Talk:Barry O'Callaghan

Good start
Nice job; it was always odd that such a high profile Irishman didn't have a dedicated WP article. I noticed a couple of typos I'll fix, also there's reliable press reports which suggest he owes 200m euros personally to Anglo bank but appears to have zero assets now that he's lost all his equity? Little grape (talk) 10:31, 20 January 2010 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just added archive links to 2 one external links on Barry O'Callaghan. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20080517145410/http://www.thebookseller.com/news/42113-reed-sells-harcourt-to-riverdeep.html to http://www.thebookseller.com/news/42113-reed-sells-harcourt-to-riverdeep.html
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/20100419163642/http://www.hmhco.com:80/news/20100222_news_release.html to http://www.hmhco.com/news/20100222_news_release.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true to let others know.

Cheers.—cyberbot II  Talk to my owner :Online 18:00, 22 February 2016 (UTC)

Draft
The current article has a lot of unsourced content, weak or primary sources, sources that only briefly mention/quote (or don't mention at all) the article-subject and BLP/balance problems. I've created a draft replacement for consideration here. It may be difficult to compare the draft to the current article all at-once, so section by section may be more sensible, depending on the reviewer's preference. Let me know what I can do to make it easier to review/compare. CorporateM (Talk) 14:36, 4 July 2016 (UTC)

✅ — Maile (talk) 18:43, 29 September 2016 (UTC)


 * Thanks !! It looks like there are two duplicates of the article in article-space? Wasn't sure if that was on purpose (comparing two versions or something maybe). CorporateM (Talk) 21:11, 29 September 2016 (UTC)


 * I think I just took care of it. If there is anything else duplicated in there, or if I deleted something I should not have, please feel free to step in and correct it. — Maile  (talk) 22:24, 29 September 2016 (UTC)

Recent Edits
Someone made a few trims to the Lead of the article. This edit claiming to "correct factual information" is especially concerning, but did not remain in the current version. I would like to request either:
 * Revert to the prior version or
 * If you prefer the shorter lead, clarify the following content "He bought Broderbund, Riverdeep and several other educational companies. This almost wiped out the interests of shareholders and O'Callaghan's own fortune" as it makes it sound like the "this" that wiped out shareholder interests was merely O'Callaghan buying the companies. The prior version said "As a result of cuts in school textbook purchases, excessive debt, and the end of the dot-com bubble, the company was taken over by bondholders in 2011. This almost wiped out . . . " which is reflective of the cited content in the body of the article.

Please let me know if there's anything I can do to clarify or provide more context about my request and thanks in advance for spending the time to review this issue. CorporateM (Talk) 14:49, 1 February 2018 (UTC)

Reply 02-FEB-2018
I've reverted to the status quo ante, but am I to understand that you want this sentence to remain: " As a result of cuts in school textbook purchases, excessive debt, and the end of the dot-com bubble, the company was taken over by bondholders in 2011. This almost wiped out the interests of shareholders and O'Callaghan's own fortune." This entire sentence, including the slang term "wiped out" is completely unencylopedic in tone and inappropriate. And yet, it seemingly has existed in the lead since well into last year. Its the broken windows theory — allowing sentences like this in the article only invites more of the same. I wonder if this article's minder has fallen asleep at the wheel.  Spintendo  ᔦᔭ   15:48, 1 February 2018 (UTC)


 * Thanks . The dramatic equity losses investors experienced after a series of events (market changes, management decisions, etc.) is a big part of what Barry is known for, based on the total body of literature (press). I understand how it might come off as inflammatory at-a-glance, but many of our FA articles have sharp criticisms (or glowing statements) in the Lead when they are legitimately a substantial part of their biography. As before, I do not have a conflict of interest against Barry. I'm just being honest. That being said, I am responsible for the "wiped out" language, which I agree is totally unencyclopedic (in my defense, this was basically an attack page before I re-wrote it). I would suggest something like "dramatic losses" as a potential replacement. It's also possible that some trimming or reworking of this part of the Lead might improve the page. CorporateM (Talk) 17:34, 1 February 2018 (UTC)

Updating Information and Content Changes
The Career section of this article includes extensive detail and information about a specific part of the subject's career. I am asking to:
 * Rename the current subsection entitled Riverdeep and EMPG to be Riverdeep/HMH Group, EMPG &EMPGi and remove the 'Growth' and 'Decline' divisions of that section.
 * Replace the second and third paragraphs of the Riverdeep subsection with the following, removing extraneous non-neutral detail:
 * O'Callaghan took Riverdeep through an initial public offering on Nasdaq in 2000. Initially it received a $2 billion valuation after having tripled in share price over a few days of trading. O'Callaghan's seven percent interest in the company became worth $126 million. The Sunday Business Post said Riverdeep's time as a public company was difficult, in particular due to criticisms from activist investor David Rocker, who accused Riverdeep of shady accounting practices.


 * In response to Rocker's criticisms and improving financials, but a declining share price as the tech bubble declined, O'Callaghan and others took the company private, through a management buyout in 2003. The buyout brought O'Callaghan's interest in the company to 21 percent. From 2003 to 2004, he "streamlined" the company, negotiated 300 million euro in bonds and worked to expand into international markets, like the United Kingdom and Saudi Arabia.


 * Replace the fifth, sixth, and seventh paragraphs of that section (what is currently under 'Decline') with the following:
 * In 2008, the great recession caused US states, and California in particular, to cut spending on textbooks from EMPG.  As education budgets were cut, the company was forced to re-negotiate with bondholders. It owed $700 million per year in interest payments for the loan-funded acquisitions. The Houghton Miffin brand also fell out of favor with many in the literary community after discontinuing some of its contracts with writers. O'Callaghan became Chief Executive Officer of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in April 2009, after the prior CEO retired.


 * O'Callaghan refinanced the company in 2009, reducing its debt by $1 billion. He tried to sell the Houghton Mifflin business, but turned down the offers he got as being too low. In 2010, bondholders that Riverdeep was indebted to converted their debts into equity in the company, and took control of the business in order to avoid bankruptcy. This almost completely eliminated the interests of shareholders, including O'Callaghan,  whose shares were used as collateral for most of the loans. He went from being seventh place in the Sunday Times list of richest people, to the 21st. He had $1.2 billion in assets in 2008 and 348 million by the end of 2009, as his 22% stake in the company was almost completely eliminated. O'Callaghan continued to serve as CEO until resigning from that position in 2011 and serving as an advisor for an additional year. During this time, the company was restructured, reducing its debt by another $4 billion.


 * O'Callaghan said the company's financial problems were the result of unpredictable market circumstances for textbook purchases and paying too much for the Houghton Mifflin business. He blamed "bad timing, and, frankly, bad luck." According to The Independent, "he expanded too quickly and took on too much debt just as the credit crisis began." The Irish Times said O'Callaghan responded to the crisis quickly thanks to "deft management" and the "loyalty of his business partners." The Globe said he was a "freewheeling Irishman" that was skating on "thin ice." Business author Paul Carro said O'Callaghan had built "a house of cards" where failure was inevitable.

Thank you, Psheehan1979 (talk) 11:11, 8 February 2024 (UTC)


 * Per your request on my talk page, I have looked through your changes. They look fine to me.  And thank you for detailing what you did. — Maile  (talk) 15:08, 19 February 2024 (UTC)


 * Thank you for taking the time to review this. I've made the changes. Psheehan1979 (talk) 12:11, 20 February 2024 (UTC)

Career content
Here again to request a reconsideration of the lede of the article to remove extraneous details of specific career components and properly indicate O'Callaghan's positions. My suggestion is:
 * Barry O'Callaghan (born 1969) is an Irish business executive and financier. He is the Chairman and CEO of Rise Global and the former CEO of Riverdeep. He grew the small educational software company into the largest K-12 publishing company in the American education system through a series of acquisitions. that were funded by loans. As a result of cuts in school textbook purchases, excessive debt, and the end of the dot-com bubble, the company was taken over by bondholders in 2011. This almost wiped out the interests of shareholders and O'Callaghan's own fortune. After the fallout, he became CEO and partial owner of the international division, EMPGi.

I'm also asking to include Rise Global as a subsection in the Career section of this article, modifying what is currently listed under Recent work to read like this:
 * In 2011, Rise Global purchased the Chinese business of Houghton Mifflin and O'Callaghan became CEO of Rise Global, which teaches English to people in Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere. He personally owns exclusive rights to some of HMH’s educational materials for teaching the English language. He sold the Rise China Chinese business to Bain Capital for 14 times its annual profit due to Chinese legal restrictions on foreigners owning educational assets in China. The success of the Rise China led O'Callaghan to found the Rise Global network including Rise Korea, in which he aims to make English language more applicable and relevant to Korean students.
 * In 2011, Rise Global purchased the Chinese business of Houghton Mifflin and O'Callaghan became CEO of Rise Global, which teaches English to people in Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere. He personally owns exclusive rights to some of HMH’s educational materials for teaching the English language. He sold the Rise China Chinese business to Bain Capital for 14 times its annual profit due to Chinese legal restrictions on foreigners owning educational assets in China. The success of the Rise China led O'Callaghan to found the Rise Global network including Rise Korea, in which he aims to make English language more applicable and relevant to Korean students.

Then modifying the remaining content like this:
 * O'Callaghan also has a controlling interest in Patheos, a spirituality website. He is the owner of Beanstalk Innovation, an online education consultancy in Massachusetts. He owns the Cliff Hotel Collection in Ireland. He owns the Cliff House hotel and Cliff Townhouse restaurant and guesthouse in Ireland. In 2016 he bought a popular wedding venue, Village at Lyons, for €6 million in 2016.
 * O'Callaghan also has a controlling interest in Patheos, a spirituality website. He is the owner of Beanstalk Innovation, an online education consultancy in Massachusetts. He owns the Cliff Hotel Collection in Ireland. He owns the Cliff House hotel and Cliff Townhouse restaurant and guesthouse in Ireland. In 2016 he bought a popular wedding venue, Village at Lyons, for €6 million in 2016.

, your previous review and approval were quite helpful. Can you please take a look at this as well? Thank you, Psheehan1979 (talk) 09:04, 14 March 2024 (UTC)


 * I don't have -a problem with your changes, so go ahead. I am not familiar with non-United States sourcing, but if there is a concern from other editors, it will likely be posted here. — Maile  (talk) 13:58, 14 March 2024 (UTC)
 * Thank you, . I've implemented these changes. Grateful for your time and assistance. Psheehan1979 (talk) 12:42, 18 March 2024 (UTC)