Content area
As one UK equities analyst pointed out, the only way for Pearson to grow its television assets is to look outside the UK. The restrictions on ownership of production and broadcasting assets in that country have forced Pearson to look across borders for expansion possibilities as well as rearrange its UK assets.
Further on the production front, just after announcing its plans to take a stake in TVB, Pearson bought Grundy Worldwide, the international production company led by Australian entrepreneur Reg Grundy. Grundy has its own string of locally-based production companies across Europe, allowing Pearson to expand its presence on the continent in one fell swoop. Pearson's other production companies in Europe include the well-respected Thames Television and Financial Times Television in the UK.
The importance of the North American educational market was reflected in the restructuring of Pearson's businesses in that area. Since 1988, when it acquired Addison-Wesley, Pearson has run the North American educational publishing arm of its business searately from its UK assets. This year it combined Addison-Wesley with the Longman Group to create Addison-Wesley Longman, one of the three largest educational publishers in the world. Addison-Wesley Longman is hoping to take advantage of the potential growth in the education market, particularly in the U.S.