Publicly-traded Alloy Inc. has agreed to buy bought by an investor group led by ZelnickMedia in a cash deal valued at $126.5 million. The purchase price is a 14 percent premium over yesterday’s closing stock price. Alloy’s senior management is also investing in the deal. Other investors include Natixis Caspian Private Equity, Rosemont Solebury Co-Investment Fund, and GenSpring Family Offices. Former Nickelodeon ceo Geraldine Laybourne will take over as chairman of the board, with co-founders Matt Diamond and Jim Johnson staying on as ceo and coo. Former coo of Marvel Entertainment Bill Jemas is also joining the board. Strauss Zelnick […]
Archives for June 2010
Book Retail Stocks Continue Slide
With continuing uncertainty about the economy and the rise of ebooks, some bookselling-related stocks are experiencing a rough ride. Yesterday and again today Barnes & Noble’s shares have flirted with their lowest levels in a year, and the stock is down approximately five percent this morning. With a market cap down to a little over $900 million, the bookseller’s dividend now provides a yield of over 6 percent. Amazon has suffered recently as well, at about $117.75 well down from their recent high of $150 a share in April though still at relatively high levels for the company. Books-A-Million is […]
People
Paul Olsewski will join Atria on July 12 as vp, director of publicity, reporting to publisher Judith Curr. He worked for 15 years at HarperCollins, including stints at the Collins imprint and Regan Books. Neil Gaiman‘s Newbery-winning THE GRAVEYARD BOOK took the UK’s equally-prestigious Carnegie Medal, though it came up short for the Kate Greenaway Medal for illustrated kid’s books (for which it was also nominated). That honor went to Australian illustrator Freya Blackwood for HARRY & HOPPER (with text by Margaret Wild). Published in the UK by Scholastic, the book is not available in the US. Penguin USA realigned […]
The Latest iPad and eReader Stats and Discount Offers, and Shambhala Works with Open Road
Apple said yesterday that they have sold 3 million iPads in the 80 days after launch. With help from Father’s Day and the international rollout, the rate of sale has increased as the third million were sold in 21 days. (The first million took 28 days and the second million took 31 days, but those sales milestones both included pre-orders–first for regular models and then 3G, and then international pre-orders.) For anyone who thinks they overspent on a Nook or Kindle for Father’s Day, right before the latest price cuts were announced, the WSJ reports that you can get a […]
People
At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s, Jenny Groves and Jenn Taber have been promoted to publicity manager, and Jean Thrift has been promoted to marketing associate. Cambridge University Press has hired Peter Phillips as chief operating officer, joining the publisher in early October, the Bookseller reports. He will join the board of the press as well. He was at the UK’s Office of Communications (an independent regulator and competition authority in the communications industries.) A group of people with connections to trade publishing, including agent Rafe Sagalyn, author and editor of the New Republic Franklin Foer and others have held informal […]
More Announcements: Hearst Renews, Indigo's Teen Awards
Hearst Magazines has renewed its long-term trademark licensing agreement with Sterling that grants them the rights to create and publish books under the Hearst Books imprint. Sterling has worked with Hearst for nine years. Indigo is running a new Teen Read Awards program in which teen readers can vote for favorite books, authors and characters in ten nominated categories. As the chain underscores in their announcement, “the teen books category has grown by 150% and has become the second largest at Indigo and Chapters, after adult fiction.”Release