the Appleton Lange medical titles and the Jossey Bass education and health titles. 23-Jan-1999 Pearson Television has bought a 10.9% stake in E-Pub, the US developer of internet versions of game shows, for £15m. 14-Jan-1999 Pearson is in negotiations with Gruner + Jahr that could lead to the launch of a German version of the Financial Times newspaper. 14-Jan-1999 Pearson is to acquire a stake of up to 30% in Unidad Editorial, the Spanish newspaper publisher, for a maximum $72m. 28-Nov-1998 Pearson is closing its Ladybird Books operation in Loughborough with the loss of 210 jobs, and the children's books business will be transferred to London. 26-Nov-1998 Pearson's £512m deal to sell Simon & Schuster's professional publishing business to Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst of the US has collapsed, and it will now seek legal advice. 24-Nov-1998 Pearson is negotiating the sale of Madame Tussauds, the waxworks and funfair group, to a management team with the backing of Charterhouse Development Capital. 17-Oct-1998 Pearson has sold its 20% stake in the Canadian Financial Post to Southam for £14m, as part of a strategy to sell off passive investments. 08-Sep-1998 Pearson has sold its remaining minority stake in the Flextech television company, raising £27.6m. 25-Aug-1998 Pearson has sold Register Group, the provider of advertising data, to Emap and Extreme Information for £12m. 20-Aug-1998 Pearson has reported strong interest in the sale of its leisure businesses, including Madame Tussauds, Alton Towers and Chessington, and expects to complete a deal by the end of the year. 04-Aug-1998 Pearson has acquired a 12.3% stake in Digital Broadcasting Company, a new company that will provide pay-per-view films for digital TV. 21-Jul-1998 Pearson is considering a bid for PolyGram Filmed Entertainment, the film and TV division of PolyGram that has been offered for sale following Seagram's bid for Polygram. 18-Jul-1998 Pearson is considering plans to sell the Register Group, the advertising monitoring business, for £30m. 13-Jul-1998 Pearson has agreed to sell the reference and the business and professional divisions of Simon & Schuster to Hicks Muse for $860m, if its $4.6bn acquisition of Simon & Schuster goes ahead. 04-Jul-1998 Pearson is planning to sell the Tussauds Group leisure business, which includes the Alton Towers theme park, and is said to be looking for more than £350m. 24-Jun-1998 Pearson has sold its 40% stake in Port Aventura, the Spanish theme park, for £40m, with Universal Studios getting 37% and Bank La Caixa 3%. 23-Jun-1998 Pearson is to buy Thorpe Park, the Surrey theme park, from RMC for up to £20m, and will combine it with its Tussaud's Group subsidiary. 13-Jun-1998 Pearson is acquiring Simon & Schuster, the US publisher, from Viacom for £2.75bn, and will retain the educational publishing side of the business and sell the remainder to Hicks Muse. 18-May-1998 Pearson is said to be planning to join the bidding for Simon & Schuster, the US publisher being sold by Viacom for at least £2bn. 09-May-1998 Pearson has acquired Pasha Publications, the publisher of newsletters on the energy sector, for $18m. 08-May-1998 Pearson has sold its Future Publishing consumer magazines business to a management team backed by Apax Partners for £142m. 25-Apr-1998 Pearson is close to selling its Future Publishing magazines business for up to £150m to a management team backed by Apax Partners. 06-Apr-1998 Pearson is to sell its Mindscape software business in the US to The Learning Company for £90m, leaving Pearson with a £212m loss on disposal. 07-Mar-1998 Pearson has sold its law and tax publishing business to Thomson Corp for £70m. 03-Mar-1998 Pearson is said to be close to announcing the sale of Churchill Communications, the health communications company, for under £6m as part of a strategy to focus only on market-leading publishing businesses. 16-Feb-1998 Pearson has sold its 6.3% stake in Societe Europeene des Satellites, the owner of the Astra system, to a European investor for £160m. 10-Feb-1998 Pearson is said to be considering plans to make a bid for Simon & Schuster, the US educational publisher, in order to combine it with its Addison Wesley Longman business. 09-Feb-1998 Pearson is considering plans to sell its Future Publishing consumer magazines division, which could be worth up to £150m and is likely to attract interest from Time Warner and Emap. 19-Jan-1998 Pearson is said to be interested in acquiring a financial information business from Primark of the US for about £600m, but it could face competition from Thomson of Canada and Bridge Information Systems of the US. 11-Dec-1997 Financial Times Television is cutting 56 jobs as it expects to lose a programming contract with CNBC. 21-Nov-1997 Pearson has acquired All American, the US TV production company, for £233m, and now claims that its Pearson TV subsidiary is the largest international producer of entertainment and serial drama. 02-Oct-1997 Pearson is forming an alliance with Telefonica which will take a stake in Antena 3, the Spanish commercial TV channel, in order to provide a base for expansion into Spanish and Latin American TV. 26-Sep-1997 Pearson is said to be considering a takeover of All American Communications, the £300m television production company, although a number of US companies are also interested. 17-Sep-1997 Pearson is to sell its Churchill Livingstone medical publishing operation to Harcourt General of the US for £57m. 16-Aug-1997 Pearson is selling its 49% stake in Troll Communications, the children's books distributor, to Torstar of Canada for £55m. 02-Jul-1997 Pearson is planning a £100m expansion for the Financial Times newspaper with the aim of increasing international circulation, including new printing plants in Italy and Singapore and additional US coverage. 18-Mar-1997 Pearson is selling its 10% stake in Television Broadcasts of Hong Kong to Shaw Brothers for £111m, as the investment has failed to provide Pearson with adequate distribution and production opportunities in Asia. 22-Feb-1997 Pearson may have to write off £100m from its 1996 profits due to "improper accounting" at Penguin USA. 14-Feb-1997 The Tussauds Group, which is owned by Pearson, is discussing plans to build a £100m theme park in Thailand. 14-Jan-1997 Pearson, the media group, is buying a 50% stake in two South African business publications - Financial Mail and Business Day - in a deal that involves African Business Channel, the television production company. 09-Dec-1996 Pearson has acquired Putnam Berkley, the US publisher of best-selling authors, for £200m. 27-Nov-1996 Pearson is considering the acquisition of a stake in Telemadrid, the Spanish local TV channel. 21-Nov-1996 Pearson is discussing the acquisition of a 50% stake in the South African financial newspapers Business Day and Financial Mail. 27-Sep-1996 Pearson is looking to sell Westminster Press, its UK regional newspaper business, but has not set an asking price. 26-Jun-1996 Pearson and Carlton Communications are considering plans to jointly launch a Hindi-language satellite channel in India. 19-Mar-1996 Pearson Television is looking for a buyer for its Teddington studios complex as it needs a central London headquarters and it believes it would cost too much to update the studios. 01-Mar-1996 Pearson is buying Harper Collins' educational publishing activities for $580m. 10-Feb-1996 Pearson Professional is acquiring Data Management Services and The Magazine Business. 18-Jan-1996 Portman Entertainment and Pearson Television have announced an agreement for joint development and co-production. 29-Nov-1995 Pearson has acquired ACI, the US programme distributor, for £25.3m. 16-Nov-1995 Pearson has made £492m from selling its share in BSkyB. 17-Sep-1995 The information on this page comes from the UK Activity Report. 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