limited company naamloze vennootschap traded as lse rel euronext ren nyse relx nyse renx industry information and analytics predecessor elsevier reed international plc founded 1993 ; 23 years ago 1993 by merger headquarters london united kingdom and amsterdam netherlands key people erik engstrom ceo anthony habgood chairman products information and data analytics academic and business publishing exhibitions revenue 5.971 billion 2015 1 operating income 1.497 billion 2015 1 net income 1.0140 billion 2015 1 number of employees 30 000 2015 1 subsidiaries elsevier lexisnexis reed exhibitions reed business information website www.relx.com relx group known as reed elsevier between 1992 and february 2015 is a multinational information and analytics company based in london in the united kingdom . it operates in four market segments scientific technical and medical ; risk and business analytics ; legal ; and exhibitions . it is a dual listed company . relx plc the london stock exchange listed shareholding vehicle holds 52.9 % of the shares in relx group . relx nv the amsterdam stock exchange listed shareholding vehicle holds 47.1 % of the shares in relx group . the shares are traded on the london stock exchange amsterdam stock exchange and new york stock exchange using the following ticker symbols london rel amsterdam ren new york relx and renx . the company is one of the constituents of the ftse 100 index financial times global 500 and euronext 100 index . the company operates in 40 countries and serves customers in over 180 nations . 1 about 54 % of the company s revenues are generated from the us with 26 per cent from europe and 20 per cent from the rest of the world . 1 in 2000 two thirds of revenues were from print and only a small percentage was digital ; by 2015 those numbers had been reversed print now generates just 15 per cent of revenues at relx group . 1 contents 1 history 1.1 reed international 1.2 elsevier nv 1.3 21st century 1.3.1 significant acquisitions 1.3.2 significant disposals 2 operations 2.1 scientific technical & medical 2.2 risk & business analytics 2.3 legal 2.4 exhibitions 3 governance 4 corporate affairs 4.1 corporate strategy 4.2 financial performance 4.3 corporate social responsibility 5 controversy 5.1 boycott 5.2 privacy 5.3 defence exhibitions 6 references 7 additional references 8 external links history edit relx group was previously known as reed elsevier . the company announced the change of the operating company s name to relx group in february 2015 . 2 reed elsevier came into being in 1992 following the merger of reed international a british trade book and magazine publisher and elsevier the netherlands based scientific publisher . 3 reed international edit in 1895 albert e. reed established a newsprint manufacturing operation at tovil mill near maidstone kent . 4 in 1965 reed group as it was then known became a conglomerate creating its decorative products division with the purchase of crown paints polycell and sanderson s wallpaper and diy decorating interests . 5 in 1970 reed group merged with the international publishing corporation and the company name was changed to reed international limited . 4 the company continued to grow by merging with other publishers and produced high quality trade journals as ipc business press ltd and women s and other consumer magazines as ipc magazines ltd. 4 the original family owners the reeds were methodists and encouraged good working conditions for their staff in the then dangerous print trade . 6 in 1985 the company decided to rationalise its operations focusing on publishing and selling off its other interests . sanderson was sold to westpoint pepperell inc. of georgia united states that year 5 while crown paint and polycell were sold to williams holdings in 1987 . 7 the company s paper and packaging production operations were bundled together to form reedpack and sold to private equity firm cinven in 1988 . 8 amsterdam headquarters of elsevier elsevier nv edit in 1880 jacobus george robbers started a publishing company called nv uitgeversmaatschappij elsevier elsevier publishing company nv to publish literary classics and the encyclopedia winkler prins . 4 robbers named the company after the old dutch printers family elzevir 4 which for example published the works of erasmus in 1587 . elsevier nv originally was based in rotterdam but moved to amsterdam in the late 1880s . 4 up to the 1930s elsevier remained a small family owned publisher with no more than ten employees . after the war it launched the weekly elsevier magazine which turned out to be very profitable . a rapid expansion followed . elsevier press inc. started in 1951 in houston texas usa and in 1962 publishing offices were opened in london and new york . multiple mergers in the 1970s led to name changes settling at elsevier scientific publishers in 1979 . in 1991 two years before the merger with reed elsevier acquired pergamon press in the uk . 9 21st century edit in the past three years the value of the group s acquisitions has averaged about 300m a year . 10 significant acquisitions edit the company bought the official airline guides inc a publisher of airline schedules for 425 million in august 1993 11 lexisnexis an on line information business for 1.5 billion in october 1994 12 and mdl information systems inc a us software systems and information database developer for 320 million in march 1997 . 13 the company then acquired chilton business group a us business information publishing company for 447 million in june 1997 14 matthew bender & company inc a us publisher of legal information for 1.65 billion in april 1998 15 and harcourt an education publishing business for us 4.5 billion plus debt in october 2000 . 16 in 2004 lexisnexis acquired seisint of boca raton florida for 775 million which provided the company with access to hpcc systems for the first time . 17 in may 2005 it bought medimedia a medical publisher for 270 million . 18 in february 2008 shareholders of choicepoint voted in favor of acquisition by the company for 4.1 billion . the acquisition was completed in september 2008 . choicepoint was a spinoff of equifax s insurance services group in august 1997 . 19 20 in june 2011 reed business information a relx group business acquired ascend a london based civil aviation data analytics company . 21 in november 2011 reed elsevier purchased us online data business accuity holdings inc. from investment firm investcorp for 343 million 530.1 million in cash . 22 in march 2012 lexisnexis legal & professional a relx group company acquired law360 a us based online provider of legal information and analysis . 23 in april 2013 elsevier a relx group company acquired mendeley a london based desktop and web program for managing and sharing research papers discovering research data and collaborating online . 24 in september 2013 lexisnexis risk solutions a relx group company acquired mapflow a dublin based group that helps insurance companies assess geographic risk in particular in relation to flooding . 25 in april 2014 lexisnexis risk solutions acquired tracesmart a uk based provider of tracing identity verification fraud prevention and anti money laundering solutions . 26 in may 2014 lexisnexis risk solutions acquired wunelli a telematics data business which uses driving data for insurers enabling them to reduce risk exposure and deliver discounts to safer drivers . 27 in september 2014 accuity a relx business acquired fircosoft a paris based anti money laundering company . 10 in november 2014 lexisnexis risk solutions bought health market science hms a supplier of high quality data about us healthcare professionals . 28 in january 2015 lexisnexis risk solutions acquired bair analytics a us based law enforcement data company . 29 in july 2015 lexisnexis legal & professional a relx group company acquired mlex a media organization providing exclusive analysis and commentary on regulatory risk . 30 in november 2015 lexisnexis legal & professional a relx group company acquired lex machina a us based online provider of legal analytics . 31 significant disposals edit in february 2007 the company announced its intention to sell harcourt its educational publishing division . 32 on 4 may 2007 pearson the international education and information company announced that it had agreed to acquire harcourt assessment and harcourt education international from reed elsevier for 950m in cash . 33 in july 2007 reed elsevier announced its agreement to sell the remaining harcourt education business including international imprint heinemann to houghton mifflin riverdeep group for 4 billion in cash and stock . 34 in july 2009 reed elsevier announced its intention to sell most of its north american trade publications including publishers weekly broadcasting & cable and multichannel news although it planned to retain variety . 35 in april 2010 reed elsevier announced that it had sold 21 us magazines to other owners in recent months and that an additional 23 us trade magazines including restaurants & institutions hotels and trade show week would cease publication . the closures were mostly due to the weak economy including an advertising slump . 36 variety the company s last remaining north american title was sold in october 2012 . 37 in 2014 reed business information sold buyerzone an online marketplace ; emedia an american provider of research for it buyers and vendors ; and a majority stake in reed construction data a provider of construction data . 38 39 40 operations edit relx group operates in four market segments scientific technical & medical under the elsevier brand risk & business analytics under the lexisnexis risk solutions and reed business information brands legal under the lexisnexis brand exhibitions under the reed exhibitions brand scientific technical & medical edit relx group s scientific technical & medical business provides information analytics and tools that help investors make decisions that improve scientific and healthcare outcomes . it operates under the name of elsevier and generated revenues in the year to 31 december 2015 of 2 billion . 41 sciencedirect an online database of primary research contains 13 million documents . 42 scopus is a bibliographic database containing abstracts and citations for academic journal articles . it contains more than 50 million items in more 20 000 titles from 5 000 publishers worldwide . 43 mendeley is a desktop and web program for managing and sharing research papers discovering research data and collaborating online . 44 elsevier is the world s largest publisher of academic articles with 16 per cent market share according to the financial times . it publishes 400 000 articles a year in about 2 500 journals . its best known titles are the lancet and cell . in 1995 forbes magazine wrongly predicted elsevier would be the first victim of the internet as it was disrupted and disintermediated by the world wide web . 45 elsevier has been criticized for its high prices ; excessive profitability ; and limiting the diffusion of innovation by putting scientific research behind paywalls . 46 risk & business analytics edit risk & business analytics provides decision making tools which help banks spot money launderers and insurance companies weed out fraudulent claims . 47 the business claims to have saved the state of florida more than 60 million a year by preventing benefit fraud . 48 leading brands include flightglobal farmers weekly and new scientist . 49 in 2015 forbes magazine voted lexisnexis a relx group company one of the top 10 employers in the us technology sector . 50 since 2000 lexisnexis risk solutions technology has helped trace 155 missing children through its adam programme . 51 legal edit relx group s legal business operates under the lexisnexis brand . many of lexisnexis brands date back to the nineteenth century or earlier . these include butterworths and tolley in the uk and jurisclasseur in france . 52 exhibitions edit relx group s exhibitions business is called reed exhibitions . it is the world s largest exhibitions company running 500 shows for