Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
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Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. is an American company best known for publishing the Encyclopædia Britannica, the world's oldest continuously-published encyclopaedia.
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History
The company was founded in Edinburgh, Scotland in the 18th century, in the atmosphere of the Scottish Enlightenment. A printer, Colin Macfarquhar, and an engraver, Andrew Bell, formed a partnership to create a new book that would embody the new spirit of scholarship. William Smellie was engaged to edit the original three-volume work, published one volume at a time beginning in 1768.
The encyclopaedia's reputation grew throughout the publication of its subsequent volumes.
Sears Roebuck
The 11th edition was published in 1910-1911.
In 1920, the trademark and publication rights were sold to Sears Roebuck, which held them until 1943, when ownership passed to William Benton,
The 12th edition was published in 1921-1922, and the 13th edition was published in 1926.
A thoroughly-revised 14th edition was published in 1929.
By the mid-1930s, the company headquarters had moved to Chicago, Illinois, United States, and the editorial staff were now no longer disbanded after the completion of a new edition, but kept on as a permanent editorial department, to keep pace with the rapid increase in knowledge at the time.
Starting in 1936, a new printing of the encyclopaedia was published each year, incorporating the latest changes and updates. In 1938, the first edition of the Britannica Book of the Year appeared. This annual supplement is still published today.
William Benton
William Benton published the Britannica from 1943 until his death in 1973. After the death of his widow Helen Benton in 1974, the Benton Foundation continued to manage the Britannica until it was sold to Jacqui Safra in 1996.
In 1947, Britannica released 10 Eventful Years, a compendium of World War II in 4 volumes.
In 1952, Britannica published the landmark set Great Books of the Western World, a 54-volume set of the "great books" of Western culture.
Publishing rights to Compton's Encyclopedia were acquired by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. in 1961.
Merriam-Webster Inc. has been a subsidiary of Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. since 1964.
Jacqui Safra
In January 1996, the company was purchased by billionaire Swiss financier Jacqui Safra for $136 million.
The company was one of the first to offer encyclopaedia content online (in association with LexisNexis in the 1980s), and currently publishes in several mediums, including DVD and through its website. It has several international projects to develop educational materials in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Italy, France, Spain, Latin America, Turkey, Hungary, and Poland.
Under Safra's ownership the company has experienced some financial woes with freelance contributors waiting up to six months for checks and staff going years without raises, according to a report in the New York Post. Cost-cutting measures have included mandates to use free photos. Britannica in December 2002 told employees it would raise the contribution paid into their 401(k) accounts, then eliminated them entirely. A company spokesperson said: "We've had some cost reductions and belt-tightening but we're not going into details… We're a privately held company."
See also
