John Wiley & Sons history

1820: Wiley shifts the focus of his business from printing to publishing and bookselling.

Each was an associate of Charles Wiley, who helped establish Cooper as perhaps America's first major novelist by publishing The Spy in 1821.

All of these famous authors outlived the instrumental Charles Wiley, however, who died in 1826, leaving the business he had founded to his son, John Wiley.

Also noteworthy during this period was the involvement of John Wiley's oldest son, Charles, starting in 1850, whereupon the business became known as John Wiley & Son.

Since its foundation 1851 in Berlin, today Ernst & Sohn belongs to the prominent publishing houses in the German-speaking countries particularly for civil and structural engineering.

1875: The company adopts the name John Wiley & Sons after John Wiley's son William Halsted Wiley comes onboard; W.H. Wiley is instrumental in the company's move into textbooks and science and technology publishing.

The company acquired its present name in 1876, when John's second son William H. Wiley joined his brother Charles in the business.

Since 1901, Wiley and its acquired companies have published the works of more than 350 Nobel laureates in all categories: Literature, Economics, Physiology/Medicine, Chemistry and Peace.

1904: The company is incorporated as John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

By 1914, when annual sales exceeded $300,000, four decades of operating as a publisher focused on science and technology books had propelled the company forward.

Originally founded in 1921 as Verlag Chemie, Wiley-VCH plays an important role in providing scientists, engineers and economists with high quality information.

The company's first overseas subsidiary was established four years later in London, touching off a period of international expansion that over a two-decade period would see John Wiley & Sons foreign subsidiaries established in Canada, Australia, Latin America, India, and Singapore. It was during this postwar upswing in business that Bradford Wiley, the great-great-great-grandson of John Wiley, rose to the top of John Wiley & Sons' executive ranks, becoming president of the company in 1956.

1959: The first overseas subsidiary is established in the United Kingdom.

1961: Interscience Publishers is acquired.

1962: The company makes its first public offering of stock.

Amid the celebrations heralding the company's 175th year of business and its record financial highs, John Wiley & Sons acquired Wilson Learning Group, a company founded in 1965 by Larry Wilson, co-author of The One Minute Sales Person.

Management of day-to-day operations, however, was in the hands of William J. Pesce, president and CEO, a position held by a nonfamily member since 1971.

After establishing a medical division in 1973, which a decade later would publish an average of 60 medical titles a year, Bradford Wiley took steps toward repositioning the company to compete in the future.

Titles were grouped into product lines, and in 1978 John Wiley & Sons' business activities were restructured into four major groups, comprising the company's professional, educational, international, and medicine business areas.

If help was expected from the 1982 acquisition of Wilson Learning Group, it did not materialize.

By 1984, the growth rate of college textbook sales had dropped to 4.8 percent, significantly weakening one of John Wiley & Sons' chief markets.

Ruth McMullin, who was recruited from General Electric, was hired in 1987 as chief operating officer to lead John Wiley & Sons toward recovery.

In 1989, Wiley acquired the life science publisher Liss.

In 1990, John Wiley & Sons launched a sweeping strategic program aimed at restoring the company's profitability.

In 1991, the failing Wilson Learning Group subsidiary was sold, yielding John Wiley & Sons $30 million, and a medical book series was divested.

Further gains were recorded in this area in 1992, when the company acquired Chancery Law Publishing Ltd. in the United Kingdom and the paralegal publishing line belonging to the James Publishing Group in the United States.

Since 1993 the company enjoyed compounded annual revenue growth of 12 percent, while earnings had concurrently increased at a compound annual rate of 26 percent.

In 1995, the company derived roughly 40 percent of its total sales from outside the United States.

In 1996, Wiley acquired the German technical publisher VCH.

In 1997, Wiley acquired the professional publisher Van Nostrand Reinhold (the successor to the company started by David Van Nostrand) from Thomson Learning.

In May 1998 Pesce was named president and CEO, succeeding Ellis.

Initially offered free of charge, this online service was relaunched commercially in January 1999, providing access to more than 300 journals and major reference works in science, technology, and medicine on a subscription basis.

The company followed up with its largest acquisition yet, the purchase of Hungry Minds, Inc. (the former IDG Books Worldwide) in September 2001 for $184.1 million in cash and assumed debt.

During 2002 Bradford Wiley II's brother, Peter Booth Wiley, was named chairman, with Bradford remaining on the board of directors.

By 2003, John Wiley & Sons was generating 25 percent of its revenues from Web-based products, principally from Wiley InterScience.

Revenues grew another 8 percent in 2004, reaching $923 million--one or two years' growth away from the $1 billion mark.

In 2005, Wiley acquired the British medical publisher Whurr.

The most important book in the publishing house history - the "Beton Kalender" (concrete calendar) - was published in 2006 in the hundredth edition.

Wiley's scientific, technical, and medical business was expanded by the acquisition of Blackwell Publishing in February 2007 for US$1.12 billion, its largest purchase to that time.

Journals previously from Blackwell Publishing were available online from Blackwell Synergy until they were integrated into Wiley InterScience on June 30, 2008.

In December 2010, Wiley opened an office in Dubai.

On March 7, 2012, Wiley announced its intention to divest assets in the areas of travel (including the Frommer's brand), culinary, general interest, nautical, pets, and crafts, as well as the Webster's New World and CliffsNotes brands.

In 2013, Wiley sold its pets, crafts and general interest lines to Turner Publishing Company and its nautical line to Fernhurst Books.

Publishers Sue Internet Archive Over Free E-BooksPenguin Random House, HarperCollins, Hachette and Wiley accused the nonprofit of piracy for making over 1 million books free online.By Elizabeth A. HarrisJune 1, 2020