[NB: We made a simple math error below the first time; the correct number of what this might cost Barnes & Noble is $55.5 million, not $30.5 million.] The stock market has sent mixed signals at best regarding key retailers following Wednesday’s announcement of the Justice Department’s lawsuit (and settlement). On Wednesday itself, Barnes & Noble’s stock dropped sharply until someone stepped in and bought a million shares, rallying to recover much of the drop. The stock declined further on Thursday, and Friday morning it is down modestly again, having shed about $90 million in market cap since earlier this […]
Archives for April 2012
More Amazon News: The 2011 Letter to Shareholders
Amazon has filed ceo Jeff Bezos’s annual letter to shareholders with the SEC in advance of their annual meeting–for which the board heartily recommends that owners vote against a shareholder proposal “calling for certain disclosures regarding corporate political contribtions.” In this year’s letter, the KDP program is one of three innovations that Bezos underscores: “Invention comes in many forms and at many scales. The most radical and transformative of inventions are often those that empower others to unleash their creativity – to pursue their dreams. That’s a big part of what’s going on with Amazon Web Services, Fulfillment by Amazon, […]
Audible Launches $20 Million Fund for Authors, and Services to Promote their Audiobooks
Audible.com is announcing a fund comprising $20 million to be paid out directly to authors (and not shared with publishers), accompanied by a set of marketing and merchandising services. In fact, the fund is a reward for enrolling in the Audible Author Services program. The company says “the honorarium is a direct payment from us to you, a way for us to reward you for promoting your work.” Any author who registers and has an audiobook available via Audible in the US or UK becomes eligible to share in the fund, which pays the author an additional $1 “honorarium” for […]
People
Editor-in-chief and deputy director of Stanford University Press Alan Harvey has been promoted to director, effective July 1. He replaces Gordon Burn, who will work as the Press’s deputy editor for the next 12 months and also continue as acquisitions editor for the Stanford Security Studies series of publications, which he founded and plans to expand. At Free Press, Sharbari Kamat has been promoted to associate editor (continuing to work with Martha Levin); as has Donna Loffredo (continuing to work with Leslie Meredith) and Sydney Tanigawa (continuing to work with Dominick Anfuso). Peter Bohan has been promoted to associate director of marketing at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Children’s. Ron Hussey has been […]
BN’s Newest Simple Touch Reader Has a Front-Lit Screen
Thursday afternoon Barnes & Noble announced the newest version of its standalone e-reading device would come with a front-lit glowing screen that solves what the company believes is the “number-one problem couples have in bed — having their sleep interrupted, or being prevented from falling asleep, when their partner reads with the light on.” Now called Nook Simple Touch Reader with Glowlight, it retails at $139 and is available for pre-order immediately, shipping in early May. The new model, whose specs were leaked Wednesday by The Digital Reader, is $40 more expensive than the non-glowing version, and has about half […]
Meanwhile, The EU Looks to Settle With Every Publisher Except Penguin
Following yesterday’s news from the Department of Justice, the European Commission’s parallel investigation of agency ebook price may be close to a settlement among most of the parties involved as well. Multiple news reports indicate that Apple and Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster – but not Penguin – have all sent proposals to the EC to settle the case. S&S spokesperson Adam Rothberg told Bloomberg they are in “active and productive discussions” with the EC. Joaquin Almunia, the EU’s competition chief, said in a statement that he welcomed an early resolution and was engaged in “fruitful discussions” with the […]