Harcourt Brace Jovanovich was acquired by General Cinema in November 1991 and renamed Harcourt General. At the time, it was a diversified publishing company serving the educational and professional markets.

From 1999 until its sale in 2001, Castanea’s co-founders Brian Knez and Robert Smith were co-CEOs at Harcourt General. Robert served as director of the company from 1989 to 2001 and Brian from 1999 to 2001. Paul Gibbons, also a Castanea co-founder, served as the company’s Vice President and Treasurer.

From 1991 through 2001, Harcourt’s performance significantly improved while the company strengthened its market position through investment and strategic acquisitions along four core lines: Scientific, Technical & Medical Publishing; Corporate & Professional Training, Testing and HR Services; K-12 Publishing; and Higher Education Publishing. Over that ten-year period, revenue increased from $808 million to $2.3 billion, while EBITDA grew from $171 million to $602 million. At the time of its sale to Reed Elsevier in July 2001 for $5.6 billion, Harcourt General was a leader in the market for lifelong learning.

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