Safra ownership
Who owned Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. from 1996 to 1997?
Encyclopædia Britannica , Inc . Encyclopædia Britannica , Inc . is a British-American company known for publishing the Encyclopædia Britannica , the worlds oldest continuously published encyclopaedia , as well as extensive digital efforts—including text and audiovisual—that are aimed at educational tools for primary and secondary schools , and for everyday learners accessing information through online search . In 2012 , after 244 years , Britannica ended the print editions , with the 32 volumes of the 2010 encyclopædia being the last to be printed in the traditional hard-bound volumes . By the time the company had stopped publishing the print editions , their sales only represented about 1% of their business . Since then , Britannica has published the encyclopedia exclusively online . History . Founding years . The company was founded in Edinburgh , Scotland , in the 18th century , during the historical period termed the Scottish Enlightenment . Colin Macfarquhar and Andrew Bell began the first edition in 1768 . The pair engaged William Smellie , who produced most of the articles in the first edition . The second edition was published in 1784 . After Macfarquhars death in 1793 , Bell became its sole proprietor , and published the third and fourth editions . Archibald Constable , an Edinburgh publisher , published the fifth and sixth editions . When Constable died in 1827 , A & C Black Ltd . bought the copyrights to the encyclopædia at auction , and they published it for the next 70 years . Beginning with the ninth edition in 1875 , the range of topics were expanded by bringing in contributors from the literary field , social sciences and the scientific community . The ninth edition has since been acknowledged as one of the most impressive collections of scholarship ever produced . In 1901 , Horace E . Hooper and Walter M . Jackson purchased all copyrights to the encyclopædia . Hooper and Jackson formed companies in both the United States and England . Hugh Chisholm became the editor for the tenth , eleventh and twelfth editions . Sears Roebuck ownership . In 1915 , Sears agreed to market a new and less expensive version of the eleventh edition for middle-class buyers . In 1920 , Sears bought Britannica outright , and after only three years of operation , Sears reported a loss of $1.8 million . In 1923 , they sold the company back to the widow of Hooper ( who had died in 1922 ) and her brother William Cox . They published the twelfth and thirteenth editions in 1922 and 1926 . After Cox failed to raise the money needed to publish the fourteenth edition , Sears ended up financing it , and resumed ownership of Britannica in 1928 . In 1932 , Sears restructured Britannica , ending sales through their outlets , opting instead for a network of sales representatives who went door-to-door , and staffing booths at conventions and shopping centers . In 1938 , Britannica began publishing a yearly synopsis of world events , called the Britannica Book of the Year . Benton family ownership . In 1941 , Britannica was gifted to the University of Chicago by Sears . However , the university didnt believe they could manage the company . William Benton , then vice president of the university , offered to put up the operating capital to protect the university against any losses . Benton bought two‐thirds of the stock , and subsequently bought the remaining third . In 1952 , Benton started preparations for the fifteenth edition . Britannica acquired Merriam-Webster in 1964 and Comptons Encyclopedia as well in the early 1960s . Benton died in 1973 , before the fifteenth edition was published in 1974 . The newly titled Britannica 3 , was composed of a ten-volume Micropædia , a 19-volume Macropædia and a one-volume guide to the encyclopædias use , called Propædia . In 1985 , a two-volume index was added , as well as other refinements . Robert P . Gwinn succeeded Benton as publisher and chairman of Britannica in 1974 . He divided the companys operations into Britannica USA and Britannica International . In 1990 , nearly 120,000 encyclopædias were sold in the United States , with sales for the year rising to $650 million . By 1994 , sales had slumped to $453 million , with only 51,000 sets being sold in the states . Sales continued to decline after 1994 , finally forcing the company to close more than 70 percent of its sales offices . Safra ownership . In 1996 , Britannica was sold to an investment group led by Jacob E . Safra , a Switzerland-based financier . He restructured the company , laying off more than 120 people including many of the companys top employees . Safra also dissolved the home sales force , with an additional 140 losing their jobs , along with 300 independent contractors . In 1999 , they launched Britannica.com , which contained the complete Encyclopædia Britannica . The website repeatedly crashed on its opening day , due to an estimated ten million users who attempted to access the site . After several days of continued problems it was shut down , and restarted a few weeks later with upgraded capacity . Britannica.com laid off 20 percent of its work force one year later . In 2009 , Britannica Global Edition was printed with 30 volumes . It contained over 40,000 articles and 8,500 photographs . In 2012 , after 244 years , Britannica ended the print editions , with the 32 volumes of the 2010 installment being the last on paper ; future editions have been published exclusively online since . In 2018 , the company released Britannica Insights , an extension for the Chrome web browser . The extension supplements Googles featured snippets with accurate information . In 2019 , in a partnership with Binumi , Britannica released a video product that gives schools the opportunity to use millions of royalty-free multimedia clips , to create digital storytelling projects about content they are already teaching .