Trade book sales were down slightly at Scholastic, by 2 percent, in their fourth quarter, at $38.5 million, though the segment finished the year up almost 15 percent at $189.4 million. Companywide, sales were $545.8 million for the last quarter, up 1 percent from a year ago, and earnings from continuing operations before taxes were down 21 percent at $43.2 million. But after-tax net income declined less, down 15 percent at $24.8 million–and because of the company’s stock repurchase program, net income of 78 cents a share were almost level with a year ago–and they were ahead of analysts’ expectations […]
Archives for July 2011
Borders Is “A Major Thorn” In Courier’s Results
In other quarterly results, Courier Corporation reported sales of $61.9 million for their third quarter, down 5 percent from a year ago, “helped by solid gains in textbook sales but hurt by the continuing fallout from the bankruptcy proceedings” at Borders.”The situation at Borders continued to be a major thorn in our side,” said ceo James F. Conway III in the release. “The resulting shrinkage in trade demand affected both our own publishing segment and the publishing customers we serve as a manufacturer.” They say Borders was a “key customer” for their Research & Education Association imprint and as result, […]
Borders Fallout Hits Home
As you would expect there is considerable coverage of Borders expected liquidation in cities across the country that face losing local bookstores as a result. The Detroit News estimated the four-county region will lose approximately 750 jobs as a result, between the booksellers’ Ann Arbor headquarters and their 18 stores in the area. While the prospects are considered good for many of Borders’ leases, reletting that many spaces in the troubled Detroit area is seen as posing “challenges” for landlords. The paper adds that “Borders’ closings are estimated to increase the collective nationwide vacancy rate of shopping centers that contained […]
Briefs: University of California Shutters Poetry Program; OFT Signs Off on Bertrams/Dawson Merger; and More
The University of California Press has decided to suspend the publication of its poetry book series New California Poetry after it publishes 3 titles in 2012. Director Alison Mudditt told the LA Times that the decision came about because of budget cuts – it expects to see 10 percent in funding reductions from the university – as well as the “shifting marketplace” for books and publishing. LAT The Office of Fair Trading has been in the headlines of late because of mounting opposition to Amazon’s acquisition of The Book Depository (so much so that UK trade organizations are taking the […]
Digital Numbers: Another iPad Record, and More Hires for BN Palo Alto
Apple reported another strong quarter of sales overall, including moving 9.25 million iPads in their third quarter. That’s the best quarter ever for iPad sales, well ahead of the previous high set in the period ending last Christmas, when they sold 7.33 million tablets. And it’s nearly double the second quarter iPad sales of 4.7 million units. In a separate release touting the downloading of 15 billion apps, Apple gives some special attention to Callaway Digital Arts, with ceo Nicholas Callawy exclaiming, “We knew the iPad was going to be a revolutionary storytelling device, but never could have anticipated it […]
eDeals: Google + Pottermore; Cookstr eBooks; Princeton Review Adds eBooks; Lee Child’s eStory; Gollancz to Bring Thousands of Sci-Fi/Fantasy Titles Back as eBooks
Google announced that their Google Checkout will be the “preferred third-party payment platform” for Pottermore.com (which will also accept debit and credit cards). The site will use YouTube for global video broadcasts and the Harry Potter ebooks will work just fine via Google eBooks in the US. Google blog Cookstr is looking to monetize digital recipe collections with the launch via the iBookstore of recipe sets of varying sizes–offering 10 recipes for $.99; 50 recipes for $3.99; and 250 recipes for $9.99. Starting with Rozanne Gold’s 1-2-3 Collection, they have 31 different options on sale at once. The company says […]