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Bennett CerfBennett Cerf
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of merging or selling or going public was one day at luncheon with some publishers. One of the partners of McGraw-Hill said they were expanding and they didn't think too much of their trade department. Would we be interested in discussing with them some possible deal? Donald and I were absolutely astounded by this. Nothing like it had ever entered our heads. We in- vestigated--with no serious idea of going with McGraw-Hill-- just to see what they thought that our business was worth.

It never got past that original stage but...

Q:

They are such different publishers!

Cerf:

Completely different, but the negotiation was pleasant. Curtis Benjamin was a friend and we liked each other and had a rewarding talk.

We just casually asked what they had in mind. It turned out that they valued our business at something in the neighborhood of two million dollars.

Q:

What was the date approximately?

Cerf:

About 1956 or 1957.

We were stunned by the amount that they thought Random House was worth. We only had one or two meetings, but they put ideas into our heads!

The next people who approached us were Holt-Rinehart. They had a fellow who was sort of their financial man, who was





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