Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Orbis Publishing

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The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was keep. Sandstein 08:14, 16 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Orbis Publishing[edit]

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Orbis Publishing (edit | talk | history | protect | delete | links | watch | logs | views) – (View log | edits since nomination)
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Non-notable company; fails WP:NCORP. I did a thorough search WP:BEFORE proposing deletion, including Google, WP:LIBRARY, and newspapers.com, and located no significant coverage. The 1971 Guardian article about partworks is the best available source, and it does not satisfy NCORP requirements, as it is a single source and does not focus on Orbis. At best I can see a merge to De Agostini if someone can locate a suitable source for the acquisition claim (I couldn't even verify that). Jfire (talk) 03:41, 2 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  • Comment Here are reliable sources I found about the subject:
    1. Batchelor, Charles (1986-02-06). "UK Company News: BPCC Buys Orbis Books Division". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2023-02-02. Retrieved 2023-02-01.

      The article notes: "British Printing Communication Corporation (BPCC) has bought the books division of Orbis Publishing, a privately-owned producer of art-works for 2.7 m pounds sterling. Orbis's book division, which includes Jancis Robinson, the wine writer and Mary Gilliat, the expert in home design, among its authors, just above broke even on turnover of 8 m pounds sterling in the year ended September 1985. The two sides agreed on the deal just before midnight on Tuesday after four days of negotiations between Mr Robert Maxwell, chairman and chief executive of BPCC, and a team from Orbis. ... Orbis is the British arm of the private-owned Italian publishing house, De Agostini, which claims to be the largest publisher of part-works - illustraded books sold in weekly instalments - in Europe."

    2. Laing, David (2014-07-28). "Brian Innes obituary". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2023-02-02. Retrieved 2023-02-01.

      The article notes: "For most of his musical career, Innes held down a series of day jobs in publishing, eventually becoming a founding partner of Orbis Publishing, which became a market leader in partworks in the 1970s and 1980s. As a pianist, he led the Orbis All-Stars, an informal group that played at industry events. After Orbis was sold to Robert Maxwell's Pergamon Press, Innes moved to the south of France where he poured out a stream of books, mostly in the true crime genre."

    3. Menkes, Vivienne (1989). "Maxwell to close down U.K.'s Macdonald Orbis". Publishers Weekly. Vol. 235. p. 19. ISSN 2150-4008. EBSCOhost 502691598. Retrieved 2023-02-01 – via Google Books.
    4. "1986 Publishers Weekly article". Publishers Weekly. 1986. p. 197. Retrieved 2023-02-01 – via Google Books.

      The article notes: "Back in February, Heller sold Orbis Publishing Ltd. to tycoon Robert Maxwell , and Orbis joined a group recently renamed Pergamon BPCC Publishing Corporation . To take some of the pressure off Maxwell, Heller has been put in charge of ..."

    5. Sheridan, Geoffrey (1971-10-22). "World of partworks". The Guardian. p. 9. Retrieved 2023-02-01 – via Internet Archive.

      The article notes: "Now the only companies left in the running are ... and Orbis Publishing, which is putting out "World of Wildlife." ... Orbis, who are hoping for 300,000 sales at the start of "World of Wildlife," will be delighted if 50,000 readers are still hanging on by issue ten."

    I oppose deletion. Potential merge targets are De Agostini, Pergamon Press, and Maxwell Communication Corporation (which was previously known as British Printing & Communications Corporation).

    Cunard (talk) 08:42, 2 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

    I'm not opposed to a merge. 2, 4, and 5 all appear to be passing mentions. I can't access 3. 1 is a good source (but insufficient for WP:NCORP), and suggests Maxwell Communication Corporation is the best merge target. Jfire (talk) 03:44, 3 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Relisted to generate a more thorough discussion and clearer consensus.
Relisting comment: Relisting as opinion is divided between Keep and Redirect.
Please add new comments below this notice. Thanks, Liz Read! Talk! 04:32, 9 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]

  • Comment: Unfortunately, the corporate history is tortuous and has an impact on what might be an appropriate merge target. BPCC/Maxwell Communication Corporation made an acquisition in 1986, but was this just the part of Orbis that published full books, leaving the main partworks business continuing with De Agostini? The distinctive activity was the partworks and, if that is so, then one woudn't want to merge material about the Orbis partworks into the MCC article (and unfortunately the en.wiki article about De Agostini is about the financial organisation rather than their activities). AllyD (talk) 10:13, 9 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep NCORP is designed to ease deletion of spammy corporate articles. I don't see the benefit in applying it to a company that went out of business in 1999. I don't think a merge would be beneficial given the above comment. Garuda3 (talk) 00:03, 15 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
  • Keep. Plenty of coverage by reliable independent sources to satisfy GNG and NCORP guidelines. Shawn Teller (talk) 01:59, 16 February 2023 (UTC)[reply]
The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.
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