Ann Arbor's XanEdu, New York's SharedBook To Merge
ANN ARBOR (WWJ) -- Ann Arbor-based XanEdu Inc. and New York City-based SharedBook Inc. say they have signed an agreement to merge the two privately held academic resource companies.
The deal is expected to be concluded within the next 30 days. Terms were not disclosed.
XanEdu provides custom course materials through campus bookstores, academic programs, and faculty. More than 1,000 institutions and more than 630,000 students use XanEdu course materials each year.
Professors and college bookstores rely on XanEdu to help them through the process of finding custom content outside traditional textbooks, clearing copyright permissions, and delivering a dynamic digital experience for students. Course materials are made available to students in print and online on the myXanEdu content platform.
SharedBook's AcademicPub provides self-service technology used by faculty to quickly source, aggregate and order custom course materials online, enabling faculty to build course packs in minutes. The company has accumulated a library of more than 12 million copyright-cleared content items, from 265 academic publishers of books and journals, from which professors can preview and select. Professors may also upload their own materials, or search the web to include additional items via the platform.
Custom books, course packs, and training materials enable educators to select precisely the right articles, textbook chapters, readings and multimedia that will engage their students and support their teachings. Learners, in turn, pay for or receive only what they will use and what will be taught.
"The combined value proposition for customers is immense," said John DeBoer, XanEdu CEO. "Separately, we each solve different industry needs. Together, we become the best end-to-end provider in the market, providing both full-service and do-it-yourself options. The combination allows us to better serve all of our higher education constituents -- institutions, faculty, students, bookstores, publishers -- as well as enter new markets."
SharedBook and AcademicPub CEO Caroline Vanderlip adds: "Whether you want to search and build your materials on your own with the most efficient and user-friendly interface, or have a team of experts help you through the process, we will offer the full spectrum of solutions that our joint customers want and need. It's the answer for educators, corporations, or any business needing to teach or train cohesively with specific articles, book chapters, proprietary content or multimedia."
The merger includes AcademicPub as well as the non-educational operations of SharedBook, such as Blog2Print. The combined entity is planning to operate under the XanEdu brand with DeBoer remaining CEO, and the employees of both companies reporting to DeBoer. Vanderlip will become a member of the XanEdu board of directors. SharedBook and its 14 employees will remain at work in locations in New York and Tel Aviv, Israel.
Last week, XanEdu announced it would add 50 jobs in Ann Arbor and invest more than $1 million in a consolidation of its locations in Michigan and Kentucky.
More at www.xanedu.com, www.academicpub.com or www.sharedbook.com.