Reed Elsevier plc History

Company Perspectives:

Our priority will be to develop our products in tune with our customers' needs, and our success will be based upon quality products and information services at appropriate prices. In each of these businesses, we must strike the right balance between building our services in electronic media and optimising the performance of our traditional print activities. Key Dates:

Key Dates:

1880:

Five Dutch booksellers form Uitgeversmaatschappij Elsevier, a publishing company.

1894:

Reed International, a paper manufacturer, forms in the United Kingdom.

1903:

Reed incorporates as Albert E. Reed & Company Ltd.

1963:

The Daily Mirror and Sunday Pictorial companies become the International Publishing Corporation.

1970:

International Publishing Corporation and Reed merge to become Reed International.

1979:

Elsevier merges with Nederlandse Dagbladunie N.V., a newspaper group, and forms Elsevier N.V.

1979:

Elsevier acquires Congressional Information Service.

1987:

Reed acquires Octopus Publishing, its largest publishing acquisition to date.

1991:

Elsevier purchases Pergamon Press in its largest acquisition to date.

1993:

Reed Elsevier joint venture forms.

1994:

Company acquires LEXIS-NEXIS, a premier information services provider.

1998:

Reed Elsevier acquires Matthew Bender & Company, Inc., a legal information provider.

Company History:

Further Reading:

• Bannon, Lisa, and Kimberley A. Strassel, 'Reed Elsevier to Buy Two Units of Times Mirror,' Wall Street Journal, April 28, 1998, p. A3.
• 'A Bigger, Better? Reed and Elsevier,' Economist, September 19, 1992, p. 83.
• Blackhurst, Chris, 'Dinosaur's New Lease on Life,' Management Today, January 1992, p. 12.
• Blankenhorn, Dana, 'Reed Elsevier Press On; New Name Close,' Business Marketing, February 1, 1998, p. 2.
  Chapters from Our History, London: Reed International, 1990.
• DuBois, Martin, and Janet Guyon, 'Britain's Reed Agrees to Merge with Elsevier', Wall Street Journal, September 18, 1992, pp. A2, A7.
• Evans, Richard, 'Playing House: After Nearly Three Years, Reed and Elsevier Still Haven't Consummated Their Marriage,' Financial World, August 1, 1995, p. 37.
• Hayes, John R., 'The Internet's First Victim?,' Forbes, December 18, 1995, p. 200.
• Hochwald, Lambeth, 'Reed Elsevier: The Dancing Elephant,' Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, September 1, 1994, p. 58.
• House, Richard, 'A Marriage for the '90s,' Institutional Investor, February 1993, p. 99.
• Hudson, Richard L., 'Reed Elsevier Enters Big Leagues of OnLine Services,' Wall Street Journal, October 6, 1994, p. B4.
• Marcom, John Jr., 'Down to Earth, Mostly,' Forbes, October 29, 1990, pp. 57, 61.
• Pope, Kyle, 'Reed Elsevier May Use Its Cash Hoard on Acquisitions, Possibly in the U.S.,' Wall Street Journal, March 14, 1996, p. A15.
• Prokesch, Steven, 'Britain's Low-Profile Publishing Giant: Reed International, Big in America, Treads Carefully as It Grows,' New York Times, February 9, 1992, p. F5.
  Reed International: Developments in a Company History, 1960--1974, London: Reed International, 1980.
• Skeel, Shirley, 'Reed All About It,' Management Today, October 1992, p. 62.
• Steinmetz, Greg, and Raju Narisetti, 'Reed Elsevier Wins Bidding for Lexis/Nexis,' Wall Street Journal, October 5, 1994, pp. A3, A11.
• Strassel, Kimberley A., 'Reed Elsevier's CEO Search Hurts Stock,' Wall Street Journal Europe, April 8, 1999, p. 13.
• Sykes, Philip, Albert Reed and the Creation of a Paper Business, 1860--1960, London: Reed International, 1980.
• 'Which Way Will Davis Drive Reed?', Media Week, July 30, 1999, p. 12.
• Yates, Andrew, 'Corporate Profile: Reed This and Weep,' Independent (London), June 16, 1999, p. 3.

Source: International Directory of Company Histories, Vol. 31. St. James Press, 2000.

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