Macmillan Eliminates 64 Positions; Forms Children’s Group
By Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 12/15/2008 12:13:00 PM
Macmillan Publishing has eliminated 64 positions across both its college and trade imprints as well as Scientific American magazine. The cuts, which range across all aspects of the company, involve just under 4% of Macmillan’s U.S. workforce. As part of the restructuring, the company is forming a new unified children’s publishing division that will bring all of its imprints under one umbrella, said Macmillan head John Sargent. The new division, to be known as the Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group, will be headed by Dan Farley, who will continue to oversee Henry Holt as well. “We are trying to bring some leverage to this market,” Sargent said, adding that under the new group Macmillan will appoint dedicated sales and marketing personnel to the children’s division.
The restructuring on the adult side is aimed at much the same thing. “We looked at the realities of the business and felt we could operate more efficiently by centralizing some processes,” Sargent said. He said reducing the size of the Macmillan list “is not part of the plan.” He declined to discuss how the cuts played out among Macmillan’s different imprints, but noted that positions were eliminated in all imprints. According to sources, about 10 of the positions cut came at Scientific American. Sargent had no comment on that number.
The cuts come one week after Macmillan announced that it was freezing salaries for all employees earning over $50,000.
