Pearson is the world's leading education company. From pre-school to high school, early learning to professional certification, Pearson’s textbooks, multimedia learning tools and testing programmes help to educate more than 100 million people worldwide - more than any other private enterprise.
Pearson is the most international source of business and political news and analysis. Their network of newspapers and online services inform the decisions of more than four million business people and investors in more countries than any other company.
Pearson’s world-famous Penguin is the label of quality from novels and classics to cookbooks - and much more - around the world. Pearson publish an unrivalled range of fiction and non-fiction, bestsellers and classics, children's books and illustrated reference treasure chests in over 100 countries.
Pearson lead their markets in quality, innovation and in profitability. They draw on common assets, capital, processes and culture. With almost 30,000 employees based in more than 60 countries, Pearson are a large family of businesses that are a lot alike and all share the same aims - a company of people and businesses who really want to help their customers get on in their lives, and enjoy doing it.
Pearson is listed on the London (PSON) and New York (PSO) Stock Exchanges. In 2002, Pearson had sales of £4,320m ($6,955m) and operating profits of £493m ($794m).
Pearson’s products, customers and technologies are changing fast but some things stay the same. In everything they do, Pearson aspire to be brave, imaginative and decent.
Pearson, however, started its life as a very different company; its origins were in the construction business during the Industrial revolution. Under the leadership of Weetman Pearson (later known as Lord Cowdray), Pearson became one of the world's largest building contractors at a time when the industry controlled development of the transportation, trade and communication links that fuelled world economies.
Today Pearson fuels a knowledge economy, and W. Pearson's imagination in harnessing new technologies, bravery of vision and decency to the people and cultures he worked with are values that still underpin everything they do over a century and a half later.
Source www.pearson.com