New owner of Houghton-Mifflin says firm to be in Boston

BOSTON — The chief executive of the growing French communications and entertainment
giant assured employees of Houghton Mifflin publishing that their jobs were safe
and that the company would remain in Boston. Jean-Marie Messier, chief executive
of Vivendi which recently announced it had agreed to purchase Houghton Mifflin
publishing company for $2.2 billion visited Boston and assured more than 1,000
employees here that HM would become the base for Vivendi’s book publishing operations
in the United States. Vivendi provides music, films, television, Internet entertainment,
and theme parks, and now includes educational publishing with the purchase of
Houghton Mifflin.