Bell & Howell Becomes ProQuest Company
The 94-year-old Bell & Howell Company is changing its name to the ProQuest Company (NYSE: PQE – news). ProQuest Company is composed of the companies formerly known as Bell & Howell Information and Learning and
Bell & Howell Publishing Services and is led by Jim Roemer, who had been Bell
& Howell’s chairman, president and CEO. Its 2000 sales for continuing operations were $374.3 million. To create ProQuest Company and focus on e-learning and e-publishing, Bell
& Howell has sold or is selling its mail and messaging technologies and
imaging businesses.
“We chose ProQuest as the company’s new name to capitalize on the strong
brand reputation of one of our most popular and powerful brands,” Roemer said.
ProQuest Linked With Innovative, High Quality E-Resources
“We believe the name ProQuest(R) resonates with customers across all
markets we serve. That’s because it has been strongly associated with
innovative, high-quality electronic resources. Under the ProQuest name, we
will continue our commitment to serving the ‘quest’ for valuable information
by automotive and powersports dealers and manufacturers, libraries,
educational institutions, distance learners and other customers,” Roemer said.
“And taking full advantage of our technology, content and market expertise,
we’ll continue to explore extensions and new ventures beyond our traditional
businesses.”
Since the early 1990s, the name ProQuest has been applied to a suite of
electronic databases serving the library and educational community. Today,
the ProQuest Web-based online service reaches more than 10 million students
through the libraries of North America’s 4,000 colleges and universities and
handles more than 2.5 million pageviews per day. ProQuest Company was born of Bell & Howell Company’s two highly respected
information access businesses. Based in Ann Arbor Mich., ProQuest has more than 2,400 employees and
more than $370 million in sales.
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