Maxwell Communication Corporation

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Maxwell Communication Corporation plc
IndustryMedia
Founded1964
Defunct1991
FateAdministration
HeadquartersLondon, UK
Key people
Robert Maxwell (Chairman)

Maxwell Communication Corporation plc was a leading British media business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It collapsed in 1991 following the death of its titular owner.

History[edit]

Formation and Turbulent Years[edit]

The company was established in 1964 when Hazell Sun merged with Purnell & Sons (which also owned book publisher Macdonald) to form the British Printing Corporation.[1] In 1967, the British Printing Corporation merged its magazines into Haymarket Group.[2] During the 1970s the British Printing Corporation was involved in many disputes with trade unions.[3] In 1978 such a dispute led to The Times and Sunday Times not being published for ten months.[3]

Robert Maxwell's Acquisition and Company Restructuring[edit]

In July 1981, Robert Maxwell launched a dawn raid on the company, acquiring a stake of 29%; the following year he secured full control of it.[3] He changed the name of the company to British Printing & Communications Corporation in March 1982 and to Maxwell Communication Corporation in October 1987.

The company acquired Macmillan Inc., a large US publisher, in 1988.[4] It went on to buy Science Research Associates and the Official Airline Guide later that year.[5] SRA was sold to a joint venture of Maxwell's Macmillan and McGraw Hill the next year.[6]

Administration and Legal Consequences[edit]

The company went into administration in 1991 following the death of Robert Maxwell.[7] Its properties were sold to various media companies. Time Warner (then parent of Little, Brown and Company) acquired Macdonald.[8] McGraw Hill acquired that part of Macmillan/McGraw Hill it did not already own outright. OAG was acquired by Reed Elsevier,[9] while Macmillan was folded into Simon & Schuster.[10]

In 1999, British courts determined that Coopers & Lybrand had made gross errors during their audits of the Maxwell group of companies and fined Coopers & Lybrand a record £3.3 million.[11]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Records of Hazell, Watson and Viney Ltd, printers, Aylesbury, 1709-c.1991. 17 September 1991.
  2. ^ Haymarket: Timeline Archived 2009-03-30 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ a b c Peter Robinson, Chairman and CEO, Obituary, The Times, 15 November 2007.
  4. ^ "Maxwell Lifts Macmillan Takeover Bid to $86.80 a Share", New York Times, 16 September 1988.
  5. ^ "Airline Guide being sold to Maxwell", New York Times, 31 October 1988.
  6. ^ "McGraw-Hill and Maxwell Form Venture". The New York Times. 18 May 1989. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  7. ^ "Bankruptcy Explanation By Maxwell", New York Times, 18 December 1991.
  8. ^ "OTHER NEWS". Los Angeles Times. 20 February 1992. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  9. ^ Stanley Ziemba (19 August 1993). "British Firm Near Deal To Acquire Airline Guides". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 18 September 2015.
  10. ^ "After 65 years, Free Press to be absorbed into Simon & Schuster flagship". Melville House. 24 October 2012. Archived from the original on 11 September 2016. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  11. ^ "Геращенко добился своего: Проверять ЦБ будет Coopers & Lybrand" [Gerashchenko got his way: Coopers & Lybrand will check the Central Bank]. "Коммерсантъ" (in Russian). 6 February 1999. Retrieved 16 July 2021.


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