P.M. BRIEFING : Simon & Schuster Buys Janus

NEW YORK — Simon & Schuster, the publishing unit of Paramount Communications Inc., announced today it has acquired Janus Book Publishers, Inc.

Janus, based in Hayward, Calif., publishes supplemental textbooks for middle, junior and senior high school and adult education markets under the Janus Books imprint and English-as-a-second-language books under the Alemany Press label. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Simon & Schuster also announced that it will combine the Janus Books imprint with two other California-based educational units--Fearon Education (acquired in March, 1989) and Quercus Corp. (acquired in May, 1988)--to form Simon & Schuster Special Needs Publishers, a new division within its supplementary education group. The new division will be based in the San Francisco Bay Area.