Wolters Kluwer is one of the world's leading publishers and providers of information products and services. The company's core markets are in the health, tax, accounting, corporate, financial services, legal and regulatory, and education sectors. Wolters Kluwer has annual revenues (2003) of €3.4 billion, employs approximately 18,750 people worldwide, and maintains operations across Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Its depositary receipts are quoted on the Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices.

From Family Business to International Leader

Most Wolters Kluwer companies started as family businesses in the 19th and early 20th century. J.B. Wolters (1836), AE. Kluwer (1889) and N. Samsom (1882) were the founders of what we now call Wolters Kluwer. Kluwer built a company by acquiring family firms, while the growth of Wolters and Samsom was determined by merging of companies. In 1987, Elsevier attempted to acquire Kluwer shares, but instead Kluwer merged with Wolters Samsom to form the company Wolters Kluwer.

Mergers and acquisitions

Since the end of the 1980's Wolters Kluwer has taken over more than 300 companies. Recent acquisitions include Medi-Span, Silverplatter and Loislaw. An important turning point was the acquisition of the American CCH in 1995.


Divestments have also been made as a consequense of reformulating core business. In 1990 Wolters Kluwer sold its printing companies and two years later the newspaper business followed. The general book trade was given autonomy in 1992 through the establishment of Boekhandels Groep Nederland (Booksellers Group Netherlands), in which Wolters Kluwer has kept a 33.4% interest to the present day.


In 1987, Wolters Kluwer was based in seven countries and 63% of the turnover originated in the Netherlands. Twelve years later the picture had completely changed: 26 countries and a turnover of only 18% in the Netherlands.

At Wolters Kluwer, we excel at creating content solutions for use in a professional context in the fields of health, corporate services, finance, tax, accounting, law, regulation, and education. We are professionals serving professionals and are committed to delivering essential content, software, and services to help our customers make their most critical business decisions. Utilizing the latest in information technology, we ensure that our customers have the solutions they need, when they need them, and in the media best suited to their requirements. When we achieve this, we deliver on our goal of being the market leader in content in context.

Partners in Innovation
Wolters Kluwer professionals are continuously engaged in an ongoing exchange of expertise and ideas with our customers about their work. This partnership in innovation is at the heart of meeting our commitment to the lawyers, doctors, nurses, tax advisors, teachers, and business executives we serve. Knowledge of their professional workflows and the ability to apply emerging technologies to make them more efficient and productive are at the heart of this partnership.

Wolters Kluwer's market positions are significant, and it is the number 1 or 2 provider of information, software, and services in over 80% of its markets. Across all of its markets, Wolters Kluwer is synonymous with strong, enduring brands such as CCH, the leading provider of tax research and software products in the United States; Ovid, the premier online health service provider; and Kluwer, the leading brand for legal, tax, and regulatory information in the Netherlands.