In the daily Amazon news, the company is said to be negotiating for part of a 12.5 acre parcel of land next to their South Lake Union headquarters in Seattle in order to expand. Research firm OTR Global has echoed a report from Digitimes in January, saying that information from Asias component suppliers indicates that first quarter “component orders for Amazon’s Kindle Fire and ereaders are down significantly…due to abundant inventory of finished product in the supply chain.” Separately, market research firm IHS iSuppli estimates Amazon shipped 3.9 million Fires in the fourth quarter–lower than many analyst guesses–and said that […]
Archives for February 2012
S&S Registers Eighth Consecutive Profit Increase Even As Sales Wane
CBS reported fourth quarter earnings after the close of the market on Tuesday, with Simon & Schuster recording a 1 percent decrease in sales, down $3 million to $229 million, accompanied by a sharp increase in profits. Adjusted OIBDA rose $8 million (or 40 percent) to $28 million, and adjusted operating income rose $9 million, at $27 million. That’s a 12 percent margin for the quarter, and the company recorded an 11 percent profit margin for the full fiscal year. S&S took a $2 million restructuring charge during the fourth quarter not charged against OIBDA, related to the realignments in […]
Crown Reorganizes Paperback Imprint Reporting and Leadership Structure
Crown has reorganized the reporting and leadership structure of its paperback imprints in the wake of Tina Pohlman’s departure to Open Road Integrated Media, announced earlier on Wednesday. The new structure, which is effective February 24, will bring Three Rivers Press and Broadway Books imprints in closer alignment with the hardcover imprints with which they are respectively associated. Three Rivers Press will now be overseen by svp, publisher for Crown Archetype, Crown Business, Crown Forum, and Harmony Book Tina Constable, with Crown Archetype vp, editor-in-chief Mauro DiPreta handling day-to-day responsibilities for Three Rivers. Senior editor Amanda Patten will now report […]
eNews: Dutton Relaunches Guilt-Edged Mysteries As Digital Imprint
Dutton will join the digital imprint movement later this summer by relaunching its Dutton Guilt-Edged Mysteries line, which published hardboiled and noir titles from 1947 to 1956, as an ebook-only venture. The new program, overseen by Dutton editor-in-chief Ben Sevier, will publish stories and novellas ranging between 10,000 and 50,000 words on a monthly basis and will launch with NPR news editor Krishnadev Calamur’s debut novella Murder in Mumbai. “The re-launch of Dutton Guilt-Edged Mysteries is a fitting tribute to Mickey Spillane, one of the 20th century’s bestselling and most beloved novelists,” Sevier said in a statement. The new imprint […]
Prime Suspects
Bloomberg has attracted attention for a story from Tuesday regarding Amazon Prime membership. Citing “three people familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg says that as of October 2011 Amazon had “3 million to 5 million people subscribed to Prime.” In contrast, analysts who follow Amazon have pegged prime membership at anywhere from 5 million to 13 million people or more. The enduring takeaway here is a reminder that no one knows anything useful about Amazon’s undisclosed numbers–particularly analysts. When they publish estimates about proprietary statistics–prime membership; ereader and Kindle Fires sold; sales of ebooks–they are guessing, often with wild inaccuracy. (As […]
Fidelity Takes A 10 Percent Stake In Barnes & Noble, Too
Shares of Barnes & Noble’s stock are increasingly being accumulated by a small number of holders, as Fidelity disclosed on Tuesday that their Fidelity OTC Portfolio unit had acquired over 6 million shares in the bookseller, or just under 10 percent of shares outstanding, as of December 31. Following the morning’s news of a 5 percent investment by Dimensional Fund Advisors, the company’s stock rose steadily during the trading day on heavy volume. After starting the day in the red, shares closed up over 9 percent, rising to $14.49. Ironically that brought the stock back up to almost exactly where […]