The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., ( ) is a publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City. Its primary areas of business are education, publishing, broadcasting, and financial and business services. It publishes numerous textbooks and magazines, including BusinessWeek and Aviation Week, and is the parent company of Standard & Poor's, Platts, and J.D. Power and Associates. It is the majority owner of the Canadian publisher McGraw-Hill Ryerson (TSX: MHR).

Corporate history

The McGraw-Hill Companies traces its history back to 1888 when James H. McGraw, co-founder of the company, purchased the American Journal of Railway Appliances. He continued to add further publications, eventually establishing The McGraw Publishing Company in 1899. His co-founder, John A. Hill, had also produced several technical and trade publications and in 1902 formed his own business, The Hill Publishing Company.

In 1909 both men, having known each other for some time and sharing the same interests, agreed upon an alliance and combined the book departments of their publishing companies into The McGraw-Hill Book Company. John Hill served as President, with James McGraw as Vice-President. 1917 saw the merger of the remaining parts of each business into The McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, Inc.

McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, Inc became The McGraw-Hill Companies in 1995, as part of a corporate identity rebranding.

In a recent strategy move, McGraw-Hill has launched an online note-sharing website, GradeGuru.com. This new site gives McGraw-Hill an opportunity to connect directly with its end users, the students.

Corporate organization

The McGraw-Hill Companies organizes its businesses around three segments, based upon the market they are involved in.

Education

McGraw-Hill Education provides materials, both traditionally and online, for all levels of education. The company also provides references & trade publications for the medical, business and engineering professions.

Imprints within McGraw-Hill Education include:

• CTB/McGraw-Hill
• Glencoe/McGraw-Hill
• The Grow Network/McGraw-Hill
• Macmillan/McGraw-Hill
• McGraw-Hill/Irwin
• McGraw-Hill Contemporary
• McGraw-Hill Digital Learning
• McGraw-Hill Professional Development
• SRA/McGraw-Hill
• Wright Group/McGraw-Hill
• McGraw-Hill Higher Education
• McGraw-Hill Custom Publishing
• McGraw-Hill Professional
• Open University Press

McGraw-Hill Education is also established in Asia, Australia, Europe, Latin America (as McGraw-Hill Interamericana), Canada (as McGraw-Hill/Ryerson) and India (as Tata/McGraw-Hill).

Financial services

This segment is comprised entirely of Standard & Poor's, which provides independent investment research including ratings on various investment instruments, as well as various indices that gauge financial markets, including the widely tracked S&P 500.

Information and media

• Platts
• Aviation Week Group
• McGraw-Hill Broadcasting (all ABC affiliates, unless specified)
  • KMGH-TV, Denver, Colorado
  • KZCO-LP and KZFC-LP (Azteca América), Denver, Colorado
  • KZCS-LP (Azteca América), Colorado Springs, Colorado
  • KGTV, San Diego, California

Since 2006, McGraw-Hill Broadcasting has been engaged in a union-busting campaign at KGTV, according to internal McGraw-Hill documents provided by NABET-CWA Local 54 on its website.

• • KZSD-LP (Azteca América), San Diego, California
  • KERO-TV, Bakersfield, California
  • KZKC-LP (Azteca América), Bakersfield, California
  • WRTV, Indianapolis, Indiana
• BusinessWeek
• J.D. Power and Associates
• McGraw-Hill Construction, a division of the McGraw-Hill companies, is a publisher of construction information in the United States and Canada. It publishes Architectural Record, Dodge, Engineering News-Record (ENR), Sweets, McGraw-Hill Construction Analytics, and McGraw-Hill Construction Regionals. Norbert Young is division president.

Presidents of the company

• James H. McGraw (1917 – 1928)
• Malcolm Muir (1928 – 1948)
• James McGraw, Jr. (1948 – 1950)
• Curtis W. McGraw (1950 – 1953)
• Donald C. McGraw (1953 – 1968)
• Shelton Fisher (1968 – 1974)
• Harold McGraw, Jr (1974 – 1983)
• Joseph Dionne (1983 – 1998)
• Harold W. McGraw III (1998 – present)

Acquisitions

During the course of its history The McGraw-Hill Companies has expanded significantly through acquisitions, not just within the publishing industry but also into other areas such as financial services (the purchase of Standard & Poor's in 1966) and broadcasting (the 1972 acquisition of Time-Life Broadcasting).

Date of Acquisition	Asset Acquired	Industry
1920	Newton Falls Paper Company	-
1928	A.W. Shaw Company	-
1950s	Gregg Company	Publisher of vocational textbooks
1953	Companies of Warren C Platts, including Platts	Publisher of petroleum industry information
1961	F.W. Dodge Corporation	Publisher of construction industry information
1965	California Test Bureau	Developer of educational testing systems
1966	Standard & Poor's	Financial Services
1968	National Radio Institute	Correspondence School
1970	The Ryerson Press	Educational and trade publishing
1972	Television Stations of Time Life Broadcasting	Broadcasting
1996	Times Mirror Higher Education	Educational publishing
1997	Micropal Group Limited	Financial Services
1999	Appleton & Lange	Publisher of medical information
2000	Tribune Education, including NTC/Contemporary	Publisher of supplementary educational materials
2002	Open University Press	University press - academic publications
2005	J.D. Power & Associates	Marketing information provider

Note that this list only includes acquisitions made by McGraw-Hill, not its subsidiaries. McGraw-Hill typically does not release financial information regarding its acquisitions or divestitures.

Partnerships

McGraw-Hill has partnered with five other higher-education publishers to create CourseSmart, a company developed to sell college textbooks in eTextbook format on a common platform.

The McGraw-Hill Building

• The McGraw-Hill Building in New York City has received prominent attention. In April 2008, surveillance camera footage was released of a BusinessWeek production manager who was trapped in the building's elevator for 41 hours in October 1999.

References

1. YouTube - TRAPPED IN AN ELEVATOR FOR 41 HOURS

External links

• The McGraw-Hill Companies website
• Transcripts of The McGraw-Hill Companies' Quarterly Conference Calls
• McGraw-Hill Higher Education website
• McGraw-Hill Education Europe, Middle East and Africa website
• McGraw- Hill Education
• Digital Engineering Library ( Book List at 29Dec07 Book List at 25Feb08)
• McGraw-Hill Construction
• McGraw-Hill Professional
• McGraw-Hill's AccessScience
• CourseSmart
• McGraw-Hill Education Asia website
• McGraw-Hill Education Australia/New Zealand website
• Tata McGraw-Hill Education website
• McGraw-Hill Education Taiwan website