Wolters Kluwer

Wolters Kluwer N.V.
Naamloze vennootschap
Traded as Euronext: WKL
Industry Publishing, information services
Founded 1836
Headquarters Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands
Key people
 Nancy McKinstry (CEO)
Products Health, corporate services, finance, tax, accounting, law and regulatory software, services, workflow tools and publications
Revenue €3.7 billion (2014)[1]
Number of employees
 19,000
Website www.wolterskluwer.com

Wolters Kluwer N.V. (Euronext: WKL) is a global information services company.[2][3] The company is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands.[4] Wolters Kluwer in its current form was founded in 1987 with a merger between Kluwer Publishers and Wolters Samson.[5][6] The company serves legal, business, tax, accounting, finance, audit, risk, compliance, and healthcare markets.[2] It operates in over 150 countries.[2] Nancy McKinstry serves as chief executive officer of the company.[7]

History

Early history

Jan-Berend Wolters founded the Schoolbook publishing house in Groningen, Netherlands in 1836.[5] In 1858, the Noordhoff publishing house was founded alongside the Schoolbook publishing house.[5] The two publishing houses merged in 1968. Wolters-Noordhoff merged with Information and Communications Union (ICU) in 1972 and took the name ICU. ICU changed its name to Wolters-Samson in 1983. The company began serving foreign law firms and multinational companies in China in 1985.[8] In 1987, Elsevier, the largest publishing house in the Netherlands, announced its intentions to buy up Kluwer’s stock.[5] Kluwer merged with Wolters-Samson to fend off Elsevier’s take-over bid and formed Wolters Kluwer.[9] The merger made Wolters Kluwer the second largest publishing house in the Netherlands.[5][9]

After the merger, Wolters Kluwer began expanding internationally with the purchase of IPSOA Editore, Kieser Verlag, Technipublicaciones and Tele Consulte in 1989.[6] By the end of the year, Wolters Kluwer expanded its presence to Spain, West Germany and France.[5] The company also launched LEX, its legal information system, in Poland.[10] In 1989, 44% of the company’s revenue was earned in foreign markets.[5]

1990s

The following year, Wolters Kluwer purchased J. B. Lippincott & Co. from HarperCollins.[6] The company acquired Liber, a Swedish publishing company, in 1993. The following year it established its first Eastern European subsidiary, IURA Edition, in Bratislava, Slovakia. The company acquired Jugend & Volk, Dalian, Fateco Fîrlag and Juristfîrlaget, Deutscher Kommunal-Verlag Dr. Naujoks & Behrendt and Colex Data in 1995. Wolters Kluwer was operating in 16 countries and had approximately 8000 employees by the end of that year.[5]

In 1996, Wolters Kluwer purchased CCH Inc., a tax and business materials publisher, for $1.9 billion. The purchase assisted in expanding the company’s business in Asia because of CCH Inc.’s involvement in Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Singapore, and Hong Kong.[5] It also purchased Little, Brown and Company’s medical and legal division that year.[6] Waverly, Inc., Ovid Technologies, Inc. and Plenum Publishing Corporation were acquired in 1998 with the intention of developing Wolters Kluwer’s medical and scientific publishing industry.[5]

2000s

The company established its first three-year strategy to deliver sustained value to customers and shareholders in 2003.[10] The New Delhi Wolters Kluwer Health office opened in 2006. In September 2008, Wolters Kluwer acquired UpToDate, an evidence-based electronic clinical information resource.[11] The following month, the company received a multi-year contract to provide prescription and patient-level data to the United States Food and Drug Administration.[12] In 2009, Wolters Kluwer was named the “Best Place to Work” in Spain by the Great Place to Work Institute.[13]

Wolters Kluwer acquired FRSGlobal, financial regulatory reporting and risk management firm in September 2010.[14] The acquisition enabled Wolters Kluwer to provide financial organizations comprehensive compliance and risk solutions. The company acquired SASGAS, a financial reporting software solutions provider, to the foreign and domestic bank market in China in October 2011.[15] That December, Wolters Kluwer acquired Medknow, an open access publisher.[16]

In 2012, Wolters Kluwer acquired Acclipse, an accounting software provider, and Finarch, an integrated finance and risk solutions.[2] The company’s health division tested technology to identify and treat sepsis that December.[3] Wolters Kluwer acquired Health Language, a medical terminology management provider, in January 2013.[2] In May 2013, it acquired Prosoft Tecnologia, a Brazilian provider of tax and accounting software.[17] The company acquired CitizenHawk, an American online brand protection and global domain recovery specialist, in September 2013.[18] That month, Wolters Kluwer acquired Svenson, an Austrian regulatory reporting solutions provider.[19] The acquisition enabled both companies to assist Austrian banks and insurance companies in meeting national and international regulatory requirements.[19]

The company became the fifth participant in the AAISalliance, an arrangement of information providers that make their services available for member insurance companies of the American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS) in April 2014.[20] In May 2014, Wolters Kluwer launched UpToDate, a clinical decision support resource, in the United Kingdom.[21] UpToDate was launched throughout western Europe a month later.[22] Wolters Kluwer acquired Datacert, a Houston, Texas-based enterprise legal management software and services provider in April 2014.[23]

The company partnered with Anhembi Morumbi University, a private university in São Paulo, Brazil, to provide information and resources to healthcare students and professionals in June 2014.[24] That month, the company’s CCH eSign solution won the CPA Practice Advisor Magazine's 2014 Tax & Accounting Technology Innovation Award.[25] The solution won the SIIA’s “Best Enterprise Mobile Application” award that year.[26] The company partnered with Broadridge Tax Services in August 2014 to facilitate tax reporting and reconciliation.[27] In September, the company’s UpToDate resource was released in Latin America.[28] That month the company extended its partnership with the American Internal Revenue Service.[29] 2014 marked the 15th year of their collaboration.[29]

Operations

Wolters Kluwer operates under four divisions: Legal & Regulatory Solutions, Tax & Accounting, Health and GRC Solutions.[2] The company is active in over 150 countries. Approximately 77% of the company’s revenue came from online, software and services in 2013.[2]

Sustainability

Wolters Kluwer is listed on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index.[30] The company received the Bronze Class Sustainability Award 2014 from RobecoSAM.[31] Wolters Kluwer is recognized as one of the “Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World” by Corporate Knights.[32]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer Annual Report" (PDF). Wolters Kluwer. 2014. Retrieved May 12, 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Global Publishing Leaders 2013: Wolters Kluwer". July 19, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  3. 1 2 "The supercomputer will see you now". December 3, 2012. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  4. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer Corporate Office Relocated to Alphen aan den". September 1, 2009. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Wolters Kluwer History". Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 "Wolters Kluwer". Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Managing Globally, and Locally". December 12, 2009. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer Says ‘Explosive’ China Legal Growth Fuels Sales". August 30, 2010. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  9. 1 2 "Kluwer and Wolters Samsom Groep, the two Dutch publishing groups planning to merge, have announced that their merger intentions pre-dated the Elsevier takeover bid". Textline Multiple Source Collection. June 18, 1987.
  10. 1 2 "Wolters Kluwer Law and Business Advantages and Disadvantages". February 5, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer Health to acquire UpToDate". September 4, 2008. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer gets FDA contract". Pharma Marketletter. November 5, 2008.
  13. ↑ "Who are the Best Workplaces in the UK and Europe" (PDF). Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer Financial Services Acquires FRSGlobal". September 24, 2010. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  15. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer Financial Services acquires SASGAS". Corporate IT Update. October 17, 2011.
  16. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer Health acquires Medknow". December 7, 2011. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  17. ↑ "M&A and IPOs". May 20, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  18. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer unit takes over CitizenHawk". M&A Navigator. September 10, 2013.
  19. 1 2 "Wolters Kluwer Financial Services closes buy of Svenson". Internet Business News. September 2, 2013.
  20. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer Becomes Fifth Participant in the AAISalliance". Insurance Broadcasting. April 29, 2014.
  21. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer Health Brings Out UpToDate Anywhere in UK". Health & Beauty Close-Up. May 30, 2014.
  22. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer Health launches UpToDate Anywhere in Western Europe". Worldwide Computer Products News. May 27, 2014.
  23. ↑ "Deals of the day: Questcor Pharma agrees to $5.6 billion deal". April 8, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  24. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer Health Taps Universidade Anhembi Morumbi to Introduce Drug Information Resources in Brazil". Professional Services Close-Up. July 19, 2014.
  25. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer, CCH eSign Solution Wins Prestigious Tax & Accounting Technology Innovation Award". India Investment News. June 3, 2014.
  26. ↑ "2014 Finalists". Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  27. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer and Broadridge tackle tax compliance". August 13, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  28. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer Health Introduces UpToDate Anywhere in Latin America". September 2, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  29. 1 2 "Wolters Kluwer, CCH Continues IRS Tech Partnership". September 14, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  30. ↑ "Wolters Kluwer's Ongoing Commitment to Sustainablity Recognized in Dow Jones Sustainability World and Europe Indexes 2010". September 9, 2010. Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  31. ↑ "RobecoSAM’s Corporate Sustainability Assessment Companies". Retrieved April 17, 2015.
  32. ↑ "2015 GLOBAL 100". Retrieved April 17, 2015.

External links

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