John Wiley &Sons has acquired all but one of the approximately 55 college textbooks that the Justice Department ordered Pearson to sell before it would approve Pearson's purchase of Simon &Schuster's education division.

According to the Wiley announcement, the company acquired certain publishing assets from Pearson Education, including college texts and instructional packages in biology/anatomy and physiology, engineering, math, economics/finance and teacher education. Wiley paid about $58 million for the materials, which together with an elementary school program generated revenues of some $35 million (News, Nov. 30, 1998).

The elementary program, DiscoveryWorks, was acquired in late 1998 by Houghton Mifflin for $10.5 million.