 | |
 Eighty Strand, Pearson's headquarters in London | |
| Formerly | S. Pearson & Son |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| Traded as | |
| ISIN | GB0006776081  |
| Industry |
|
| Founded | 1844; 180 years ago (1844) |
| Founder | Samuel Pearson |
| Headquarters | Shell Mex House, London, England |
| Key people |
|
| Products | Educational materials (books, tests), Television distribution |
| Services |
|
| Revenue |  £3,674 million (2023) |
| Operating income |  £498 million (2023) |
| Net income | £380 million (2023) |
| Total assets | £6,727 million (2023) |
| Total equity | £3,988 million (2023) |
| Number of employees | 17,612 (2023) |
| Subsidiaries | |
| Website | plc |
Pearson plc is a multinational corporation, headquartered in the UK, focused on educational publishing and services.
Originating in 1844 and named S Pearson and Son by Samuel Pearson in 1856, what began as a small local civil engineering business in Yorkshire grew between 1880 and 1927 into a massive diversified international conglomerate under the subsequent leadership of Samuel's grandson Weetman Pearson. By the time of World War II, the company had major national and international subsidiaries in manufacturing, electricity, oil, coal, banking and financial services, publishing (periodicals and books), and aviation.
After the Second World War and the British government's nationalisation of many industries, Pearson refocused on publishing and media. In 1984 the company changed its name from S. Pearson & Son plc to Pearson plc. Under the leadership of CEO Marjorie Scardino, in 1998 the company formed Pearson Education, and by 2016 education was Pearson plc's exclusive focus. As of 2023 Pearson Education, known since 2011 as simply Pearson, is Pearson plc's main subsidiary. Pearson owns one of the GCSE examining boards for the UK, Edexcel.
Pearson plc has a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It has a secondary listing on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American depositary receipts.
History
Civil engineering businesses 1844 to 1925
In 1844 Samuel Pearson became an associate partner in a small brickmaking and contracting civil engineering company in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. In 1856 Pearson's eldest son George entered the business, which became known as S Pearson & Son, "sanitary tube and brickmakers and contractors for local public works in and around Bradford". In 1880, control passed to Samuel's grandson Weetman Dickinson Pearson (later 1st Viscount Cowdray), an engineer, who in 1890 moved the business to London and turned it into one of the world's largest construction companies.
Another of its prominent engineers was Ernest William Moir who, after working for Pearson on tunnels in New York City, became the contractor's agent on construction of the Blackwall Tunnel under the River Thames in London between 1892 and 1897.
Between 1880 and 1902 the company also built the Admiralty Harbour at Dover, the Halifax Dry Dock in Canada, the East River Railway Tunnels in New York City, the Mexican Grand Canal that drained Mexico City, the Tehuantepec Railway in Mexico, and railways and harbours around the world.
In November 1915, the firm began construction of HM Factory, Gretna, the largest cordite factory in the UK during World War I.
The construction business was shut down in the 1920s. Its final projects included construction of the Silent Valley Reservoir in Northern Ireland (contract awarded in 1923), and completion of the Sennar Dam, in Sudan, in 1925.
Manufacturing businesses 1856 to 1993
In 1856 S Pearson & Son advertised itself as manufacturing sanitary tubes and bricks in Yorkshire. Manufacturing expanded beyond sanitary tubes and bricks to include a variety of items globally, including nuts and bolts, specialist glass, pottery, porcelain and fine china, and related items.
Pearson acquired Allied English Potteries (including Royal Crown Derby) in 1964 and Doulton & Co. in November 1971, whereupon it merged those two potteries companies. Pearson purchased the Fairey Group in 1980, and its engineering was merged with Doulton's industrial ceramics engineering.
Pearson sold Doulton Glass Industries Ltd. in 1982. The Fairey Group became independent of Pearson in 1986 via a management buy-out. As Pearson refocused on its core publishing and media industries, it divested Royal Doulton, which was its remaining fine china division and the last of Pearson's manufacturing assets, in 1993.
Electricity businesses 1900 to 1960
The conglomerate entered the electrification market in 1900, when Weetman Pearson was requested to electrify Mexico's tramway system, and then the general electrical supply in the city of Vera Cruz and elsewhere. This process was repeated in Chile. These electrical interests were consolidated into Whitehall Electric Investments Ltd. in 1922.
In 1929 the electricity businesses in Mexico and Chile were sold, but similar electricity utilities were developed in southwestern England until they were nationalised in 1948.
All of Pearson's overseas electricity utility businesses, which had spread to Greece, were closed by 1960.
Oil businesses 1901 to 1989
While building the Tehuantepec Railway in Mexico for president Porfirio Diaz, Weetman Pearson learned of oil deposits in south Texas and Mexico and in 1901 began buying prospective oil lands in those places. After striking oil in Mexico in 1908, he founded the Mexican Eagle Petroleum Company in 1909 to handle all of S Pearson and Sons' oil interests.
In 1919 the Royal Dutch Shell Group acquired a large share of, and management of, Mexican Eagle, and Pearson formed Whitehall Petroleum Corporation Ltd. to take over Pearson's oil interests and to prospect globally for oil. It established a major oil company in the U.S., Amerada Corporation, in 1919. Amerada was compulsorily acquired by the British government in 1941 due to World War II; a small interest was reacquired by Pearson in 1945.
In the 1950s Pearson expanded its North American oil and gas interests, and in the 1970s also expanded them globally. By 1989, Pearson divested its oil and gas exploration activities and sold Whitehall Petroleum.
Banking and financial services 1919 to 1999
In 1919, Pearson founded Whitehall Trust Ltd. as a finance and issuing house. In 1919 Pearson also acquired a 45% stake in the London branch of merchant bankers Lazard Brothers, an interest which was increased to 80% in 1932 during the depression years.
In 1976 Pearson acquired a stake in Embankment Trust Ltd.
By 1990 Pearson's stake in Lazard Brothers was reduced to 50% following Lazard's internationalization to Paris and New York, and Pearson acquired 10% stakes in the two overseas branches.
In 1999, due to the company's refocus on education, publishing, and media, Pearson sold its Lazard holdings for £410 million.
Coal businesses 1921 to 1947
Following Wheetman Pearson's 1907 creation of Whitehall Securities as its holding company for all of Pearson's non-contracting industries, beginning in 1921 Pearson partnered with Dorman Long to form a coal-mining conglomerate in 1922, called Pearson & Dorman Long Ltd. The company purchased and operated many collieries in the UK through at least 1947.
Publishing businesses 1921 to 1997
In 1921, Pearson purchased a number of local daily and weekly newspapers in the United Kingdom, which it combined to form the Westminster Press group.
Following the British government's acquisition and nationalisation of several of Pearson's aviation, fuel, and energy divisions in the early 1940s due to World War II, Angela Murray became a director of the Pearson group and the chair of the Westminster Press in 1953. The Press owned local newspapers including the Oxford Mail, The Northern Echo and the Brighton Evening News with the backing of the Westmnster Press they were encouraged to find local news.
Pearson entered the education market.
In 1957, it bought the Financial Times and acquired a 50% stake in The Economist. It purchased the publisher Longman in 1968.
Pearson was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1969.
It bought the paperback publisher Penguin in 1970, and the children's imprint Ladybird Books in 1972. It bought a rival, the educational publisher Pitman Ltd, in 1985.
In 1996 Pearson sold Westminster Press to Newsquest, acquired the education division of HarperCollins from News Corporation, and acquired book publishers Scott Foresman & Co..
Aviation businesses 1929 to 1959
In 1929, Pearson's Whitehall Securities entered the aviation field, purchasing an interest in Airwork Services.
By 1935 Whitehall Securities had major interests in a number of British airlines and aviation companies, including Spartan Air Lines, Saunders-Roe, United Airways, and Hillman's Airways. In September 1935, Hillman's Airways, Spartan Air Lines, and United Airways merged to form British Airways Ltd. In 1936, British Airways absorbed British Continental Airways and Crilly Airways. In 1940, British Airways was nationalised due to World War II.
In 1937 the company acquired Northern & Scottish Airways and Highland Airways, and merged them into a new company, Scottish Airways. This airline was nationalised by the British government in 1947 and merged into British European Airways.
Pearson's aviation interests ended by 1959, when Saunders-Roe was sold to Westland Aircraft.
Entertainment media businesses 1981 to 2002
in 1981 Pearson's publishing subsidiary Pearson Longman established Goldcrest Films and Television in 1981, led by the founder of Goldcrest Films, John Eberts, and chaired by James Lee, chief executive of Pearson Longman. At its inception, the new concern owned 40% of Goldcrest Films.
In 1986, Pearson invested in the British Satellite Broadcasting consortium, which a few years later merged with Sky Television to form a new company, British Sky Broadcasting (BSkyB).
During the 1990s, the company acquired a number of TV production and broadcasting assets, including former ITV franchisee Thames Television, Australian production company Grundy Television, U.S. television company All American Communications Inc., Italian drama production company Mastrofilm, European animation financer and distributor EVA Entertainment, and UK production company Talkback Productions.
In 1994, Pearson acquired software publisher The Software Toolworks for US$462 million, and rebranded it Mindscape. In 1998, Pearson sold Mindscape to The Learning Company for US$150 million, taking a $346 million loss on the sale.
In 2000, Pearson merged its television holdings with CLT-UFA to form the RTL Group. In 2002 it exited the industry entirely by selling its 22% stake in RTL to Bertelsmann.
Pearson Education and corporate refocus 1998 to 2016
Scardino and new focus on education
Marjorie Scardino, who was CEO of Pearson plc from 1997 to 2013, increasingly focused the conglomerate on education and on making education acquisitions. In 1998, Pearson plc purchased the education division of Simon & Schuster, which included Prentice Hall, Allyn & Bacon, and parts of Macmillan Inc. including the Macmillan name. Later in 1998 it merged Simon & Schuster's educational business with Addison Wesley Longman to form Pearson Education.
Pearson sold and divested most of its Simon & Schuster divisions in 1999.
In March 2000 Pearson acquired the illustrated reference publisher Dorling Kindersley and integrated it within Penguin. It acquired National Computer Systems (NCS) in September 2000, entering the educational assessment and school management systems market in the United States.
In 2002, Pearson purchased Rough Guides, the travel publisher, and brought it under Penguin.
In 2003 it acquired Edexcel, a provider of qualifications in the UK, and in 2004 acquired about 80% stake in Meximerica Media Inc for the swelling U.S. Hispanic market. Pearson purchased a series of other testing and assessment businesses, including Knowledge Technologies in 2004, AGS in 2005, and Promissor in 2006. It acquired National Evaluation Systems, a provider of customised state assessments for teacher certification in the US, in 2006 and acquired eCollege, a digital learning technology group, in 2007.
It sold Silver Burdett Ginn Religion, a Catholic publishing division it operated under the Scott Foresman imprint, to RCL Benziger in 2007. In 2007 Pearson Education sold the Macmillan name to Holtzbrinck Publishing Group, which had purchased Macmillan Publishing Ltd. in the late 1990s.
In 2008 Pearson acquired Harcourt Assessment and Harcourt Education International from Reed Elsevier and merged them into Pearson Assessment & Information.
In February 2008, Pearson announced the sale of its Pearson Data Management Division (formerly the scanner manufacturing and servicing division of NCS Inc.) to Scantron Corporation (part of M&F Worldwide) which had been its main competitor.
In 2010, Pearson acquired the adult English training service Wall Street Institute and the school learning systems division of Sistema Educacional Brasileiro (SEB). Also in 2010, the company sold its 61% stake in Interactive Data to investment funds managed by Silver Lake Partners and Warburg Pincus.
Pearson Education rebrands as Pearson (2011) and Pearson plc rebrands as education-only (2016)
Pearson Education was rebranded as simply Pearson in 2011.
In July 2011, Pearson announced the creation of Pearson College, a British degree provider based in London. Also in 2011, Pearson acquired Connections Education and agreed to sell its 50% stake in FTSE International Limited to the London Stock Exchange for £450 million. In 2011, Pearson also increased its stake in TutorVista to 76%.
In May 2012 Pearson announced its acquisition of GlobalEnglish Corporation, an American Business English software and solutions company, in an all-cash transaction.
In October 2012 Pearson entered into talks with rival conglomerate Bertelsmann, over the possibility of combining their respective publishing companies, Penguin Group and Random House, and said it would merge Penguin Books with Bertelsmann's Random House to create the world's biggest consumer book publisher.
In February 2013, following government changes to apprenticeship funding rules, Pearson sold its Pearson in Practice, a UK vocational training business, to West Nottinghamshire College, which renamed it Vision Workforce Skills.
In May 2013, Pearson announced a new restructuring plan to invest in digital learning and emerging markets, after predicting weaker earnings. The change supported the decoupling of the Penguin consumer publishing business into a separate entity with Random House (forming Penguin Random House). The new structure combined the separate education companies, Pearson International and Pearson North America under one Pearson company and Pearson reorganised around three global lines of business – School, Higher Education and Professional. The Financial Times Group and Pearson English formed part of Pearson Professional.
In July 2014, the company announced it had cut 4,000 jobs, representing 10% of the company's workforce.
Pearson announced in July 2015 that it had agreed to sell the FT Group, which includes business daily Financial Times, to Japanese media group Nikkei for £844 million, or $1.32 billion. The sale does not include FT Group's London property at One Southwark Bridge. Pearson retained the publishing rights to FT Press and licensed the trademark from Nikkei. In August 2015, Pearson's sold its 50% stake in The Economist to the Agnelli family, who previously held 4.7% of the group. The remaining 50% of The Economist Group is owned by the Schroders, Cadburys and the Rothschilds.
Following the sale of its financial news publications Financial Times and The Economist in 2015, Pearson plc rebranded in January 2016 to focus solely on education, and the corporation adopted a new logo, the interrobang (‽), a combination of a question mark and an exclamation point, meant to convey a "combination of excitement, curiosity and individuality" and "the excitement and fun of learning".
2017 to present
In July 2017, Pearson sold its Tutor Vista and Edurite lines of business to India-based education technology company, Byju's. In July 2017, it also agreed to reduce its holding in Penguin Random House to 25%, by selling a 22% stake in the business to Bertelsmann.
In August 2017 Pearson announced that it would cut 3,000 staff in an effort to save £300 million annually. In August 2017 it also sold the language-training subsidiary Global Education to Chinese company Pu-Xin Education.
In 2019, Pearson sold its US K-12 courseware business to the private equity firm Nexus Capital Management, which rebranded it as Savvas Learning Company. Pearson also sold its remaining 25% stake in Penguin Random House to Bertelsmann.
Pearson CEO John Fallon retired from the company in 2020, and was succeeded by Andy Bird on 19 October 2020.
In December 2021, Pearson announced that Omid Kordestani had been appointed as the chairman of the board of directors, effective March 2022.
In April 2022, Pearson announced it had acquired the online language learning platform, Mondly.
In April 2022, Pearson acquired ClutchPrep, which was renamed Channels and added to the Pearson website.
In September 2023, CEO Andy Bird announced his impending retirement. He was succeeded by Omar Abbosh, president of Microsoft's Industry Solutions business, on 8 January 2024.
Organisational structure
Pearson plc is a holding company, and conducts its business primarily through subsidiaries and other affiliates. As of December 2022, its main subsidiaries are:
- Pearson Education Inc. (United States)
- Pearson Education Ltd. (United Kingdom)
- NCS Pearson, Inc. (United States)
According to the company's website, its business divisions consist of:
- Assessment & Qualifications
- Virtual Learning
- English Language Learning
- Workforce Skills
- Higher Education
Criticism
Concerns exist around the amount of influence Pearson, being a commercial company, has on public education. Other concerns are around tax avoidance, high value contracts, and an instance of laying off teachers to offset the high costs of testing. In 2017, more than six out of ten Pearson shareholders voted against the chief executive's pay package of £1.5 million after the company made a record loss. Pearson US has been criticised for using offshore tax avoidance schemes involving a host of companies at a service address in Luxembourg.
Pearson owns Edexcel, a British education and examination board. Edexcel has produced qualifications which link to Pearson texts, although Edexcel also continues to endorse textbooks published by other companies. Edexcel has also faced criticism over repeated leaks of exam material in consecutive years; police investigations into some of the incidents were referred to prosecutors.
In June 2010, Pearson plc received notification that the Libyan Investment Authority (LIA) founded by Muammar Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gaddafi as a sovereign fund had acquired 24.4 million shares within the company via Euroclear. On further investigation, Pearson said the LIA may have acquired an additional 2.1 million shares, resulting in a total interest of 26.5 million shares. At the time, this represented a major holding of 3.27% within the company and the investment was worth around £280 million.
See also
- Bertelsmann
- Elsevier
- Holtzbrinck Publishing Group
- Lagardère Publishing
- McGraw Hill Education
- News Corp
- Scholastic Corporation
- Thomson Reuters
- Wiley (publisher)
References
- ^ "2023 Annual Report" (PDF). Pearson plc. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
- "S Pearson & Son Ltd". Science Museum Group. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
- "PEARSON PLC". find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
- "MEMORANDUM OF ASSOCIATION" (PDF). plc.pearson.com. PEARSON plc. October 2009. p. 1. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
- ^ Pearson plc (31 March 2023). "Form 20-F: Annual Report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022" (PDF). plc.pearson.com. U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
- "Edexcel GCSEs | Pearson qualifications". qualifications.pearson.com.
- ^ Long, Steven; Jacques, Derek; Kepos, Paula, eds. (2019). "Pearson plc". International Directory of Company Histories, Volume 207. St. James Press / Gale Cengage. OCLC 1066283259.
- Garner, Paul (2011). British Lions and Mexican Eagles: Business, Politics and Empire in the Career of Weetman Pearson in Mexico, 1889-1919. Stanford University Press. ISBN 978-0804774451.
- ^ "Our History". Pearson.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013.
- "Engineering Timelines – Blackwall Road Tunnel, northbound". www.engineering-timelines.com.
- "Centenary of the opening of the Blackwall Tunnel". Greenwich Peninsula History. 30 July 2013.
- 'Southern Blackwall: The Blackwall Tunnel', Survey of London: volumes 43 and 44: Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs (1994), pp. 640–645. Accessed 17 March 2013.
- "Weetman Dickinson Pearson". Grace's Guide To British Industrial History.
- ^ "Pearson plc History". FundingUniverse.com. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
- Spender, J. A., Weetman Pearson: First Viscount Cowdray (London: Cassell and Company Limited, 1930).
- "A Century of Water from the Mournes - Part 2 A concise history - The Silent Valley Reservoir - 1910 - 1933". BBC News. 16 October 2014. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
- "The Sennar Dam and the Gezira Irrigation Scheme", The Engineer Archived 4 January 2015 at the Wayback Machine (26 September 1924).
- Birks, Steve. "Allied English Potteries Ltd". ThePotteries.org. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
- ^ Perry, Mike (2011). "Royal Doulton". PotteryHistories.com. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
- "Royal Doulton Company Records". Archives.Staffordshire.gov.uk. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
- ^ "Doulton". DoultonUSA.com. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
- "Pearson Announces Spinoff of Royal Doulton". The New York Times. Reuters. 12 November 1993. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
- Watson, Cate. "Records of S. Pearson and Son c. 1870 – 1955" (PDF). National Collections Centre. Science Museum at Wroughton. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
- Yergin, Daniel, "The Prize, The Epic Quest for Oil, Money & Power", Simon & Schuster, 1991, p.230-232
- ^ Bud Frierman, Lisa; Godley, Andrew C.; Wale, Judith (2007). "Weetman Pearson in Mexico and the Emergence of a British Oil Major, 1901-1919" (PDF). University of Reading. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 June 2016.
- Hoover's Handbook of American Business 2008, Volume 1. Hoover's. 2007. pp. 422–424. ISBN 978-1-57311-120-1.
- ^ Andrew Garfield (25 June 1999). "Dragging Lazards into the 21st century". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022.
- ^ Johnson, W. (October 1972). "The Development of the Kent Coalfield, 1896-1946" (PDF). University of Kent at Canterbury. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
- ^ "S. Pearson and Son". Grace's Guide. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
- ^ "Pearson & Dorman Long Ltd, colliery owners". The National Archives. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
- Moss, Michael S. (13 June 2024), "Preston [née Pearson; other married name Murray], Angela Campbell- (1910–1981), businesswoman, landowner, and conservationist", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.63965, ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8, retrieved 28 June 2024
- Christensen, Jens (2009). Global Experience Industries. Aarhus University Press. ISBN 978-87-7124-581-3.
- Butt, Stephen (2013). Loughborough Through Time. Amberley Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4456-1549-3.
- "Pitman Ltd". Science Museum Group. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
- "Pearson Sees Profits Fall 40 Percent, Selling Westminster Press Unit". Associated Press News. 5 August 1996. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
- Gilpin, Kenneth N. (10 February 1996). "Pearson to Buy a Publisher From News Corp". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
- Fabrikant, Geraldine; Myerson, Allen R. (18 May 1998). "Simon & Schuster In Sale To British". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 December 2016.
- The ATL-98 Carvair: A Comprehensive History of the Aircraft and All 21 Airframes (Part 1: Getting off the ground – Airwork), p. 14
- ^ Airways (The Archive: The Legacy of BOAC (Pt. 1)), p. 62
- ^ Lo Bao, Phil; Hutchison, Iain (2002). BEAline to the Islands. Erskine, Scotland: Kea Publishing. p. 99. ISBN 0951895842. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
- ^ Barker, Dennis (3 July 1981). "Pearson builds on Trident deal". The Guardian. United Kingdom. p. 15. Retrieved 2 September 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- "Granada and Pearson sell BSB stake". BBC News. 17 December 1998. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
- Hosking, Patrick (23 April 1993). "Pearson looks for foreign TV stations Agreed bid for Thames values the programme maker at 99m". The Independent.
- Last, Richard (9 February 1994). "Media: How Thames turned the tide: From failed franchisee to thriving 'indie' producer: there can be life after broadcasting death, as Richard Last witnessed". The Independent. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
- Dawdtrey, Adam (3 April 1995). "Pearson goes global via Grundy purchase". Variety. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- de Logu, Simona (29 March 1995). "Pearson buys Aussie TV production firm". UPI. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- "International Briefs; Pearson to Expand in TV". The New York Times. 30 March 1995. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
- "ACQUISITION OF ALL AMERICAN BY PEARSON TO CREATE THE WORLD'S LARGEST INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION PRODUCER" (Press release). Pearson Television. 1 October 1997. Archived from the original on 2 September 2000.
- "PEARSON TELEVISION ACQUIRES ITALIAN PRODUCTION COMPANY" (Press release). Pearson Television. 3 November 1998. Archived from the original on 2 September 2000.
- "PEARSON TELEVISION ACCELERATES ANIMATION BUSINESS" (Press release). Pearson Television. 2 February 1999. Archived from the original on 28 May 2000.
- "Pearson close to Talkback acquisition". Screen International. 14 April 2000. Retrieved 29 May 2022.
- Lohr, Steve (1 April 1994). "Pearson Enters Multimedia Software Arena". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
- "TOP OF MIND". Billboard. Vol. 106, no. 46. Nielsen Business Media. 12 November 1994. p. 90.
- "Pearson loses Mindscape". CNN News. 6 March 1998. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- Milmo, Dan (19 September 2001). "RTL chief defends Pearson TV acquisition". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
- "Pearson Completes Sale Of RTL Stake To Bertelsman". The Media Leader. 1 February 2002. Retrieved 9 February 2024.
- "Pearson agrees to sell 22% stake in RTL Group". BNET. 2001. Archived from the original on 4 January 2009. Retrieved 18 April 2011 – via FindArticles.com.
- Baird, Dugald; Sabbagh, Dan (3 October 2012). "Pearson chief executive Marjorie Scardino to step down". The Guardian. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- Chozick, Amy (3 October 2012). "Scardino, Chief of Pearson, to Step Down". The New York Times. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- Walsh, Mark (21 February 2001). "Pearson Hopes To 'Widen the Definition Of Education'". Education Week. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- Selingo, Jeffrey J. (19 May 1998). "British Publisher Announces Plan to Buy Simon & Schuster's Textbook Division". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
- ^ "Macmillan Rises from the Dustbin". Publishers Weekly. 12 October 2007. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
- ^ Milliot, Jim (9 October 2007). "Holtzbrinck's U.S. Arm Now Macmillan". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
- "Pearson Education: World's Leading Education Business Is Launched". Pearson.com. 30 November 1998. Archived from the original on 24 February 1999.
-
- "Pearson Sells Two Former S&S Units". PublishersWeekly.com. 24 May 1999. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- Milliot, Jim (31 May 1999). "Wiley, Kluwer Acquire Two Pearson Units". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- Milliot, Jim (31 May 1999). "Six Macmillan Library Kids Imprints Closed". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- "Macmillan Library Units to Join Gale". PublishersWeekly.com. 28 June 1999. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- Milliot, Jim; Baker, John F. (5 July 1999). "IDG Books Buys Macmillan General Reference". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
- "Pearson buys Dorling Kindersley". BBC News. 31 March 2000. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
- "Pearson buys NCS". Faqs.org. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
- "Pearson Timeline". PearsonLongman.com. Retrieved 15 February 2024.
- ^ Rebecca Smithers and Kevin Massy (30 June 2003). "New marking fiasco". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
- "Pearson Acquires Newspaper Concern For Hispanic Market". Wall Street Journal. 16 April 2004.
- "Pearson Knowledge Technologies". PearsonKT.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 18 April 2011.
- "Pearson buys AGS Publishing for $270 million | AFP | Find Articles at BNET". 3 January 2009. Archived from the original on 3 January 2009.
- "Peason buys Promissor". www.publishersweekly.com. Archived from the original on 9 June 2007.
- "NES sold to global company". Daily Hampshire Gazette. Archived from the original on 7 May 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2006.
- Nagel, David (16 May 2007). "Pearson To Acquire eCollege". Campus Technology. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
- "RCL Publishing LLC ("RCL Benziger"), a CFM Religion Publishing Group LLC division, announced today that it has acquired the assets of Silver Burdett Ginn Religion, a Scott Foresman imprint, from Pearson Education". Wicks Group. 6 September 2007. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
- "Holtzbrinck". Northern Illinois University - University Libraries. Retrieved 7 December 2023.
- "Pearson acquires Harcourt Assessment and Harcourt Education International from Reed Elsevier". Pearson. Archived from the original on 14 December 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
- "Pearson Completes Acquisition of Harcourt Assessment". Assessment & Information group of Pearson. Archived from the original on 27 March 2012. Retrieved 16 July 2011.
- "M & F Worldwide Corp. Completes the Acquisition of Pearson's Data Management Business" (Press release). Pearson plc. 22 February 2008. Archived from the original on 8 April 2008. Retrieved 8 March 2008.
- Neilan, Catherine (29 July 2010). "Pearson buys Wall Street Institute for $92m in cash". The Bookseller. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
- Browning, Jonathan; Saitto, Serena (22 July 2010). "Pearson Buys Sistema Learning Unit for $499 Million". Bloomberg. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
- Sweney, Mark (4 May 2010). "Pearson sells IDC stake for $2bn". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
- "About Pearson". pearsoned.com. Archived from the original on 13 October 2011.
- Gill, John (4 July 2011). "Royal Holloway to validate new Pearson degree". Times Higher Education. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
- "FT owners plan college for business degrees". The Guardian. London. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 17 November 2012.
- Halliday, Josh (12 December 2011). "Pearson to sell FTSE stake for £450m". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 March 2015.
- Mark Sweney (18 January 2011). "Pearson buys controlling stake in TutorVista for $127m". The Guardian. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
- "Pearson's world-leading English learning business strengthens its position in the corporate market". GlobalEnglish. Archived from the original on 7 July 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
- "Penguin and Random House in merger talks". Financial Times. 25 October 2012.
- Holton, Kate (29 October 2012). "Random, Penguin merging to form leading publisher". Reuters. Archived from the original on 28 November 2015. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
- "Training provider Pearson in Practice to transfer over to West Nottinghamshire College". West Nottinghamshire College. 21 February 2013. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
- "Vision Workforce Skills". West Nottinghamshire College. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
- Young, Sarah (25 February 2013). "Pearson sees 2013 flat, begins restructuring plan". Reuters. Thomson Reuters. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
- Gordon, Kathy (23 May 2013). "Pearson details restructuring". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 26 June 2013.
- Orihuela, Rodrigo; Schweizer, Kristen (25 July 2014). "Pearson cutting 4,000 jobs as first-half sales decline". Bloomberg. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
- Henry Mance, Arash Massoudi and James Fontanella-Khan (23 July 2015). "Nikkei to buy FT Group for £844m from Pearson". Financial Times. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
- "Pearson FT Press". InformIT. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
- "Pearson sells Economist Group stake". BBC News. 12 August 2015. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
- ^ Omar Oakes (27 July 2015). "Pearson to sell Economist Group stake". Brand Republic. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
- ^ Cowdrey, Katherine (7 January 2016). "Pearson rebrand to reflect 100% focus on education". The Bookseller. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- "Logo: The Interrobang" (PDF). pearson.com. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
- Dhamija, Anshul. "Byju's acquires TutorVista and Edurite from Pearson". Forbes India. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
- "Pearson sells 22% stake in Penguin Random. House". BBC News. 11 July 2017. Retrieved 12 July 2017.
- Sweney, Mark (4 August 2017). "Pearson to axe 3,000 jobs after slump at main US business". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 March 2018.
- Wood, Heloise (16 August 2017). "Pearson sells Global Education to Puxin for £62m". The Bookseller. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
- Wan, Tony (18 February 2019). "Finally: Pearson Sells Its US K-12 Courseware Business—for $250 Million*". EdSurge. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
- Millward, Wade Tyler (29 October 2019). "Former Pearson K-12 Courseware Business Rebrands as Savvas Learning". EdSurge. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
- Molnar, Michele (6 May 2020). "Pearson K12 Spinoff Rebranded as 'Savvas Learning Company'". EdWeek. Retrieved 1 February 2024.
- ^ Calatayud, Adria (18 December 2019). "Pearson CEO to Retire and company will sell remaining Penguin Random House stake". MarketWatch. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
- Pfeiffer, Thomas; Seal, Thomas (24 August 2020). "Pearson Names Ex-Disney Executive as CEO, Ending Long Search". MSN. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
- "Pearson appoints Silicon Valley veteran Omid Kordestani as chair". Financial Times. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
- "Pearson hires former Twitter exec Omid Kordestani as Chair Designate". CityAM. 16 December 2021. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
- "Introducing our leaders". Pearson plc. Retrieved 18 May 2022.
- "Pearson reports 7% underlying sales growth as it acquires language learning platform Mondly". The Bookseller. Retrieved 29 April 2022.
- "Clutch Prep acquired by Pearson".
- "Pearson+ Releases Curated Video & Practice Feature to Enhance Learning Experiences for All College Students".
- ^ Shabong, Yadarisa; Mathews, Eva (19 September 2023). "Pearson names Microsoft executive Abbosh CEO as Bird retires". Reuters. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
- Siampani, Anna (30 October 2023). "Pearson Confirms Omar Abbosh will Assume the role of CEO in January". CEOWorld. Retrieved 19 February 2024.
- "Our Business Divisions". plc.pearson.com. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
- Mansell, Warwick (16 July 2012). "Should Pearson, a giant multinational, be influencing our education policy?". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
- "Pearson Draws Criticism From New York to Texas... Justified? Or Unjustified?". WiredAcademic. 24 October 2011. Archived from the original on 28 September 2013. Retrieved 25 September 2013.
- Mark Sweney (5 May 2017). "Pearson shareholders reject chief executive's £1.5m pay package | Business". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
- Tarek, Alia (3 July 2015). "When Pearson US took a tax break – Courtesy of PwC". World Tax. Archived from the original on 11 October 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2016.
- "The Senior Management Team". Pearson Edexcel.
- "Edexcel launches investigation after A-level maths paper leaked online". BBC News. 15 June 2019. Retrieved 22 June 2019.
- Sweney, Mark (1 March 2011). "Pearson freezes stake held by Libyan Investment Authority". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
External links
- Official website
- Mary H. Munroe (2004). "Pearson Timeline". The Academic Publishing Industry: A Story of Merger and Acquisition. Archived from the original on 20 October 2014 – via Northern Illinois University.
| Pearson plc | |
|---|---|
| Pearson School |
|
| Pearson Higher Education | |
| Pearson Professional |
|
| Other | |
| Former/defunct companies | |
 Category | |
 FTSE 100 companies of the United Kingdom → FTSE 250 | |
|---|---|
|
- 1844 establishments in England
- Pearson plc
- British brands
- British companies established in 1844
- Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange
- Companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange
- Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1844
- Education companies established in 1844
- Mass media companies established in 1844
- Mass media companies of the United Kingdom
- Multinational companies headquartered in England
- Multinational publishing companies
- Pan-European media companies
- Publishing companies established in 1844
- Companies in the FTSE 100 Index