Harpercollins Educational Publishing Inc

British media group Pearson said Friday that it will buy News Corp.'s HarperCollins Educational Publishing Inc. for $580 million in cash, making it the fourth-largest U.S. publisher of educational books. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is selling the business to concentrate on its global television, newspaper and new-media businesses, analysts said. The purchase augments London-based Pearson's position in the $5-billion U.S. education book market, which is expected to grow by about 4.3% a year.

For weeks, publisher Judith Regan had been in trouble with higher-ups over the debacle of the canceled O.J. Simpson book and TV deal. But her firing swiftly followed a Friday afternoon phone call from her Los Angeles office to a HarperCollins attorney that included comments that were characterized as offensive, two highly placed corporate sources said Saturday. The comments, the precise nature of which was not disclosed, came just before News Corp.

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's publishing company apologized Friday after a lawsuit was settled over a broken book deal with Britain's last governor of Hong Kong. Lawyers announced that the dispute between former Gov. Chris Patten and Murdoch-owned HarperCollins has ended in an undisclosed settlement. The lawyers said the publisher has "unreservedly apologized" for and withdrawn any suggestion that the book was rejected for being below standard or "too boring."

Judith Regan, the powerful, cocky and often outrageous publisher who cooked up the recently aborted O.J. Simpson book and TV deal, was fired Friday night by HarperCollins, the publishing company that owned Regan's imprint. In a terse two-sentence statement that did not explain reasons for the termination, HarperCollins President and Chief Executive Jane Friedman said Regan's imprint, ReganBooks, would remain a part of the parent company.

If Rupert Murdoch runs the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Fox Network with the same excessive solicitude for the Chinese leadership that he displays in his book-publishing ventures, here is what we can expect this season: The shortstop job would go to one of Chinese President Jiang Zemin's sons. The Dodgers would release Ramon Martinez, Wilton Guerrero and Raul Mondesi because they come from a country (the Dominican Republic) that has diplomatic relations with Taiwan instead of China.

Laura Ingalls Wilder's instructions for a good life were simple. No matter how much the world may change, she wrote, "it is still best to be honest and truthful. To make the most of what we have." That maxim is being put to the test by a battle over Wilder's literary estate that is saturated with allegations of fraud and greed. The dispute centers on Wilder's will. On the surface, the document seems a model of clarity, just like the novels that made her famous.

Judith Regan, the powerful, cocky and often outrageous publisher who cooked up the recently aborted O.J. Simpson book and TV deal, was fired Friday night by HarperCollins, the publishing company that owned Regan's imprint. In a terse two-sentence statement that did not explain reasons for the termination, HarperCollins President and Chief Executive Jane Friedman said Regan's imprint, ReganBooks, would remain a part of the parent company.

For weeks, publisher Judith Regan had been in trouble with higher-ups over the debacle of the canceled O.J. Simpson book and TV deal. But her firing swiftly followed a Friday afternoon phone call from her Los Angeles office to a HarperCollins attorney that included comments that were characterized as offensive, two highly placed corporate sources said Saturday. The comments, the precise nature of which was not disclosed, came just before News Corp.

Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. said Tuesday that first-quarter profit rose 16% on strong gains in inpatient admissions and the addition of new hospitals during the quarter. Louisville, Ky.-based Columbia, the nation's largest hospital operator, said it had net income of $416 million, or 92 cents a share, compared with $358 million, or 80 cents, in the year-earlier period. Per-share earnings matched the average estimate of Wall Street analysts.

Laura Ingalls Wilder's instructions for a good life were simple. No matter how much the world may change, she wrote, "it is still best to be honest and truthful. To make the most of what we have." That maxim is being put to the test by a battle over Wilder's literary estate that is saturated with allegations of fraud and greed. The dispute centers on Wilder's will. On the surface, the document seems a model of clarity, just like the novels that made her famous.

Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch's publishing company apologized Friday after a lawsuit was settled over a broken book deal with Britain's last governor of Hong Kong. Lawyers announced that the dispute between former Gov. Chris Patten and Murdoch-owned HarperCollins has ended in an undisclosed settlement. The lawyers said the publisher has "unreservedly apologized" for and withdrawn any suggestion that the book was rejected for being below standard or "too boring."

If Rupert Murdoch runs the Los Angeles Dodgers or the Fox Network with the same excessive solicitude for the Chinese leadership that he displays in his book-publishing ventures, here is what we can expect this season: The shortstop job would go to one of Chinese President Jiang Zemin's sons. The Dodgers would release Ramon Martinez, Wilton Guerrero and Raul Mondesi because they come from a country (the Dominican Republic) that has diplomatic relations with Taiwan instead of China.

British media group Pearson said Friday that it will buy News Corp.'s HarperCollins Educational Publishing Inc. for $580 million in cash, making it the fourth-largest U.S. publisher of educational books. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is selling the business to concentrate on its global television, newspaper and new-media businesses, analysts said. The purchase augments London-based Pearson's position in the $5-billion U.S. education book market, which is expected to grow by about 4.3% a year.