New owner for Macmillan Canada? IDG Books rumoured to be interested buyer

• Published in: Quill and quire Vol. 64; no. 11; p. 6
• Main Author: Lorinc, John
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: Toronto St. Joseph Communications 01.11.1998
• Subjects: Acquisitions & mergers; By company
• ISSN: 0033-6491

Ron Besse, president of Canada Publishing Corp. and owner of both Macmillan and Gage, declined to comment, as did other company officials. "Nothing has happened yet," said one Macmillan manager in early October. At IDG's head office, spokesperson Mimi Sells said, "Those are just rumours still." Peter Caskey, who oversees the investment review process for Industry Canada, also refused to confirm or deny whether the government is looking into any deals involving Macmillan. That firm, a subsidiary of a large computer information company that also publishes magazines, was IDG Books, the originator of the now-ubiquitous Dummies guides. A highly sales-oriented firm, IDG made sure that its arrangement with Macmillan included a dedicated sales force, to be situated within Macmillan's operations. The Dummies series proved to be a runaway success, for three reasons: the huge growth in the personal computer market, the considerable consumer allure of a simplified software guide as an antidote to the technically opaque material put out by other computer book publishers, and the brilliantly executed development of the Dummies brand. A few years back, IDG began to branch out into non-computer subjects, such as gardening. Now, Macmillan has about half a dozen dedicated IDG sales reps, and the Dummies series generates between $10-million and $12-million in annual revenues in Canada (IDG's worldwide sales amount to approximately $120-million annually). Macmillan's Canadian publishing program, meanwhile, brings in revenues of about $5-million.