The Evolution
of the Howard W. Sams Company
Mr. Sams’ sale
of the company in 1967 was the first of many
transfers of ownership:
q 1967:
Mr. Sams told the company to ITT Corporation. The
company prospered and grew to over 650 employees and
7 individual companies under the Howard W. Sams
umbrella.
q
1985: ITT sold
Howard W. Sams Company to Macmillan Publishing, who
continued to grow the publishing lines, especially
surrounding computer books.
q 1987:
Macmillan was acquired by Robert Maxwell. While
under Maxwell's ownership, many of the Sams'
publishing divisions were sold off to various
companies and publishers bringing the company back
to just 3 divisions: Photofact, Computer Books, and
Catalog Publications. The computer book division
was then removed from the Howard W. Sams Company and
transferred to what would become Macmillan Computer
Publishing. The remaining Howard W. Sams assets
and divisions were put up for sale in August of
1989.
q 1990:
Two Sams' executives, Richard Hauser and Damon
Davis, with financial assistance from
venture-capital investors, bought the Sams name and
intellectual property rights from Maxwell. Following
their buyout of the company, Davis became chairman
and Hauser served as president. Their leadership led
to substantial growth, the repayment of all the
venture-capital investors and the establishment of a
50/50 partnership. Davis and Hauser grew the
business by starting another book publishing
operation, Prompt Publications, in 1992, and
acquired a sports publisher, Masters Press, in 1993.
q 1995:
Davis and Hauser sold the entire Howard W. Sams
Company to Bell Atlantic with Mr. Davis serving as
chief operating officer and Dan Gomez, a Bell
Atlantic officer, serving as chairman of Howard W.
Sams. Mr. Hauser retired in July of 1998. Under
Bell Atlantic ownership, the Masters Press unit was
sold.
q 2000:
Bell Atlantic sold the entire Howard W. Sams Company
to a California startup company called eCatalogs.
eCatalogs, who's interest in the Howard W. Sams
company was only the catalog division.
q 2000:
Two months after the sale to eCatalogs, the
Technical Products Division (Photofact and Prompt
Publications) was purchased by Damon Davis and Sams
Technical Publishing was born, carrying on the proud
and illustrious traditions started by Howard W. Sams.
During this year, Trackside Publications was born,
with a focus on producing customized books for
automotive racing facilities, including the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
q 2001:
In the summer of 2001, the Prompt Publications line
of books was sold to Thomson Learning’s Delmar
division. On that same day, Premier Press, formerly
Prima-Tech was purchased by Mr. Davis and made part
of Sams Technical Publishing.
q 2002:
Premier Press was acquired by Thomson Learning’s
Course Technologies division, leaving Sams Technical
Publishing with the product that the company was
founded on: Photofact.
q 2003:
As a result of several non-compete clauses resulting
from the sales of Prompt Publications and Premier
Press, Mr. Davis sold Sams Technical Publishing to
AGS Capital, a local capital venture consortium.
Alan Symons and Scott Weaver of AGS Capital saw the
opportunity to both publish and wholesale books
under the Sams Technical Publishing name, both
activities highly restricted contractually under
previous ownership. Production of Photofact repair
schematics and Trackside Publications continues to
thrive under AGS Capital’s leadership.
q
2004:
Indy-Tech Publishing is formed as an imprint of Sams
Technical Publishing,
LLC. Indy-Tech Publishing will carry on the
long tradition of
high-quality publications by the Sams company.
Indy-Tech Publishing is
focused on books for the savvy
consumer, related to
consumer electronics and automotive
technology, as well as
books by Indiana-based authors covering
a variety of topics,
including the first of the Savvy Series, The
Savvy Guide to Home
Theater. |
