Reed Elsevier to Sell Variety and Publisher's Weekly

CEO Crispin Davis says "its advertising revenue model and the inherent cyclicality fit less well with the subscription-based information and workflow solutions focus of Reed Elsevier's strategy." He also said "broadly, print publishing is flat while online is growing at around 11 percent a year." Reed Exhibitions--currently a division of the RBI, which operates BEA and the London Book Fair--will be retained by the company.

While the company timed their sale of Harcourt assets perfectly last year, the RBI sale faces a far different marketplace. Davis acknowledged in a conference call that the sale may take some time, saying "Our approach is that we're not going to be rushed into it." He told analysts, "We don't have any particular buyer in mind, we do think there will be a wide and strong level of interest in this business both from strategic and private equity buyers, we are very open minded on who and when." Reuters says that Numis Securities estimates the division could sell for $2 billion.