Archives for September 2007

Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up   FICTION Mystery/Crime Chuck Barris’s WHO KILLED ART DECO?, about a Jewish PI in […]

POD Publishers Merge The parent company of self-publisher Author House announced the acquisition of iUniverse yesterday, on undisclosed terms, with the two units maintaining their separate identities under a broader banner of Author Solutions. Author House ceo Bryan Smith tells the WSJ, “This is about creating better options for our customers by combining a wide sweep of services. Cost-cutting isn’t the driver, although there will be savings because of economies of scale. The driver here is the opportunity for growth.” In the press release, iUniverse ceo Susan Driscoll says, “We have always been focused on providing authors with the publishing […]

Reidy Gets the Nod The possibility of Simon & Schuster CEO Jack Romanos’s retirement has been the subject of casual conversations for much of this year, with the two main questions being a) when and b) would CBS management promote current president of the adult publishing division Carolyn Reidy to the post. Today we have the answers: Romanos will retire at the end of the year, and Reidy will indeed take over as president and ceo. As Romanos says in a letter to employees, “with S&S in such robust health, I believe the time is right for me to retire.” […]

Bertelsmann Still Looking for Education Buy In conversations following their earnings release yesterday, Bertelsmann cfo Thomas Rabe reiterated the company’s interest in buying its way into the education publishing business. They were outbid in the competition for Thomson Learning, and Rabe says their joint offer was 25 percent less than what Apax and its partners paid. He indicated that the company expects to have between 1 billion and 1.5 billion euros for new acquisitions annually. Reuters More from Borders Management, Too SeekingAlpha has just posted the transcript from the conference call following Borders’ earnings release last week. CEO George Jones […]

Sales and Profits Slide at RH (and Bertelsmann) Bertelsmann reported sales for the first half of their fiscal year of 8.96 billion euros, down 180 million euros from a year ago, and they swung to a net loss of 51 million euros, against a net profit of 258 million euros a year ago. The company says it was “considerably impacted by the Napster settlement agreements and other special items.” Sales at Random House were 832 million euros ($1.130 billion), down from 859 million euros a year ago, with operating EBIT (the company’s current preferred measure of profitability) of 44 million […]

Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up   FICTION Mystery/Crime Linda Richards’s THE CONSPIRACY OF THE PRODUCTION CODE, the second in […]