Torstar

The Torstar Corporation is a diversified publisher based in Toronto, with three major business segments: newspapers, book publishing, and children's supplementary educational publishing. Its newspaper operations include publication of the Toronto Star, which has the largest circulation of any daily newspaper in Canada. It also publishes four daily newspapers in southern Ontario, which were acquired in 1999, and more than 50 community newspapers throughout Canada, along with some miscellaneous monthly tabloids. Through a strategic alliance with Sing Tao Holdings Ltd., Torstar publishes the Sing Tao Daily, the largest Chinese-language daily newspaper in Canada with editions in Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, and Montreal. Torstar's book publishing consists of its subsidiary Harlequin Enterprises, the world's largest publisher of series romance fiction. Torstar's children's supplementary educational publishing operations include several publishers acquired in the late 1990s: Frank Schaffer Publications, Tom Snyder Productions, Delta Education, and Brighter Vision Learning Adventures. For 1998 newspapers accounted for 48 percent of Torstar's revenue, book publishing 39 percent, and supplementary educational publishing 12 percent. Torstar Corporation was incorporated on February 6, 1958, to acquire the Toronto Daily Star, which was first published in 1892. Until 1975 the company's principal activity was publication of the Toronto Star, along with other interests in commercial printing and community newspaper publishing. In 1975 Torstar began to acquire interests in domestic and international book publishing as well as supplementary educational products. In 1981 Torstar acquired Harlequin Enterprises. Harlequin was founded by Canadian publishing executive Richard Bonnycastle in 1949. At first the small firm published a variety of American and British paperbacks, including mysteries, Westerns, classics, and cookbooks. In 1957 Harlequin began purchasing the rights to works of romance fiction published by the British firm of Mills & Boon, which had been publishing romance fiction since 1909. By 1964 Harlequin was publishing romance fiction exclusively. After Harlequin became a publicly held company in 1968, it began to adopt a unique marketing strategy for book publishing, namely, a packaged consumer goods strategy. It became the first book publisher to use television advertising in North America. Instead of concentrating on bookstores, Harlequin sold its books where women shopped: supermarkets, drugstores, and department stores. This strategy enabled Harlequin to grow at an annual rate of 25 percent throughout the 1970s. The Harlequin name became accepted as a guarantee of quality, and the company could introduce many new authors each year and still achieve high levels of sales based on its reputation. Harlequin's highly successful North American direct mail operation was the final element in the company's best-selling marketing strategy. Direct mail services were introduced subsequently in the United Kingdom, Australia, Holland, France, and Scandinavia. When Harlequin became a wholly owned subsidiary of Torstar in 1981, it was well established as the world's leading series romance publisher. In 1984 Harlequin acquired Simon & Schuster's Silhouette imprint, one of its most spirited competitors. Under two specially created imprints, Worldwide Mysteries and Gold Eagle Books, Harlequin entered the mystery and male action adventure markets. Harlequin's Steeple Hill imprint became a leader in the inspirational romance market. Harlequin's Web site (www.romance.net) was launched in February 1996. In 1998 Harlequin sold more than 165 million books worldwide. It published more than 70 titles in 14 series each month. More than 800 Harlequin titles hit the stands each month around the world in more than 100 international markets in more than 23 different languages. The company had editorial offices in 16 countries. Approximately one in every