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Anonymous Microsoft Insider Denies Nook Story; Barnes & Noble Stock Suffers

by on May 13, 2013 in Bookstores, Children's, eNews, Finance

The grain of salt we advised on the flawed TechCrunch report of potential interest in Microsoft buying out the digital assets of Nook Media has turned into a veritable salt flat. Another site, Insider Monkey, posted an item early Monday afternoon said to come from "a highly placed source inside…

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After Layoffs and A Big Writedown, Cengage Talks Openly About Chapter 11

by on May 13, 2013 in Earnings Reports, Finance, Publishers

Cengage continues its slow march to the inevitable restructuring that has loomed for a while, and for the first time management has openly (and casually) talked about bankruptcy reorganization. The main questions now are who will lead that bankruptcy plan, can they organize a pre-packaged plan, and which private equity…

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Bertelsmann Gets $1.8 Billion for RTL Shares

by on May 1, 2013 in Finance, International News

Bertelsmann raised 1.4 billion euros ($1.8 billion) in cash proceeds by selling a 17 percent stake and creating a public listing for their television and broadcasting company, RTL. Bertelsmann retains 75 percent of RTL's shares. Why should publishing people pay any attention? Because that cash will be put to work buying…

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Courier Acquires FastPencil

by on April 30, 2013 in Earnings Reports, eNews, Finance, Publishers

Self-publishing platform FastPencil has been acquired by printer and publisher Courier. The news was announced after the close of the market on Tuesday, and just ahead of Courier reporting second quarter earnings on Wednesday morning. The terms were not disclosed for now, but for Courier -- with roughly $260 million…

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Cleared In Canada, Penguin Random House Merger Waits On One More Approval

by on April 19, 2013 in Finance

Late Friday afternoon the Canadian Competition Bureau and the Department of Heritage cleared the Penguin Random House merger "without conditions," as was the case in earlier approvals by the EU, Australia, New Zealand, and the US Department of Justice. In a joint statement Penguin and Random House said they "welcome…

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Spain's Alfaguara Is In Play

by on April 18, 2013 in Finance, International News

Spain's PRISA Group has officially denied recent reports in Spanish media that they have agreed to sell their literary line Alfaguara and its imprints to Random House. But at the same time, the company admits that it "has maintained and is in talks for the transmission of this asset and…

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People, Etc.

by on April 16, 2013 in Distribution, eNews, Finance, Free, New Releases/Forthcoming, Personnel

At Bloomsbury, Rachel Mannheimer has been promoted to editor, and Melanie Sankel has gone from associate director of sales for Fairchild Books to director, adoption sales at Bloomsbury Academic. After Skyhorse and Start Publishing's intended joint acquisition of Night Shade Books' assets ignited public controversy over the original terms of sale…

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Corporate: HMH Buys Tribal Nova; Penguin Partners with Mind Candy; Amazon Defends "Heavy Investments"

by on April 12, 2013 in Apps/iOS, Children's, Children's, eNews, Finance

Two new acquisitions highlight publishers' increasing interest in game development. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced they acquired Montreal-based educational technology company Tribal Nova, which develops digital games, products and services for pre-school children. The Tribal Nova team will continue to operate out of Montreal, though they will be absorbed into HMH's Content…

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Skyhorse & Start Publishing Offer New Terms for Night Shade Backlist

by on April 9, 2013 in Finance

After days of public controversy and criticism, Skyhorse and Start Publishing have changed their terms for acquiring the assets of Night Shade Books, according to a statement received from both publishers by i09. Skyhorse publisher Tony Lyons said the new deal "is very favorable to the Night Shade authors and will…

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Confirmed: EU OKs Penguin Random House

by on April 5, 2013 in Finance

With any suspense taken away by last week's Reuters leak, the European Commission officially approved the Penguin Random House merger Friday morning "without conditions," following in line with approvals from the DOJ, Australia, and New Zealand. EU regulators said in an emailed statement obtained by Bloomberg: "The commission's investigation revealed…

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