This week, Holtzbrinck Publishers announced that it was changing its name in the U.S. to Macmillan, the name of the English and Spanish language publishing operations of the Verlagsgruppe Goerg von Holtzbrinck in more than 70 countries. The publisher said the name change was made to signify a unified worldwide presence.

"The Macmillan name has a long and distinguished publishing history and a long tradition of innovation that complements perfectly the high quality standards that our publishers offer to our authors and our audience," said John Sargent, CEO of Macmillan's U.S. operations, in a statement. "This name change is indicative of our growing position as a global media company in an increasingly global media market. By using the Macmillan name for our English language publishing, we will be able to take advantage of the strength of the brand while more fully leveraging our investments in print and digital publishing, and more clearly position ourselves for the future."

The Macmillan name derives from Daniel and Alexander Macmillan, who, in 1843, founded Macmillan Publishers. Holtzbrinck acquired Macmillan Publishers in the 1990s. McGraw Hill, which uses the Macmillan name in educational publishing for products prepared principally for the K-12 school market, will continue to use the name for a defined period of time.

The name change will affect the corporate and consolidated functions that have been using the Holtzbrinck name in the U.S., including the executive offices, trade publishing sales, operations, IT, legal, finance, human resources, and other centralized functions.

In addition, Audio Renaissance, the audio publishing imprint of Holtzbrinck Publishers, will now be known as Macmillan Audio. VHPS will change to MPS.

The names of the company's many divisions and imprints in consumer publishing, educational publishing, magazines, and digital media, will remain unchanged.