Keith Fox will join Phaidon Press as chief executive officer, based in the company’s New York offices. Previously he was president of McGraw-Hill’s construction division, which included Architectural Record and Engineering News Record. In a statement Phaidon owners Debra & Leon Black said: “We are delighted that Keith has joined Phaidon. He brings a unique combination of his personal appreciation of the arts coupled with a proven history of leading and advancing successful global brands.” Fox added: “I am honored to be joining Phaidon and humbled by the trust the Black family has placed in me. I look forward to […]
Archives for March 2014
Combined Penguin Random House Revenue Measures Up To Last Year’s Fifty Shades-Boosted Report
Berteslmann released its financial report for the fiscal year 2013, which included the first-ever annual revenues for the combined Penguin Random House entity. Including a half-year’s worth of revenue from Penguin, total sales of €2.655 billion for PRH (plus Random House Germany, which remains a separate company, but was reported with Bertelsmann’s book publishing interests) were 23.9 percent higher than the €2.142 billion reported for Random House’s record-setting 2012. But after adjusting for currency and excluding Penguin, revenues naturally decreased compared to last year’s “exceptional success” of the FIFTY SHADES trilogy. (The three books still sold another seven million units in […]
People Etc.
Devin Kirk will join Macmillan on April 14 as vp, international sales and marketing, succeeding Judy Sisko, who is retiring next month after more than 46 years in publishing and 22 years at Macmillan. Kirk was previously senior director, international sales for Penguin Random House. At Penguin Random House, Kim Shannon has been appointed to newly created position of vp, director, adult retail sales, Random House. Adult retail sales at Penguin continue to be overseen by John Lawton and Norman Lidofsky. At Sterling Lord Literistic, Caitlin McDonald and Mary Krienke have been promoted to associate agents, while Nadyne Pike moves […]
As Customers Receive eBook Settlement Credits, Other Retailers File Antitrust Suits
Amazon customers received a present in their accounts this morning courtesy of the ebook settlements between the “Agency Five” publishers and various state governments: store credit to buy more books (print or ebooks). As previously outlined, customers who bought at least one ebook published by Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Penguin or Macmillan between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012 will get a credit of $3.17 per ebook for New York Times bestsellers, and 73 cents for non-NYT bestsellers. For Minnesotans, who reached a separate settlement, the breakdown is $3.93 for NYT bestsellers and 94 cents for non-bestsellers. Twitter […]
Hodder Offers to Buy Quercus
Two months after putting itself up for sale, Quercus has found a buyer in Hodder & Stoughton, which has made an all-cash offer of £12.6 million for the publisher. Under the terms of the deal, which is expected to close at the end of April and be finalized by the end of June, Quercus shareholders will be entitled to receive 60p per Quercus share, while Hodder has received “irrevocable undertakings from Quercus shareholders” for a total of 13,492,311 shares, or 65.67 percent of existing share capital. The offer represents a 144.9 per cent markup on the 24.5 share price of […]
Penguin Random House Merges Publisher Service Groups
On the tenth anniversary of Random House Publisher Services, its sales and distribution activities for third-party publishers will be brought together with Penguin’s distribution businesses under the unified management of Jeff Abraham, who now continues as president, Penguin Random House Publisher Services. Kristin Feehan, director, distribution clients, who leads the team dedicated to managing the Penguin client relationships, now will report to Abraham, as does the staff supporting the Random House clients. All other current Penguin and Random House internal and client-reporting relationships will stay unchanged, as will sales reps’ selling responsibilities. Penguin’s distribution clients include Overlook, Kensington, the Library […]