MCGRAW HILL, INC.

19th century

McGraw Hill was founded in 1888, when James H. McGraw, co-founder of McGraw Hill, purchased the American Journal of Railway Appliances. He continued to add further publications, eventually establishing The McGraw Publishing Company in 1899.

20th century

Co-founder John A. Hill, had also produced several technical and trade publications and in 1902 formed his own business, The Hill Publishing Company.

In 1909, the two co-founders formed an alliance and combined the book departments of their publishing companies into an incorporated company called The McGraw-Hill Book Company. John Hill served as president, with James McGraw as vice-president. The remaining parts of each business were merged into The McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, Inc in 1917.

In 1946, McGraw-Hill founded an international division of the company. It acquired Contemporary Films in 1972 and CRM in 1975. McGraw-Hill combined its films in the CRM division in 1978. McGraw-Hill sold CRM in 1987.

In 1979, McGraw-Hill Publishing Company purchased Byte from its owner/publisher Virginia Williamson, who then became a vice-president of McGraw-Hill. In 1986, McGraw-Hill bought out competitor The Economy Company, then the nation's largest publisher of educational material. The buyout made McGraw-Hill the largest educational publisher in the U.S.

In 1988, Harold McGraw became chairman emeritus of McGraw Hill. In 1988, Random House sold its school and college textbook divisions to McGraw-Hill.

In 1989, McGraw-Hill formed a joint partnership with Robert Maxwell, forming the second largest textbook publisher in the United States. McGraw-Hill took full ownership of the venture in 1993. [ citation needed ]

21st century

In 2004, The McGraw-Hill Companies sold its children's publishing unit to School Specialty. In 2007, The McGraw-Hill Companies launched an online student study network, GradeGuru.com. This offering gave McGraw-Hill an opportunity to connect directly with its end users, the students. It allowed students to share notes and materials for cash or gift cards in return. The site closed in April 2012.

2010s

On October 3, 2011, Scripps announced it was purchasing all seven television stations owned by The McGraw-Hill Companies ' broadcasting division McGraw-Hill Broadcasting for $212 million; the sale is a result of McGraw-Hill's decision to exit the broadcasting industry to focus on its other core properties, including its publishing unit. This deal was approved by the FTC on October 31 and the FCC on November 29. The deal was completed on December 30, 2011.

On November 26, 2012, The McGraw-Hill Companies announced that it was selling its entire education division to Apollo Global Management for $2.5 billion. On March 22, 2013, McGraw Hill Education announced it had completed the sale and the proceeds were for $2.4 billion in cash. In 2012, McGraw Hill acquired Redbird Learning and in 2013, McGraw Hill acquired ALEKS. In 2014, McGraw Hill Education India partnered with GreyCampus to promote Online Learning Courses among University Grants Commission - National eligibility Test Aspirants. In 2014, McGraw Hill acquired Engrade. On June 30, 2015, McGraw-Hill Education announced that Data Recognition Corporation (DRC) had agreed to acquire "key assets" of the CTB/McGraw-Hill assessment business. In 2016, McGraw Hill acquired Everyday Mathematics. In 2017, McGraw Hill acquired My Math.

On May 11, 2017, McGraw-Hill Education announced the sale of the business holdings of McGraw-Hill Ryerson ( Ryerson Press ) to Canadian educational publisher Nelson. In 2018, McGraw-Hill launches textbook rental program, adding to affordable options available for college students. On January 17, 2019, McGraw Hill Education announced Reveal Math and Inspire Science, new curricula for K–12.

On May 1, 2019, McGraw-Hill Education announced an agreement to merge with Cengage Group. The merged company was expected to retain McGraw Hill as the corporate name. The merger was called off on May 1, 2020. In 2019, McGraw Hill acquired Core-Plus Mathematics Project.

2020s

In 2020, McGraw Hill became a distributor for Illustrative Mathematics. In 2021, McGraw Hill acquired Kidaptive.

McGraw Hill was sold in 2021 to Platinum Equity for $4.5 billion.

In November 18, 2025, McGraw Hill announced that it will add GenAI teacher assistants to K-12 programs in order to expand the writing assistance provided to students.

In May 2026, major publishers including McGraw Hill, as well as definitely Elsevier, Cengage, Hachette, and Macmillan, sued Meta Platforms, alleging that Meta used their books and journal articles, without their permission, to train Llama.