Maxwell Communication Corporation plc was a leading

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

business. It was listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

and was a constituent of the

FTSE 100 Index The Financial Times Stock Exchange 100 Index, also called the FTSE 100 Index, FTSE 100, FTSE, or, informally, the "Footsie" , is the United Kingdom's best-known stock market index of the 100 most highly capitalised blue chips listed on ...

. It collapsed in 1991 following the death of its titular owner.

History

Formation and Turbulent Years

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. In 1967, the British Printing Corporation merged its magazines into Haymarket Group. During the 1970s the ''British Printing Corporation'' was involved in many disputes with

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

s.Peter Robinson, Chairman and CEO, Obituary
''The Times'', 15 November 2007. In 1978 such a dispute led to ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' and '' Sunday Times'' not being published for ten months.

Robert Maxwell's Acquisition and Company Restructuring

In July 1981,

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, politician and fraudster. After escaping the German occupation of Czechoslovakia, ...

launched a dawn raid on the company, acquiring a stake of 29%; the following year he secured full control of it. 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. It went on to buy Science Research Associates and the Official Airline Guide later that year. SRA was sold to a joint venture of Maxwell's Macmillan and

McGraw Hill McGraw Hill is an American education science company that provides educational content, software, and services for students and educators across various levels—from K-12 to higher education and professional settings. They produce textbooks, ...

the next year.

Administration and Legal Consequences

The company went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

in 1991 following the death of Robert Maxwell. Its properties were sold to various media companies.

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

(then parent of

Little, Brown and Company Little, Brown and Company is an American publishing company founded in 1837 by Charles Coffin Little and James Brown in Boston. For close to two centuries, it has published fiction and nonfiction by American authors. Early lists featured Emil ...

) acquired Macdonald.

acquired that part of Macmillan/McGraw Hill it did not already own outright. OAG was acquired by Reed Elsevier, while Macmillan was folded into

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

. 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.

References

Publishing companies established in 1964 Mass media companies disestablished in 1991 Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange Defunct companies based in London Defunct mass media companies of the United Kingdom Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom British companies established in 1964 1991 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 1991 Robert Maxwell {{UK-media-company-stub