Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. is the company best known for publishing the Encyclopædia Britannica, the world's oldest continuously-published encyclopedia. The company was founded in Edinburgh in the 18th century, in the atmosphere of the Scottish Enlightenment. A printer, Colin Macfarquhar, and an engraver, Andrew Bell, formed a partnership to create a new book that would embody the new spirit of scholarship. William Smellie was engaged to edit the original three-volume work, published one volume at a time beginning in 1768.

As the Encyclopædia Britannica's reputation grew throughout its subsequent volumes, the company moved its principal operations to America. This had happened by the time the (thoroughly revised) fourteenth edition of the Britannica had been published in 1929. By the mid-1930s the company headquarters had moved to Chicago, and several editorial changes had taken place. The editorial staff was now no longer disbanded after the completion of a new edition, but kept on as a permanent editorial department. This was done for the sake of keeping pace with the rapid increase in knowledge at the time.

The trademark and publication rights were sold after the 11th edition to Sears Roebuck and it moved to Chicago, Illinois, United States. Starting in 1936 a new printing of the encyclopedia was published each year, incorporating the latest changes and updates. In 1938, the first edition of the Britannica Book of the Year appeared. This yearbook is still published today.

Sears Roebuck offered it as a gift to the University of Chicago in 1941. Britannica Inc. extended its publishing ventures by purchasing Compton's Encyclopedia and G. & C. Merriam in the 1940s. In 1952 Britannica published the landmark set Great Books of the Western World, a 54-volume set of the "great books" of Western culture. William Benton figured as publisher from 1943 to his death in 1973, followed by his widow Helen Hemingway Benton until her own death in 1974. In January 1996 it was purchased by billionaire Swiss financier Jacqui Safra.

The company was one of the first to offer encyclopedia content online (in association with LexisNexis in the 1980s), and currently publishes in several mediums, including DVD and through its website. It has several international projects to develop educational materials in Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, Italy, France, Spain, Latin America, Turkey, Hungary, and Poland.

Under Safra's ownership the company has experienced some financial woes with freelance contributors waiting up to six months for checks and staff going years without raises, according to a report in the New York Post. Cost-cutting measures have included mandates to use free photos. Britannica in December 2002 told employees it would raise the contribution paid into their 401(k) accounts, then eliminated them entirely. A company spokesperson said, "We've had some cost reductions and belt-tightening but we're not going into details… We're a privately held company."

External link

• Company website