McGraw Hill is an American publishing company for educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. It is one of the "big three" educational publishers along with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Pearson Education.[2][3] McGraw Hill also publishes reference and trade publications for the medical, business, and engineering professions. Formerly a division of The McGraw Hill Companies (later renamed McGraw Hill Financial, now S&P Global), McGraw Hill Education was divested and acquired by Apollo Global Management in March 2013 for $2.4 billion in cash.[4][5][6][7][8] McGraw Hill was sold in 2021 to Platinum Equity for $4.5 billion.[9]
 The branded McGraw Hill logo as of 2020[update] | |
| Founded | 1888 |
|---|---|
| Founder | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Headquarters location | New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Key people | Simon Allen |
| Publication types | Adaptive learning technology, educational software, e-books, apps, platform services, curriculum, and books |
| Revenue |  $1.72 billion (2017) |
| Owner(s) | Platinum Equity |
| No. of employees | 3,900 (2020)[1] |
| Official website | mheducation |
Corporate history
McGraw Hill was founded in 1888, when James H. McGraw, co-founder of McGraw Hill, purchased the American Journal of Railway Appliances. He continued to add further publications, eventually establishing The McGraw Publishing Company in 1899. His co-founder, John A. Hill, had also produced several technical and trade publications and in 1902 formed his own business, The Hill Publishing Company.[10]
In 1909, the two co-founders formed an alliance and combined the book departments of their publishing companies into an incorporated company called The McGraw-Hill Book Company.[10] John Hill served as president, with James McGraw as vice-president. The remaining parts of each business were merged into The McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, Inc in 1917.[11]
In 1946, McGraw-Hill founded an international division of the company.[10] It acquired Contemporary Films in 1972 and CRM in 1975. McGraw-Hill combined its films in the CRM division in 1978. McGraw-Hill sold CRM in 1987.[12]
In 1979, McGraw-Hill Publishing Company purchased Byte from its owner/publisher Virginia Williamson, who then became a vice-president of McGraw-Hill. In 1986, McGraw-Hill bought out competitor The Economy Company, then the nation's largest publisher of educational material. The buyout made McGraw-Hill the largest educational publisher in the U.S.[13]
In 1988, Harold McGraw became chairman emeritus of McGraw Hill.[10]
In 1989, McGraw-Hill formed a joint partnership with Robert Maxwell, forming second largest textbook publisher in the United States.[14] McGraw-Hill took full ownership of the venture in 1993.
In 2004, The McGraw-Hill Companies sold its children's publishing unit to School Specialty.[15] In 2007, The McGraw-Hill Companies launched an online student study network, GradeGuru.com. This offering gave McGraw-Hill an opportunity to connect directly with its end users, the students. It allowed students to share notes and materials for cash or gift cards in return.[16] The site closed on April 29, 2012.[citation needed]
On October 3, 2011, Scripps announced it was purchasing all seven television stations owned by The McGraw-Hill Companies' broadcasting division McGraw-Hill Broadcasting for $212 million; the sale is a result of McGraw-Hill's decision to exit the broadcasting industry to focus on its other core properties, including its publishing unit.[17] This deal was approved by the FTC on October 31[18] and the FCC on November 29.[19] The deal was completed on December 30, 2011.[20]
On November 26, 2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies announced it was selling its entire education division to Apollo Global Management for $2.5 billion.[21] On March 22, 2013, McGraw Hill Education announced it had completed the sale and the proceeds were for $2.4 billion in cash.[22] In 2012, McGraw Hill acquired Redbird Learning[23] and in 2013, McGraw Hill acquired ALEKS.[24] In 2014, McGraw Hill Education India partnered with GreyCampus to promote Online Learning Courses among University Grants Commission- National eligibility Test Aspirants.[25] In 2014, McGraw Hill acquired Engrade. On June 30, 2015, McGraw-Hill Education announced that Data Recognition Corporation (DRC) had agreed to acquire "key assets" of the CTB/McGraw-Hill assessment business.[26] In 2016, McGraw Hill acquired Everyday Mathematics. In 2017, McGraw Hill acquired My Math.
On May 11, 2017, McGraw-Hill Education announced the sale of the business holdings of McGraw-Hill Ryerson (Ryerson Press) to Canadian educational publisher Nelson.[27] In 2018, McGraw-Hill launches textbook rental program, adding to affordable options available for college students.[28] On January 17, 2019, McGraw Hill Education announced Reveal Math and Inspire Science, new curricula for K–12.[29]
On May 1, 2019, McGraw-Hill Education announced an agreement to merge with Cengage. The merged company was expected to retain McGraw Hill as the corporate name.[30][31] The merger was called off on May 1, 2020.[32] In 2019, McGraw Hill acquired Core-Plus Mathematics Project. In 2020, McGraw Hill became a distributor for Illustrative Mathematics. In 2021, McGraw Hill acquired Kidaptive.
McGraw Hill was sold in 2021 to Platinum Equity for $4.5 billion.[9]
Acquisitions
The McGraw Hill Companies expanded significantly through acquisition, including financial services and broadcasting. Many acquisitions continued with McGraw Hill after their acquisition by Apollo Global Management in 2013.
| Date of acquisition | Company acquired | Industry |
|---|---|---|
| 1920 | Newton Falls Paper Company[33] | Producer of paper |
| 1928 | A.W. Shaw Company[33] | Publisher of magazines and textbooks |
| 1950s | Gregg Company[33] | Publisher of vocational textbooks |
| 1953 | Companies of Warren C Platts, including Platts[33][34] | Publisher of petroleum industry information |
| 1954 | Blakiston, from Doubleday[35] | Publisher of medical textbooks |
| 1961 | F.W. Dodge Corporation[36] | Publisher of construction industry information |
| 1965 | California Test Bureau[33] | Developer of educational testing systems |
| 1966 | Standard & Poor's[36] | Financial Services |
| Shepard's Citations[37] | Legal publisher | |
| 1968 | National Radio Institute | Correspondence School |
| 1970 | The Ryerson Press | Educational and trade publishing |
| 1972 | Television Stations of Time Life Broadcasting[36] | Broadcasting |
| 1979 | Osborne Books | Educational and trade publishing |
| 1986 | The Economy Company | Educational publishing |
| 1988 | Random House Schools and Colleges[38] | Educational publishing |
| 1993 | Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Publishing Company including Glencoe, SRA, and former Laidlaw publications[39][40] | Educational publishing |
| 1996 | Times Mirror Higher Education including William C Brown, Richard D Irwin, Irwin Professional, Mosby College and Brown & Benchmark [41] | Educational publishing |
| 1997 | Micropal Group Limited[42] | Financial Services |
| 1999 | Appleton & Lange from Pearson[43] | Publisher of medical information |
| 2000 | Tribune Education, including NTC/Contemporary, Everyday Learning/Creative, Instructional Fair, Landoll, The Wright Group. American Education Publishing, Meeks Heit & Peter Bedrick Books[44] | Publisher of supplementary educational materials |
| Mayfield Publishing Company[45] | Publisher of humanities and social science textbooks | |
| 2002 | Open University Press | University press – academic publications |
| 2005 | J.D. Power & Associates[46] | Marketing information provider |
| 2013 | Key Curriculum[47] | Math technology firm |
| ALEKS[48] | Adaptive learning firm | |
| 2014 | Area9 Aps[49] | Adaptive learning firm |
| Engrade[50] | Learning management system | |
| 2016 | Redbird Advanced Learning, formerly Education Program for Gifted Youth[51] | Adaptive learning firm |
| 2021 | Kidaptive[52] | Adaptive learning firm |
| Triad Interactive[53] | Educational software firm | |
| Achieve3000[54] | Educational software firm |
Presidents
- John A. Hill (1909–1917)
- James H. McGraw (1917–1928)
- Johnathan Heflin (1928–1948)
- James McGraw Jr. (1948–1950)
- Curtis W. McGraw (1950–1953)
- Donald C. McGraw (1953–1968)
- Shelton Fisher (1968–1974)
- Harold McGraw Jr. (1974–1983)
- Joseph Dionne (1983–1998)
- Harold W. McGraw III (1998–2013)
- Buzz Waterhouse (2013–2014)
- David Levin (2014–2017)
- Buzz Waterhouse (2017–2018)
- Nana Banerjee (2018–2019)
- Simon Allen (2019–)
Controversies
In 1980, McGraw Hill paid the African American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin a $200,000 advance for his unfinished book Remember This House, a memoir of his personal recollections of civil rights leaders Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr.[55] Following his death, McGraw Hill sued his estate to recover the advance they had paid him for the unfinished book. The lawsuit was dropped by McGraw Hill in 1990, citing a desire not to cause distress to Baldwin's family.[55]
In October 2015, McGraw-Hill Education was accused of whitewashing history after it published a caption in a geography textbook referring to American slaves as "workers".[56] McGraw Hill issued an apology, updated the digital version of the materials, and offered schools replacement texts at no charge.[57] It has been linked to broader controversies about texts at the Texas Education Agency.[58]
Pricing
McGraw Hill has been accused of using online access codes included with texts to prevent students from reselling used books.[59] During the COVID-19 pandemic, when many students were studying remotely, McGraw Hill was accused of price gouging, in charging several times more for ebooks than for print texts.[60]
Works
![[icon]](#/media/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (December 2023) |
Films:
See also
References
Further reading
External links
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