Move by Informa raises possibility of merger or breakup, despite profitability of ‘big five’ publisher
UK-based FTSE 100 company Informa has announced plans to separate its academic publishing division, Taylor & Francis, raising questions about the future of one of the ‘big five’ scholarly publishing houses.
Issuing a statement on 6 October, Informa confirmed the plans to part with Taylor & Francis. Stephen Carter, group chief executive for Informa, said the parent body would be “accelerating the focus on our core B2B business”.
He said the separation was the latest step in a strategy that has seen Informa’s B2B revenues grow tenfold since 2014. “With Taylor & Francis approaching $1bn in revenue…we believe it will now benefit from greater flexibility and freedom through the next phase of its development,” Carter added.
A statement from Taylor & Francis acknowledging the plans confirmed the publishing body “will become a separate business”, adding that there will be “no change to anything we do today, and we look forward to supporting validated, peer-reviewed knowledge and everyone who creates it and uses it long into the future”.
The announcement follows a period of slow growth from Taylor & Francis, leading some analysts to question the academic journal publisher’s compatibility in the larger Informa group portfolio.
Speaking to Research Professional News, academic publishing expert Rob Johnson said: “There have been hints for a while that Taylor & Francis was seen as an odd fit with Informa PLC’s portfolio, which is primarily focussed on B2B events sales.
“Taylor & Francis is a strong business and is highly cash generative, but its revenue growth has lagged behind the market leaders, Elsevier and Springer Nature, and is much lower than the 7 per cent being achieved by the rest of Informa PLC’s business,” he said.
Taylor & Francis’s figures for the 2025 financial year show overall growth of 4 per cent and revenue approaching £671 million. Meanwhile, Elsevier reported revenues of £2.72 billion (up 5 per cent on 2024) and Springer Nature reported a total group revenue of €1.93 billion (£1.63 billion), up 6.2 per cent on the previous year.
Johnson also pointed to the perceived threat of AI to publishers’ business models, noting that “the markets have downgraded share prices of academic publishers across the board”.
Looking ahead, Johnson said it was difficult to predict what would happen to Taylor & Francis but suggested a merger with a competitor such as Wiley was one possibility.
“What this means for the wider academic publishing market is difficult to say with certainty, but it seems unlikely Taylor & Francis will still be here in its current form in five years’ time.
“Meanwhile, private equity may feel they can drive greater efficiencies and grow AI licensing revenues before selling it on or floating it in future. Perhaps the most likely scenario is that Taylor & Francis’ business will be sold off piecemeal to different competitors.”
Whatever happens, Johnson said, the separation is likely to accelerate consolidation in the academic publishing market.
