Within the next two to three weeks, Kobo will match Amazon’s ad-bearing ereaders with their own “Kobo Touch with Offers” with “valuable offers and sponsored screens in discreet places outside of the reading experience.” The ad-driven model will sell for just under $100, a $40 discount over the ad-free model. Amazon has begun shipping the Kindle Fire a day early, and will start shipping their new eInk readers tomorrow, six days ahead of the promised date. Early reviews of the Fire are surprised to find that this inexpensive semi-tablet acts like what you would expect for the price. In the […]
Archives for November 2011
People, Etc.
At Random House Struik in South Africa, founding managing director Stephen Johnson will step down in March 2012, the end of the unit’s fiscal year, as he reaches retirement age. Johnson will become chairman of the company’s board in April. Current managing director of London’s New Holland Publishers (and a former Struik md) Steve Connolly will return to South Africa to run Random House Struik as of April. Nicola Way will join Harper Children’s UK as marketing director in January. She was most recently a board director at Iris Nation, a UK integrated marketing agency. Sumya Ojakli has been named senior […]
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to Restructure, Eliminate
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt ceo Linda K. Zecher announced in an internal memo ahead of a Monday investor call that she will restructure the company’s divisions as well as its executive ranks, “for better accountability with fewer senior leaders and more focus on our customers.” The company “we will no longer have a separate Education Group” and its current president, Mike Lavelle “has made the decision to leave HMH.” Company CFO (and one-time interim ceo) Michael Muldowney has resigned, with Eric Shuman taking the roll of interim cfo. They will also eliminate the Emerging Markets division and are restructuring their corporate […]
Union Plans Rally By Harper Offices
The United Auto Workers Local 2110 plans a lunchtime rally outside of HarperCollins’ midtown Manhattan offices on Wednesday, November 16, according to a flier found by the NY Observer. They intend to protest “the elimination of guaranteed wage increases, the rising cost of health benefits and other issues.” Harper spokesperson Erin Crum says that the company is in the midst of negotiating its union labor contract. “We are offering a very fair and competitive package, one that will continue to make HarperCollins a great place to work for all our employees. We are committed to bargaining in good faith, and […]
Liberty Media May Have Renewed Interest In Buying All of Barnes & Noble–Or Not
Barnes & Noble stock took another ride on Friday, at one point up another 10 percent a research note issued by Robert Routh at Phoenix Partners Group and carried on Bloomberg indicated Liberty Media “may be setting up a $1.5 billion credit facility to help fund” a full buyout of the bookseller. By mid-afternoon, however, BN spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating told Bloomberg that speculation was “not accurate,” adding “there’s no truth to it.” The stock gave back some of its gains but still closed up for the day on Friday. Today the market has opened down on concerns about Europe, […]
Barnes & Noble Bullish
The bookseller’s stock had another big day on Thursday, rising another 10.5 percent, passing $15 a share on very high volume. (That’s a two-day gain of 25 percent.) More curious still, there was unusual interest in shares of Books-a-Million as well, which had been in steady decline all year, shedding 65 percent of its value. BAMM shares traded at almost ten times their usual volume Thursday, rising 56 cents (a 24 percent boost). What’s up with that? The NY Post floats the idea that a private investor tour on Tuesday led by BN ceo William Lynch to show off the […]