Textbook giant Cengage needs to restructure their huge debt load of over $5 billion, and the company has loomed for a while now as publishing’s next big bankruptcy/restructuring. After extending maturities on various tranches of debt last year, the WSJ reports that the company “in recent weeks has held discussions with Alvarez & Marsal,” a restructuring/turnaround firm, “though no decision has been made.” Their sources indicated “no restructuring appears imminent as the company weighs options for addressing its finances.” That has been the official company line for some time; as recently as last November, CFO Dean Durbin told analysts, “I […]
Archives for February 2013
European Decision on Penguin Random House Merger Due In April
The European Commission updated its very brief public case notes on the pending antitrust review of the proposed merger of Penguin and Random House. The EC website now indicates a “provisional deadline” for their review of April 5.
People, Etc.
Michele Martin will join the Gallery Books Group on March 4 as vp, associate publisher, reporting to Louise Burke. Previously she was founder and proprietor of MDM Management, which will now be assumed by CSG Literary Partners, and before that she held executive positions at Avalon, Langenscheidt and Doubleday, where she created and oversaw the Main Street Books imprint. At Penguin, Katherine Tiernan McCahill has been promoted to assistant director of the digital products group. In Canada, former senior executives at D&M Publishers Chris Labonte, Peter Cocking and Richard Nadeau have founded Figure1 Publishing, devoted to books in the art […]
Judge Sets March 11 Meeting Date on Booksellers’ Suit
Judge Jed Rakoff, the Southern District judge named to preside over the suit filed by three independent booksellers against Amazon and the “big six” publishers, has stipulated a March 11 case management and scheduling conference among the parties. None of the parties have responded to the suit yet, which is not unusual, so the judge’s order indicates that “the fact that any party has not answered the complaint does not excuse attendance by that party or warrant any adjournment of the conference.” For now, the court “requires that this case shall be ready for trial on August 12, 2013,” though […]
People, Etc.
Patricia Arancibia has joined Apple as head of the iBookstore’s European operations. Previously she was editorial director, International Acquisition & Relations – International Digital Content at Barnes & Noble. In the UK, PFD agent Robert Caskie is taking on the additional new role of chief operating officer of The Rights House Group. Publicity director at Profile Books Ruth Killick is leaving the publisher after 11 years to establish her own PR firm in Bristol this May. Writer, educator and activist Monica Carter, has been named the Lambda Literary Foundation’s LGBT Writers in Schools program coordinator. The trickling of BEA author breakfast […]
Bookselling: Booked for Murder For Sale; Between The Covers Gets New Owner
Booked for Murder in Madison, WI is up for sale, as owner Sara Barnes is leaving the city to care for ailing parents in Minnesota. Barnes, who bought the store from previous owners in 2008, told the Daily Page she “has heard just ‘echoes of niblets’ from potentially interested buyers. The store’s best prospect may be “a consortium of friends who love books.” Owner of Harper Springs, MI-based bookstore Between the Covers Jeanne Regentin, has sold the store to Katie Capaldi after more than 10 years, Shelf Awareness reports. Capaldi is a bookseller and the daughter of the store’s children’s […]