President and Publisher of Random House Children’s Books Chip Gibson is stepping down after 10 years of running the division and 30 years at Random House. CEO Markus Dohle writes that “with Children’s enjoying a successful 2012, and well set for the future, Chip feels he has accomplished almost everything he originally set out to do professionally. Now, he wants to take an extended break from work.” Dohle added, “Chip has transformed the workplace culture at Children’s and impacted young readers everywhere — not just with their beloved books but also with their genuine commitment to philanthropy and community service.” […]
Archives for September 2012
BN College Settlement Approved
As expected, Delaware Chancery Judge Leo Strine approved the settlement of the lawsuit brought by Barnes & Noble shareholders over the deal to purchase BN College from the Riggios. Judge Strine agreed in part with BN’s request to reduce the share of the proceeds going to the lawyers–originally set at $11 million of the $29 million settlement–though he reduced the award to $7 million rather than halving it as BN asked. The value of the remaining $22 million in settlement funds will be garnered by the bookseller’s own treasury, worth about 37 cents a share. (There is no award to […]
People: Remembering Arlene Friedman, and More
Longtime publishing executive Arlene Friedman passed away Sunday night, from leukemia. She served as president and publisher of Doubleday in the nineties, after working at editorial director of the Doubleday Book Clubs (including the Literary Guild). Friedman also worked at Fawcett, Macmillan and Crown. Services will be held Sunday, September 9 at 11:30 am at Frank E. Campbell in New York City. In other personnel news, Maria Gagliano has joined Portfolio, Sentinel, and Current as a senior editor. She was most recently an editor for Perigee, which she joined in 2006. She is also the co-founder and Business Director of Slice, a nonprofit […]
Kohn’s Final, Comic, Reply
Required by Judge Denise Cote to get his amicus brief down to 5 pages or less (from a proposed 25 pages or more), Bob Kohn has gone more than one step further and submitted his arguments as short “graphic novel” instead. The full panels follow. (Click to expand.) Perhaps the DOJ will reply via Pinterest:
Harper Announces Paperback Mystery Line, Bourbon Street
Harper Collins will launch Bourbon Street Books to publish “all types of mysteries,” featuring paperback originals, reprints, backlist titles, and reissued classics. The line starts with fall with two paperback originals: British author Oliver Harris’s debut THE HOLLOW MAN and Lynda La Plante’s seventh book in the Anna Travis series, BLOOD LINE, both publishing on October 23. Also in October they will bring back into print Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey with Harriet Vane series and in winter they will reissue four Mary Kay Andrews novels — Happy Never After, Homemade Sin, To Live and Die in Dixie, Every […]
A Small Alert for Frankfurt Travelers
The German division of Lufthansa airlines cancelled 300 flights on Tuesday–one-sixth of their scheduled flights–“as cabin crew launched a second round of strikes in a row over pay and conditions that threatens to drag on for weeks and cost Germany’s biggest airline tens of millions of euros.” The union and the airline have been failed to agree on a new contract for 13 months now. 200 flights out of Frankfurt, including a third of their longer flights, were cancelled today.