Another 65 jobs will be cut from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s Boston and Orlando offices in the wake f a deal signed earlier this month to purchase information technology services from Teaneck, NJ-based global outsourcing firm Cognizant Technology Solutions. An HMH spokesman told the Boston Globe that Cognizant will take over responsibility for application development and maintenance, while Houghton Mifflin’s information technology department will continue to manage strategy, direction, business knowledge, innovation, and the customer interface.Globe
Archives for July 2009
Indigo Up Slightly In First Quarter, But Loss Widens
Sales at Canada’s dominant bookseller Indigo rose 1.6 percent in the first quarter at $193.6 million (Canadian), with same-store superstore sales up 1.4 percent and same-store sales at their smaller-format stores up 0.8 percent. Online sales continue to decline, though, down 9.1 percent to $19.1 million, and the company says they have “eliminated certain non profitable business.” Their net loss was worse, at $2.3 million compared to a $1.2 million loss a year ago. CEO Heather Reisman says the “drop in bottom line results reflects our increased operating investment this year in both Pistachio and Shortcovers.” (Pistacho is “an eco-friendly […]
Google's Clancy On How They See the Future
Expanding on the remarks we quoted from David Drummond at the NYPL earlier this week, Google Books engineering director Dan Clancy explained further at a session last night how they see the future of electronic books. In short: ebooks will be stored in the cloud, which means that cloud has to be managed by a large, trusted party; physical bookstores need to sell digital books; and you should be able to read your cloud-stored books through any device. “We’re trying to make what would be an open model that encourages competition.” For Clancy’s words: “I believe people want their books […]
People: Steven Murphy to Leave Rodale, and More
After a decade as ceo of Rodale, Steve Murphy says “I have decided not to renew my contract and to take time off to pursue my own creative interests.” Granddaughter of the company’s founder Maria Rodale will take over. As she says, “I have been preparing my whole life to lead Rodale. As chairman and CEO, I will work to build on the strong foundation we have established during the past ten years to take this incredible company to even greater heights. I am grateful for the full support of the family and the board to guide me on our […]
People: Don Linn Leaving Taunton for eStartup Quartet Press
SVP and publisher at The Taunton Press Don Linn is leaving that post to join digital publishing start-up Quartet Press, overseeing finance, administration and general management. He notes, “I’m an entrepreneur at heart and I’ve been fascinated with this transitional phase of reading, writing and publishing for some time. So when the opportunity to create Quartet presented itself, it seemed the time was right to make the move.” Linn joins Kassia Krozser, Kirk Biglione, and Kat Meyer as a partner in Quartet, which expects to launch romance imprint Quench Romance! in fall 2009, followed by “additional categories and service offerings […]
Back on the Block: Reed to Sell Most Magazines, As Tad Smith Steps Down
Reed Elsevier will try once again to sell off a chunk of their trade magazines from the Reed Business Information division. The company terminated the first attempt at a complete sale of the division late last year when they were unable to extract “acceptable terms” from bidders. They said then they would “divest RBI in the medium term when conditions are more favorable.” But just a week ago, new Reed ceo Ian Smith was tipped in the Telegraph as readying a new strategy to “retain the core business.” This morning RBI ceo Keith Jones told employees they intend “to divest […]