RR Donnelley Split Is Sign of the Times

摘要

Well, it's official. As reported on our industry news pages, RR Donnelley (RRD) has split into three separate, publicly held companies. First revealed in August 2015, the breakup of the $11.7 billion conglomerate follows the latest corporate trend of "maximizing shareholder value" by creating more focused companies; in theory, the parts are more valuable than the whole. Similar moves, partly driven by activist investors, occurred at Xerox and at HP. Led by CEO Dan Knotts, multichannel business communications and business process outsourcing provider RR Donnelley remains the largest entity with $7 billion in sales and 42,000 employees. LSC Communications - a $3.7 billion, 22,000-employee company now overseen by former RRD CEO Tom Quinlan - serves magazine, catalog and book publishers, online retailers, as well as offers office products. With 3,500 workers and $1.05 billion in sales, Donnelley Financial Solutions is now run by CEO Dan Lieb and focuses on critical financial, investment and legal communications. Donnelley Financial may prove to be the real crown jewel among the three new entities. RR Donnelley is retaining 19.25% ownership of LSC and Donnelley Financial, and also received cash distributions from both in connection with the spinoff, to lower its debt.