Profile: Pearson PLC (PSO)

Pearson plc, (Pearson), incorporated in 1897, is an international media and education company with its principal operations in the education, business information and consumer publishing markets. The Company delivers the content in a range of forms and through a variety of channels, including books, newspapers and online services. It offers services, as well as content, from test creation, administration and processing to teacher development and school software. It operates in more than 70 countries worldwide, its major markets are the United States (57% of sales) and Europe (23% of sales). Pearson consists of three worldwide businesses: Pearson Education, The FT Group and The Penguin Group. On May 31, 2011, the Company acquired Schoolnet. On June 10, 2011, the Company acquired EDI plc. On November 1, 2011, the Company acquired Connections Education. On 19 December 2011, the Company acquired Global Education and Technology Group. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company acquired CTI Education, Tutorvista, Stark Holding, TQ Holdings Ltd. In May 2012, the Company acquired Certiport, Inc. from Spire Capital Partners. In July 2012, it acquired Author Solutions, Inc (ASI) from Bertram Capital. In July 2012, Bertram Capital sold Author Solutions, Inc. to Pearson. In July 2012, Navis Capital Partners sold PT Efficient English Services to Pearson. In October 2012, the Company acquired EmbanetCompass from an investor group led by Technology Crossover Ventures and Knowledge Universe.

Pearson Education

Pearson Education is a provider of educational materials and learning technologies. It provides test development, processing and scoring services to governments, educational institutions, corporations and professional bodies’ worldwide. It publishes across the curriculum and provides a range of education services, including teacher development, educational software and system-wide solutions. During 2011, Pearson Education operated through three worldwide segments: North American Education, International Education and Professional. Pearson Education’s North American Education business serves educators and students in the United States and Canada from early education through elementary, middle and high schools and into higher education with a range of products and services, which include curriculum textbooks and other learning materials; student assessments and testing services, and education technologies.

The North American School business contains a mix of publishing, testing and technology products for the elementary and secondary school markets. The customers of this business are state education boards and local school districts. It also provides digital instructional solutions under Pearson Digital Learning, such as enVisionMATH and Miller-Levine Biology. The business also provides student information, assessment, reporting and business solutions (Pearson School Systems), which enables elementary and secondary schools and school districts to record and manage information about student attendance and performance. The Company’s North American Higher Education business is a publisher of textbooks and related course materials for colleges and universities in the United States. It publishes across all of the main fields of study with imprints, such as Pearson Prentice Hall, Pearson Addison Wesley, Pearson Allyn & Bacon, Pearson Benjamin Cummings and Pearson Longman.

Pearson Education International Education business covers all educational publishing and related services outside North America. Its International schools business publishes educational materials in local languages in a number of countries. It is a provider of English Language Teaching (ELT) materials for children and adults, published under the well-known Longman imprint. The Company’s International higher education business adapts its textbooks and technology services for individual markets, and with key markets in the United Kingdom, Benelux, Mexico, Germany, Hong Kong, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and Malaysia. It is also a provider of testing, assessment and qualification services in a number of key markets, including, the United Kingdom under the brand name Edexcel, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Hong Kong and the Middle East.

Pearson Education Professional education business is focused on publishing, training, testing and certification for professionals. The Company’s Professional education business publishes imprints under: Addison Wesley Professional, Prentice Hall and Cisco Press (for IT professionals); Peachpit Press and New Riders (for graphics and design professionals); Que and Sams (consumer and professional imprint), and Financial Times-Prentice Hall (for the business education market). Its customers include technology companies, the Graduate Management Admissions Council, National Council of State Boards of Nursing, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority and the United Kingdoms Driving Standards Agency.

The FT Group

The FT Group provides a range of data, analysis and services to an audience of internationally-minded business people and financial institutions. FT Group consists of the Financial Times, FT.com Website, and a portfolio of financial magazines and online financial information companies. The Financial Times is an international daily business newspaper, with five editions in the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, the United States, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. Its main sources of revenue are from sales of the newspaper, advertising and conferences. The Financial Times is complemented by FT.com, which sells content and advertising online, and which charges subscribers for detailed industry news, comment and analysis, while providing general news and market data.

FT Business publishes specialist information on the retail, personal and institutional finance industries through titles, including Investors Chronicle, Money Management, Financial Adviser and The Banker. Its key products include Mergermarket, Debtwire, dealReporter, Wealthmonitor and BioPharm Insight. The FT Group also has a number of associates and joint ventures, including a 50% interest in The Economist Group, publisher of weekly business and current affairs magazines; a 50% interest in Business Day and Financial Mail, publishers of one of South Africa’s financial newspapers and magazines, and a 33% interest in Vedomosti, a Russian business newspaper. On December 16, 2011, the FT Group sold its 50% interest in FTSE International to the London Stock Exchange.

The Penguin Group

Penguin publishes over 4,000 fiction and non-fiction books each year, on paper, screens and in audio formats for readers of all ages, and has a range of backlist and frontlist titles, including top literary prize winners, classics, reference volumes and children’s titles. Penguin operates worldwide through a series of connected national publishing houses. It publishes under a number of well known imprints, including Putnam, Viking, Allen Lane, Hamish Hamilton, Berkley, Dorling Kindersley, Puffin and Ladybird. Its markets are in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Ireland, India, South Africa, and New Zealand. Penguin sells directly to bookshops and through wholesalers. It also sells through online retailers, such as Amazon.com, as well as Penguin’s own Website. Penguin also sells direct to the customer through digital sales agents.

The Company competes with McGraw-Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, The Wall Street Journal, Random House, HarperCollins and Hachette Group.