On 3/5/21 the rumor is it’s being announced that one of Cengage’s siloed businesses is being sold off to Pearson.
I’’ll give you a hint, it’s the only brand actually worth anything.
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What I’ve heard is that NatGeo needs to approve the license for the brand being transferred. A few things could happen.
1- NGL brand and list goes to Pearson. Skeleton crew goes along with layoffs and a few open positions posted for people to fight over.
2- deal falls through
3- NG doesn’t approve Pearson getting brand
4- NG decides to wait out short time left on license and cuts a deal with Pearson or a competitor on their own.
Anyone have any update on this? Seems like 3/5 rolled by with no announcement and Pearson's investor call on 3/8 didn't mention anything, either.
@vrkk+19dzjEKg. Grabbing my hot tamales and popcorn!
The big news isn’t that NGL is being sold. Pearson and Cengage are going to try to “merge” ala McGraw Hill except in this case it’s a straight buyout of brands and lists.
One higher up described an oncoming “bloodbath of layoffs” But I wouldn’t worry, it probably won’t go through. On the other hand, MH and co never met a layoff they didn’t like!
Considering who is on the Michael call tomorrow, I doubt we are going to hear anything.
Meaning the team is getting axed?
From what I have been told the team is not going with the sale. Just the brand and ip. Why would Pearson want to deal with gutting something they only want the brand of?
Pearson page says announcement will be next Monday
Nat Geo ELT or school/K12?
If there is a sale, people from that team might have an option to go with the sale or take a package from C.
Has anyone else heard the rumor of things not happening until the first 100 days of the fiscal year? Or do you think the sale is the star and there will be cascading changes from that?
I asked someone who is in the know about such things and they pretty much confirmed it. NatGeo that is.
According to a higher up its NGL but there’s problems with the deal because NG is threatening to pull the brand if sold.
No one's yet thrown out a long-standing Delmar brand...Milady?
I have been saying it was NGL since the get, the mas—atory meetings about ELT lately gives me a little pause about it though.
Anyone who continues to work for these people, all I can say is that you enjoy being a slave and you deserve to be humiliated like one if you accept the abuses of these sociopaths.
Any updates? Lots of meetings are happening.
It’s NatGeo.
@6pvd+19dzjEKg Thorndike is one of the very few profitable businesses Gale is in. If they dropped it Gale would not have much reason to exist anymore.
What about this Thorndike Press outfit on the Gale side? They seem to be fairly profitable...
Investor call scheduled for Thursday.
Pearson sold off their K12 to Savvas, so it wouldn't be NGL
@1plo+19dzjEKg I worked at Gale in FH for years. The crew that ran them up to the Cengage sale were bad enough but what followed them was far worse. Its been an endless parade of buffoons with zero skill or leadership ability. The current head of marketing is the most unqualified and incompetent exec they have had yet, not to mention a total narcissist who surrounds herself with nothing but lackeys. The arrogance is a joke considering that Gale's main business is selling encyclopedias to libraries. The company was never going to survive given their business model but the rotating clown show at the top has accelerated the decline. There is barely a fraction of the employees left compared to when I started there. They are pathetic.
What other execs besides DH got let go? Initials please!
You want to talk about an arrogant group of execs? The crew who ran Gale right around the time Thomson sold to Cengage were insufferable. I worked in FH. These folks thought they were running Google.
Gale won’t be around but neither will Cengage.
Gale will not be around in 5 years given their sales trends.
If you have been here a while, just look around and see who has been here for more than a couple of years. The writing is on the wall.
Lets see if they delay the investor call. it should be next week. That being said, I can't wait to hear how MH spins what will certainly be a dismal 3Q and now this.
I can say that National Geographic Learning would be the obvious choice:
- Recognizable brand that is worth more than anything else Cengage has
- Underperformed for years despite the brand name being a license to print money
- Management recently let go
- I would imagine the real National Geographic is disappointed by the lackluster content next to their beautiful content
My guess is that NG's licensing deal with Cengage has ended and Cengage either can't afford to renew, NG doesn't want to continue the licensing deal because of poor sales/leadership/content or Pearson went after the deal. Maybe a combination of all three.
If this is true it will be great to hear MH talk about how the deal ended because our ethos doesn't align with NGs.
Anyone dumb enough to by Gale falls into the "s—er born every minute" category. I think it has to be Nat Geo.
Could also be Gale which MH has been trying to unload since he took over.
@den+19dzjEKg Selling Delmar would be really dumb but it would be par for the course with the way those at the top make decisions.
Any truth to the Delmar imprint sale to Pearson rumour?
Totally make sense which is why DH and cronies were let go.
Auctioning off assets to raise cash. Not a good sign.
NatGeo