Borders announced Thursday night it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Najafi Companies’ Direct Brands unit, which it will submit to the bankruptcy court as a stalking horse bid as part of a court-supervised auction of the bookseller. “Purchase” is an interesting term (“take” might be another one), since Najafi would put up $215.1 million for “substantially all of the company’s assets,” acquiring inventory potentially worth far more than that, along with assuming $220 million in liabilities. It’s not clear how many locations Najafi intends to keep operating–but there is an agreement in place already with Hilco and […]
Archives for June 2011
People, Etc.
Anthony Cheetham has left Atlantic Books, where he was an associate publisher and director on its board, in what he described as a “joint decision” between himself and Atlantic ceo Toby Mundy. “There wasn’t a huge amount for me to do at Atlantic, and the projects that I had envisaged working on were not really happening because it has been a difficult year for the company,” Cheetham told the Bookseller. He added that he was about to launch a new venture sometime this autumn, and while Cheetham did not give many details, evidently the plan is to “develop a ‘specialist […]
Glusman to Become Editor-In-Chief at Norton, Rowling Follows Blair to New Agency
John Glusman will leave Crown to become the new editor-in-chief of Norton’s trade department in July, as Norton’s Star Lawrence “will set aside administrative duties at his own request to concentrate more fully on acquiring and editing books in the role of editor-at-large.” Lawrence, 68, who has been at Norton since 1969, says in the announcement, “John’s far-ranging interests and expertise will be a terrific asset to the entire company. I hand him the managerial reins with the greatest confidence, happy to turn my full attention to what I do best, and what brought me into this business in the […]
Judge Supports CIA’s Pre-Pub Review; Birther Authors Sue Over Esquire Satire
Alexandria, VA US District Judge Gerald Lee has firmly supported the CIA’s pre-publication review process for books by agency employees and former employees–including their common practice of taking their own sweet time in commenting on manuscripts. Judge Lee ruled against pseudonymous author Ishmael Jones and his book THE HUMAN FACTOR: Inside the CIA’s Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture from Encounter Books. Jones published his book without the agency’s permission, after being denied approval on the first version of his manuscript, and receiving only partial approval for a revised version. Attorney Laurin Mills had asserted that the CIA breached the pre-publication review agreement […]
Holland’s Arbeiderspers and Balans Are Merging Into Other Units; HMV Takes Big Writedown on Waterstone’s Sale; and More
Holland’s WPG (Weekblad Pers Groep) is merging some its well-known imprints in response to difficult market conditions. Arbeiderspers is going to merge with Bruna, relocating to Utrecht next January while maintaining a small office in Amsterdam. And Balans is going to merge with De Bezige Bij. Now that Waterstone’s has been sold, former parent company HMV reveals in its annual earnings report that the bookseller’s overall sales fell 14.4 million pounds for the year (with comps falling 3.8 percent) at £499.2 million, but operating profit rose to £9.5 million, compared to £2.8 million the year before. HMV also took a £110.5 million pound writedown […]
More eNews
USA Today has added ebook sales data from Kobo in compiling their weekly bestseller list. The paper already includes ebook sales from Amazon, Nook and Sony. Hopkins Fulfillment Services has launched HFS Digital, which will allow clients to sell monographs and scholarly works direct to consumers as ebooks through their websites as a result of a new partnership with Sheridan Books’ new Electronic Content Services division. The program began in May but will roll out in its entirety by January 2012. Irish ebook publisher ePub Direct will enable publishers to access more than 15,000 library outlets in 13 countries. ePub […]