News Corp.’s February second quarter earnings report gave no numbers on the performance of HarperCollins–but an amended proxy statement outlining more details on the planned publishing division spinoff (aka New News Corp) provided real financial data on the book publisher’s fiscal 2013 so far. For the second quarter, Harper sales were $377 million, up 25 percent from $301 million a year ago, with EBITDA of $51 million, up 24 percent from $41 million the previous year. In the original filing, posted on December 20, Harper reported first quarter sales of $352 million and EBITDA of $40 million. For both quarters, the […]
Archives for March 2013
Australia Approves Penguin Random House Merger
The Penguin Random House merger cleared another regulatory hurdle Friday morning as Australia’s Competition and Consumer Commission will approve the deal, the two publishing houses announced Friday. “Bertelsmann and Pearson welcome this ruling as an important step on the path towards completing the planned transaction,” the companies said in a joint statement, adding they “are confident of receiving [the] approvals” from other international antitrust regulatory bodies “over the course of the year.” New Zealand’s Competition Commission, which was also expected to arrive at a decision by the end of this week, has postponed the date to April 5. And as […]
Books In the News
It’s been a busy week for books and authors making news. Honestly we were surprised that our exclusive report on the bestselling author of Cutting for Stone Abraham Verghese moving to Scribner for his second novel THE MARAMON CONVENTION (at a multi-million dollar auction) didn’t get more play in other media. Once upon a time, similar moves by Charles Frazier or Audrey Niffenegger were the stuff of considerable newsprint. In further deal news, author of the current bestseller The Dinner Herman Koch re-signed with Hogarth for SUMMERHOUSE WITH SWIMMING POOL, for 2014, and author most recently of Rin Tin Tin Susan Orlean signed […]
People
Nancy Inteli has joined Harper Children’s early childhood as editorial director. Nancy She was the global editorial director at the Disney Book Group. The division has also hired both Kristen Pettit and Alexandra Cooper as executive editors. Petit was most recently with Razorbill and will acquire and develop teen and tween fiction; Cooper, who has been at Simon & Schuster Children’s for thirteen years, joins the company next week. At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Taryn Roeder has been promoted to associate director of publicity, while Brittany Edwards has been promoted to publicist of the new culinary group. In addition, at HMH Children’s, Karen Walsh has been promoted […]
Atkinson and McCorkle’s Duelling LIFE AFTER LIFE Novels Lead April Indie Next List
As previously reported last month, the April Indie Next list features a tie for the #1 choice for the first time, and both happen to be novels titled LIFE AFTER LIFE, by Kate Atkinson and Jill McCorkle, respectively. The full list: #1 Life After Life: A Novel, by Jill McCorkle #1 Life After Life: A Novel, by Kate Atkinson The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards: A Novel, by Kristopher Jansma The Burgess Boys: A Novel, by Elizabeth Strout The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat: A Novel, by Edward Kelsey Moore Ordinary Grace: A Novel, by William Kent Krueger Woke Up Lonely: A […]
BN Dismissed Palo Alto Executive
In Barnes & Noble’s quarterly SEC filings, the company included a severance agreement with executive vice president, Operations and Customer Service, Dan Gilbert, who was terminated effective February 1. Gilbert was based in their Palto Alto, CA office. The company has not announced a replacement for Gilbert, and told us in response to a query that “his responsibilities have been divided among other executives.” Hired in 2010 from Cisco, he reported directly to ceo William Lynch and was responsible for “supply and demand planning, sourcing, manufacturing, operations, distribution and logistics related to digital devices including management of the Digital Products Operations […]