Scholastic Magazine to Go Private

The outfit that publishes Scholastic magazine, one of the first news publications read by most school kids for the past 60 years, is going private.

New York-based Scholastic Inc., the largest publisher of English-language classroom magazines and children’s books, has received a $73.4-million buyout proposal from SI Holdings Inc., formed by the two families that together control 84% of Scholastic’s voting common shares.

Under the proposal, which has been approved by the company’s board, holders of the company’s non-voting common stock, which is traded over-the-counter, will receive $34 per share in cash. Owners of the Class A, or voting shares, will receive $36 per share. In National Market System trading Wednesday, Scholastic shares jumped $5.75 to close at $36.75.

Scholastic, formerly Scholastic Magazines, publishes several weekly and biweekly magazines under its Educational Periodicals division. Scholastic Magazine, now called Scholastic News and touted as “America’s classroom newspaper,” costs $1.95 for a year’s student subscription. The company also publishes Family Computing magazine, which has 410,000 subscribers.

Sales from its elementary school book club, textbooks and filmstrips accounted for 70% of the company’s 1985 revenue of $180 million. Magazine subscriptions and advertising made up the other 30%.

The Robinson family, led by Scholastic Chief Executive M. Richard Robinson, currently holds 51% of the Class A common stock outstanding. Members of the Oliver family, including Scholastic director Joseph W. Oliver, own 31%.