News that shocked me early this morning. It appears that Thomson is selling off its learning businesses. Not sure how it will affect U21G though at this point.
Heres the full reproduction of the Reuters report.
TORONTO - Electronic publisher Thomson said it would put the businesses in its education unit up for sale after deciding they no longer fit its strategy.
Thomson said it already has agreed to sell one of the businesses in the unit, NETg, to Skillsoft PLC for US$285 million (S$448 million). NETg provides continuing corporate education and training, Thomson said.
Two other sales of businesses in the Learning division will complete the divestiture, Thomson said.
It said it is already looking for buyers for its Prometric electronic testing business and expects that sale to be wrapped up sometime next year. The bidding for its higher education, careers and library reference assets is expected to start in 2007.
‘After the sale… the vast majority of our sales will come from electronic products and services with recurring revenues that are currently growing at high rate,’ Thomson chief executive Richard Harrington said in a statement late on Wednesday.
He added the sales will give the company ’substantial resources’ to speed up the development of its core businesses and explore related markets.
The sale of the businesses in the Thomson Learning division, which provides course software, specialised content, and learning services for businesses, schools and government agencies, could fetch more than US$5 billion, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The Thomson Learning unit also has online reference databases, distance learning and test preparation courses. It represents about 26 per cent of Thomson’s overall revenues and 23 per cent of EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization). — REUTERS
But hey, at least I’m not doing drugs. I know of 