BREAKING: Houghton Mifflin Accepts Buyout Offer

We told you this morning Riverdeep was nearly ready to acquire Houghton Mifflin, and now the deal’s been done—the Associated Press reports that Houghton has accepted $1.75 billion in cash. So what happened to the $3.5 billion number Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin mentioned? Well, the investors are also absorbing another $1.6 billion of debt.

Technically, though, Riverdeep isn’t actually acquiring Houghton. Instead, Barry O’Callaghan, who already has a controlling stake in Riverdeep, has formed an investment group called HM Rivergroup that, in addition to buying Houghton for that $1.75 billion, will also spend $1.2 billion to acquire Riverdeep.

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