Archives for February 2005

Triple Problems at Penguin Pull Down Pearson Results; Weak 2005 Forecast Means $10 Mil Charge at Penguin US Following their warning to financial markets in mid-January, Pearson’s annual performance came in at the low end of expectations, and profits fell 6 percent overall, reflecting a triple whammy: the weak dollar, the Penguin UK warehouse mess, […]

Audible Shareholders Sue, Saying Company Broadcast the Wrong Message A group of Audible shareholders has filed a class action lawsuit against the company following its recent quarterly report and ensuing stock swoon (now down almost 50 percent from its recent high). The complaint charges that the company misrepresented its plans and objectives by not disclosing […]

S&S Revenues Up, As Viacom Takes Huge Writedown and Begins Asset Sales Viacom’s quarterly report is headlined by a whopping $18 billion writedown related to the declining value of their radio and billboard advertising businesses. In a conference call with investors, co-president Tom Freston indicates that the asset sales that have been “hinted” at over […]

French Library Wants In on Digitizing Books for the World The head of France’s national library Jean-Noel Jeanneney has offered remarks to both Le Monde and Le Figaro indicating concern that Google’s plans to digitize the collections of academic libraries presents “a risk of crushing domination by America in defining the idea that future generations […]

Schedule Note I thought we were going to skip today, but then all these items popped up. Random Rings Mobile Content Player Random House’s investment subsidiary Random House Ventures has purchased “a significant minority stake” in VOCEL, which publishes branded content via mobile phones and has a patent pending on technology that “facilitates the transmission […]

Schedule Note Tomorrow is Parent’s Day at school, followed immediately by the beginning of an excursion in honor of our former Presidents, so there will be no Lunch. Hershey to Random Jennifer Hershey will move to Random House as of March 14, where she will be editorial director (the same title she held at Putnam), […]