McGraw-Hill may separate, not sell, education unit

McGraw-Hill is considering separating its struggling school textbook and testing business, according to

a

Wall Street Journal

report

. The company has ruled out breaking up the education division, the article said.

The report noted that because of tax issues, it’s unlikely that McGraw-Hill would sell the education unit. “However, a sale could occur in the future if the education business becomes a stand-alone unit,” the article said.

The education unit is one of four business divisions at McGraw-Hill. The others are Standard & Poor’s, McGraw-Hill Financial and McGraw-Hill Information & Media.

In June, the company announced it was pursuing the sale of its small broadcast business, the report noted. It sold

BusinessWeek

to Bloomberg LP in 2009.

The company was founded in 1888 by the great-grandfather of Chairman and CEO Harold McGraw III. The family owns about 4.7% of the company, the

Journal

article said. (Source:

Wall Street Journal,

Aug. 18, 2011.)