For several weeks, we’ve been asking around for information on a potential sale of the trade and reference division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. In January a MobyLives report discussed a Wall Street Journal report that Credit Suisse was evaluating a bid. And in February, another Moby report discussed speculation in the Boston Globe that Hachette was one of the bidders, which HMH wouldn’t deny.

Then yesterday, Publishers Weekly reported that, according to “sources,” there were four bids for the HMH trade group on the table in a report headlined “Sale of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Trade Moving Ahead.” The report, written by Jim Milliot and Judith Rosen, said the bidders were Hachette, Random House, a private equity group headed by former HMH executive Wendy Strothman, and an unnamed “independent publisher.”

Earlier in the year HMH staffers had been told, by a company exec, that parent company Education Media & Publishing Group — which is a reputed $6.8 billion in debt — was exploring options to sell the HMH trade division, though the exec noted that the company “wouldn’t be heartbroken” to keep it. But staffers weren’t informed of anything further, until yesterday afternoon, when their director of publicity forwarded a Wall Street Journal story saying that there would be no sale, despite what PW had promised just a few hours earlier.

The Wall Street Journal story, written by Jeffrey Trachtenberg, reports that the company “has decided not to sell… after failing to get its price.” Barry O’Callaghan, chairman and CEO of Education Media, also contradicted the PW story, saying that there were only ever three bidders. The quote: “What we concluded was that the offers we’ve received were less than what the business was worth in terms of long-term value and long-term profitability.”