Yesterday, GalleyCat reported that former Houghton Mifflin Harcourt executive editor Ann Patty had said “a lot” of employees had been released from the publishing house. Today, the NY Obsever reports that that Drenka Willen and Anjali Singh were among the cuts.
In addition, spokesperson Josef Blumenfeld addressed the restructuring in a statement. Complete memo after the jump:
“In response to inquiry, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt today confirmed that it is moving forward with the planned combination of various of its businesses into a new K-12 organization comprised of School Publishers, Holt McDougal, Supplemental Publishers, Heinemann, HMH Learning Technology and International Publishers. These businesses were brought together with the acquisition of Harcourt by Houghton Mifflin in December 2007, and the integration process has been underway since that time.”
“After careful analysis, the company has identified the organizational
structure to carry the K-12 business forward, make it more efficient and provide customers with better and more focused products and services.
“The streamlining of the business will result in the elimination of some positions, even as new roles are created that will let the company serve educators and students in new and unique ways. The K-12 organization will continue to be highly competitive and focused, and better able to address the evolving needs of customers.
“In addition to strengthening the company’s competitive position, the new organizational structure will have financial benefits for the company, which, in turn will help it weather the impacts of the current economic crisis. In light of the challenging conditions worldwide, the company has taken a hard look at its business and is making changes in some of its other operations to lower expenses. These actions are consistent with those occurring within other companies across a full spectrum of businesses, and include the reduction of some positions in the company’s Trade and Reference and Riverside Publishing divisions. The company is proceeding carefully and thoughtfully to assure that it is making the best, most productive use of its resources.
“Overall, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt anticipates that the changes being announced will better position the company to realize its long-term strategic objectives while taking into account the current economic environment.”