Houghton Mifflin This article documents a current event . Information may change rapidly as the event progresses . Houghton Mifflin Company is a leading educational publisher in the United States . They publish textbooks , instructional technology materials , assessments , reference works , and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults , including the Best American series ( annual collections of previously-published fiction and non-fiction ) . Company history In 1832 , William Ticknor and James Thomas Fields had gathered an impressive list of writers , including Ralph Waldo Emerson , Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry David Thoreau . The duo formed a close relationship with Riverside Press , a Boston printing company owned by Henry Oscar Houghton . Shortly after , Houghton also founded a publishing company with partner George Mifflin . In 1880 , Ticknor and Fields , and Houghton and Mifflin merged their operations , combining the literary works of writers with the expertise of a publisher , creating a new partnership named Houghton , Mifflin and Company . Shortly thereafter , the company established an Educational Department and from 1891 to 1908 , sales of educational materials increased by five hundred percent . Soon after 1916 , Houghton Mifflin became involved in publishing standardized tests and testing materials , working closely with developers of such tests , including E.F. Lindquist . The company was the fourth-largest educational publisher in the United States in 1921 . Today , the company has three assessment divisions : Riverside Publishing , Edusoft , and Promissor . In 1967 , Houghton Mifflin became a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock symbol HTN . ( However , the company no longer trades under this symbol . ) During the 1990s , Houghton Mifflin acquired both McDougal Littell and Company , an educational publisher for secondary school materials , and D.C. Heath and Company , a publisher of supplemental educational materials . In 1996 , the company created their Great Source Education Group to combine the supplemental material product lines of their School Division and these two companies . In 2001 , Houghton Mifflin was acquired by French media giant Vivendi Universal but shortly thereafter was sold to Thomas H. Lee , Bain Capital , and The Blackstone Group , who remain the current owners . Current events On October 22 , 2006 , The Times of London and the Sunday Business Post of Dublin both reported that a reverse takeover was be negotiated in which Riverdeep Holdings PLC of Dublin would pay about $ 3.5 billion to acquire Houghton Mifflin from Bain Capital , and The Blackstone Group . Tony Lucki , Houghton Mifflin 's chief executive is a former non-executive director of Riverdeep . Locations Boston , Massachusetts ( headquarters ; School , College , and International divisions ) New York , New York ( Trade and Reference division ) Wilmington , Massachusetts ( Great Source Education Group ) St . Charles , Illinois ( College Faculty Services ) Evanston , Illinois ( McDougal Littell ) Itasca , Illinois ( Riverside Publishing ) San Francisco , California ( Edusoft ) External links Houghton Mifflin Company School Division College Division Trade and Reference Division Great Source Education Group McDougal Littell Riverside Publishing Promissor Edusoft Categories : Current events | Book publishing companies of the United States 