Macmillan Inc

The news accounts, now 70 years old, offer only fragments of the "ghastly drama" that surrounded the marriage of Mary Kenan Flagler Bingham, "the richest woman in America." She was the widow of Standard Oil co-founder Henry Flagler and her estate was worth between $60 million and $100 million. Her bridegroom was Judge Robert Worth Bingham, a Kentucky lawyer without independent means. Their wedding in 1916 made headlines, even in New York. And so did her mysterious death eight months later.

Alfred A. Knopf Jr., son of publishing legends and an influential publisher in his own right, died Saturday in New York of medical complications from a fall in mid-January, according to his wife, Alice. He was 90. Knopf, known as Pat, was the only child of Alfred Knopf and Blanche Wolf Knopf, giants in the field of publishing. He left his parents' company, Alfred A. Knopf Inc., in 1959 to co-found Atheneum Publishers along with Simon Michael Bessie and Hiram Haydn.

Judge Puts Price Waterhouse at Maxwell Helm: Aligning U.S. and British bankruptcy court actions, a federal judge in New York stripped Maxwell Communication Corp. executives of influence, putting the accounting firm in charge of the company, one of two major publicly held units of the late media baron Robert Maxwell's collapsed empire. MCC holdings include Macmillan Inc. and Official Airline Guides, which continue to operate outside bankruptcy protection.

Macmillan Inc. said it will sell its P. F. Collier Inc. subsidiary to a German firm for an undisclosed price. Collier is one of the country's largest encyclopedia publishers. It makes Collier's Encyclopedia, a 24-volume set, and Merit Students Encyclopedia, which are sold in 30 countries.

Macmillan Inc. said today it has agreed to be acquired by the investment firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., whose $2.5-billion bid narrowly beat British publisher Robert Maxwell in a heated auction for the publishing and information company. In its improved offer, Kohlberg said it would offer cash and securities valued at $90.05 a share for each of Macmillan's 27.8 million outstanding shares.

Berlitz International Inc., a company whose name is synonymous with language instruction, was a jewel in the crown of Macmillan Inc. until Robert Maxwell came along and bought Macmillan for $2.6 billion in 1988. Now, with Maxwell dead and his empire in a shambles, the publicly traded company with operations in 28 countries is struggling to avoid being misunderstood.

Even as the public glare focuses on the life-or-death struggle of the New York Daily News, another drama is unfolding quietly as investors map plans to grab choice Macmillan Inc. assets from the wreckage of the Maxwell publishing empire. While Maxwell Communications Corp., the British company that owns the U.S.

Macmillan Inc. said it will sell its P. F. Collier Inc. subsidiary to a German firm for an undisclosed price. Collier is one of the country's largest encyclopedia publishers. It makes Collier's Encyclopedia, a 24-volume set, and Merit Students Encyclopedia, which are sold in 30 countries.

Macmillan Inc. said Thursday that it plans to sell four business units to the New York buyout firm of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for about $400 million. KKR recently lost out to Maxwell Communication Corp. in a months-long bidding contest for Macmillan. Early last month, Maxwell purchased the New York publishing and information services giant for about $2.7 billion.

Maxwell Communication PLC said Friday that it plans to sell its British commercial printing business and is considering selling other assets following its takeover of the U.S.-based publishing and information services concern Macmillan Inc. The company, which is headed by Robert Maxwell, said the moves are part of a restructuring that will enable it to focus more on publishing and less on printing following the Macmillan deal.

Nearly six months after a bitter battle for Macmillan Inc. began, the publishing and information services company recommended Thursday that its shareholders accept Robert Maxwell's $2.6-billion offer, thus paving the way for the British media magnate to achieve his goal of acquiring a major American publishing company.