Amanda Ridout, who left Harper UK as managing director in May 2009 to pursue “confidential” ventures, has joined Phaidon as managing director. Investor Luke Johnson, who owned Borders UK on its path to bankruptcy, is joining the Phaidon board as a nonexecutive director. Emily Lavelle has joined Public Affairs as a publicist. She was most recently an associate publicist at Crown. Spiegel has posted an English version of their interview with Random House ceo Markus Dohle. The piece drew wire service attention at the beginning of the week for his guess that “I can imagine that we’ll end up above […]
Archives for August 2010
Bookselling: Texas’s Ambitious Legacy Books to Close August 14
One of the biggest and flashiest independent bookstores to open in years–Legacy Books in Plano, TX just north of Dallas–will close later this month. Managing partner Teri Tanner “said the store’s investors made the decision to close.” The 24,000-square-foot store opened in the midst of the economic collapse, in November 2008. As the Dallas Morning News writes, “it was one of a few independent bookstores of its size to open in the US in decades.” Tanner tells the newspaper she has started Double T Consulting, a company “dedicated to pursuing independent bookselling and other retail opportunities” in North Texas. They […]
Sales Rise at Harper As Profits Lag
HarperCollins has joined Simon & Schuster and Penguin in reporting increased sales for their most recent quarter, ending June 30, at $302 million, up over 8 percent from $278 million a year ago. Profits are still lagging, however, with an operating loss of $1 million–matching the loss from this time a year ago (though they were up $3 million prior to depreciation and amortization). For the full fiscal year, Harper recorded sales of $1.269 billion, recovering 11 percent after a poor fiscal 2009, with operating income of $88 million–hardly a stellar performance, but much improved from just $17 million in […]
The Barnes & Noble Update
Following yesterday’s after-marker news that the board of Barnes & Noble will explore “strategic alternatives,” the company’s shares are experiencing the anticipated heavy trading volume this morning, with volume of nearly 3 million shares in the first hour alone. At that point, the stock was up approximately 20 percent over yesterday’s close. After the board boosted the stock’s prospects, Goldman Sachs thoughtfully upgraded their rating from sell to neutral, and changed their 12-month price target from $12 a share to $15 a share. Analyst Matt Fassler still hates the company and they “do not see compelling value in the business,” […]
BN, Part Two: Who Would, Or Wouldn’t, Buy?
As noted in our first piece, the media and interwebs are full of all kinds of notions on what happens next with Barnes & Noble. To be clear, this piece is entirely speculation, but we do have our reasons. First let’s cross of some of the companies that won’t be bidding: AmazonA tech company and etailer that trades at a PE of over 50 would enrage investors and shed billions of dollars of market cap by picking up an outfit like Barnes & Noble. Plus it would give them undeniable sales tax nexus in all 50 states, producing what many […]
More Bookselling: Borders Layoffs and A Deal for Baker & Taylor
Reinforcing our point above about Borders, the chain has cut yet another 100 jobs from their LaVergne, TN distribution center (after eliminating 120 positions there earlier this year). Spokesperson Mary Davis tells the Nashville Business Journal, “We are in the process of reorganizing core areas of our business around key strategic objectives to transform the Borders brand. As part of this effort, we are making changes to our staffing levels to make sure the right people are in the right spots and positions and resources are aligned with our strategic objectives.” In brighter news, Baker & Taylor announced “an exclusive, […]