ANN ARBOR – A United Kingdom-based company has signed an agreement to acquire ProQuest, which began life nearly a century ago as University Microfilms, and its related companies for $5.3 billion, subject to government approvals.
ProQuest, which provides educational technology, has 2,700 employees globally, with about 550 in Ann Arbor, according to Lisa Hulme, a spokesperson for Clarivate, the acquiring company. Once the deal closes, all will become employees of Clarivate.
“But until we close, we will operate separately and independently,” Hulme wrote in an email to Crain’s Detroit. “Only then will we begin to integrate both organizations, identifying both opportunities for growth and career development as well as possible role overlaps. In the event of any role eliminations, both Clarivate and ProQuest will ensure that all colleagues are treated fairly and with dignity and respect, as aligned to both companies’ core values.”
ProQuest’s roots go back to the 1930s as University Microfilms, which provided microfilm archives, primarily for libraries, a company founded by entrepreneur Eugene Power.
University Microfilms was later sold to Bell & Howell and rebranded in 2001 as ProQuest. Its primary products now include software, data and analytics for academic, research and national institutions. The company says its content collections total 6 billion pages of material.
ProQuest was acquired by Cambridge Information Group for about $222 million in 2007.
