Reed Elsevier to Divest Reed Business Information

UPDATE: Internal memos from RBI CEOs Tad Smith and Gerard van de Aast

London-based Reed Elsevier announced today its planned divestiture of Reed Business Information, its business sector magazine publisher with locations in North America and abroad. The announcement came as part of the company’s preliminary financial results statement for 2007.

The divestiture is one element of what the company calls a “major reshaping” of its portfolio, including its sale of Harcourt Education. According to Reed Elsevier CEO Sir Crispin Davis, RBI is a “well-managed high quality business as evidenced by the success of its online growth and the control of costs. Its advertising revenue model and the inherent cyclicality fit less well however with the subscription-based information and workflow solutions focus of Reed Elsevier's strategy.”

Last Sunday, England’s Telegraph newspaper reported that Reed Elsevier was planning to cut 1,000 jobs. An RBI spokesperson declined to comment about the layoffs.

Reed Elsevier reported $8.9 billion in revenue for 2007, up 2 percent from revenue in 2006. The company also announced that it has acquired ChoicePoint, an insurance industry risk management firm. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Reed Business Information publishes more than 80 b-to-b magazines, more than 55 Web sites, and produces a number of industry events.

COMMENTS: 11

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Too bad ...

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 02/21/2008 - 10:01.

Too bad this sale comes about ten years too late for a lot of the good people I worked with at Cahners and Chilton in years past.

It is too bad

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 02/21/2008 - 11:15.

Once upon a time, Cahner's was a great place to work. Does this mean [REDACTED] will finally lose his job?

"the inherent cyclicality

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 02/21/2008 - 12:13.

"the inherent cyclicality fit less well however with the subscription-based information and workflow solutions focus of Reed Elsevier's strategy.” What?

Inherent cyclicality

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 02/21/2008 - 16:19.

Means we don't want to be in this business anymore, because btob mags are going down the tubes, but we still want to get big bucks out of the sale - that's what it means! It was a good place to work......

RBI

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 02/21/2008 - 18:35.

Not to long ago I was billing 2.4 Million per year. I believed this was the best place to work until I was tossed aside for making TOO much money. [REDACTED] you have to go it is not a good feeling..all about the $$$$$$$$$$$ and I understand however have many friend still in play at RBI..We only can think about the direction you will give other publishers who have to make tough choices.............

Familiar Story

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 02/21/2008 - 22:23.

"Not too long ago I was billing 2.4 Million per year. I believed this was the best place to work until I was tossed aside for making TOO much money." .....Yup, me too. $2.4 Mil & absolutely the best place. Exactly right on both counts. During the two years after I was tossed, Mr. G went through two or three "cheaper" replacements. The net effect was loss of more than 50% of those billings (while competitors grew pages and share). In the ensuing years, I've recovered...but RBI hasn't.

RBI reborn?

Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 02/21/2008 - 22:58.

Sorry to see so many are taking the opportunity to bash RBI and its management. I've been working at RBI for many years in operations and it's still a great place to work with lots of talented hard working people. We all here hope and pray for a new start for RBI with some new blood at the wheel

RBI -

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 02/22/2008 - 13:27.

While there may be a few bad seeds, overall, I think the RBI management has done an admirable job. Tad Smith and his team have also made great efforts to keep us informed and has strived to keep us viable in a rapdily changing industry. Working here has been a satisfying and rewarding experience. While the layoffs we experienced in the past, and will most likely again experience as a result of being divested are incredibly difficult; it has unfortunately become an all too common occurrence in this industry. This is especially true when the parent company does not want to invest in growth,re-direction, re-education and training. Let's hope that our buyer will make use of and invest in our incredibly talented, dedicted and hard working pool of individuals to build a better company with an eye toward the future.

Just the Facts, Ma'am

Submitted by Anonymous on Fri, 02/22/2008 - 17:53.

There's a difference between bashing and dealing with facts. "Bashing" (personal attacks, innuendo, etc.) is uncalled for. Most of the posts here are basically factual, including mine (concerning a revenue loss with "cheaper" replacements). And yes, I agree that there are a great many dedicated and talented people among RBI's staff and management ranks. But I can't say that I disagree with those names singled out for criticism. I've also yet to personally meet anyone with more than ten years'experience on the customer side who feels the company is in any way better or stronger now than it was with the Cahners brand. Most of these client/agency types are unaware of where I used to work. The prevailing view seems to be that RBI is now just another btb media company....no better or no worse than the next vendor.

There goes ad revenue

Submitted by Anonymous on Sun, 02/24/2008 - 23:04.

Now the advertisers have an excuse hold off with ad programs. Competition's going to be out in full force on this one. Sale is going to take longer than expected and will drag on for an eternity. It just got a lot tougher for sales. Good luck on that fairy tale about a buyer coming in and investing - time to cut expenses (people) and beat up sales for more revenue.

DivestmentWatch

Submitted by TheOpsMgr on Fri, 04/04/2008 - 13:33.

I have started a blog about the divestment over here - http://divestmentwatch.blogspot.com/ - and I'd love to hear any comments and feedback from the contributers above. If any are current RBI employees there is a Facebook group as well for private discussion. Cheers - TheOpsMgr