As part of a restructuring of the Simon & Schuster’s digital and marketing departments, Liz Perl has been promoted to the new position of evp, chief marketing officer, overseeing both digital and marketing under one combined unit, while evp, chief digital officer Ellie Hirschhorn will leave the company on December 12 after more than six years. Of the changes, ceo Carolyn Reidy said in the announcement: “Our combined digital and marketing group will have in place the skills and knowledge we need to run our industry-best websites; maximize corporate social media, email and mobile marketing; produce our successful original author […]
Archives for December 2014
BN Pays Microsoft $62.5 Million In Nook Buyback
In a series of complex SEC documents, Barnes & Noble indicated that they have paid Microsoft $62.5 million to buyback their 16.8 percent share in Nook Media LLC, along with 2.74 million shares of BN stock (valued at $62.5 million, though that stock is worth less already). That implies a “fair market value” of about $700 million for Barnes & Noble College and Nook combined. Given that it cost Barnes & Noble $431 million to purchase College from the Riggio family (the last payment for which was just made in September), you can infer that puts a value on Nook […]
Barnes & Noble Disappoints Again with Lower Earnings; Terminates Microsoft Nook Partnership
There was a suspicious spate of financial articles the last couple of days tipping the idea that the worst is over at Barnes & Noble and Nook and earnings would be up — but the results announced before the opening of the market on Thursday proved those hopeful stories wrong again. Analysts hoped earnings per share would more than double to 31 cents — but instead consolidated net earnings fell $1 million, to 12 cents a share. Analyst John Tinker at Maxim Group had convinced the WSJ Nook would only lose $14 million (they lost almost 3 times that) on […]
NYT Picks Doerr and More for Top 10
The New York Times Book Review editors picked their favorite books of the year, selecting a number of titles already on our early aggregated list of consensus “best of the year” books (and 3 NBA nominees): All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr Dept. of Speculation, by Jenny Offill Euphoria, by Lily King Family Life, by Akhil Sharma Redeployment, by Phil Klay Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, by Roz Chast On Immunity, by Eula Bliss Penelope Fitzgerald: A Life, by Hermione Lee The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, by Elizabeth Kolbert Thirteen Days In September, by […]
Court Hears Appeal of “Fair Use” Ruling on Google’s Book Scanning
The Authors Guild had might be their final day in court in opposition to Google’s scanning of books in academic libraries on Wednesday, in a hearing before a three-judge panel of Second Circuit Court of Appeals. The Guild is appealing Judge Denny Chin’s ruling from November 2013 finding Google’s scanning of library books “highly transformative” after eight years of litigation. The Guild argued in their appeal that, “While Google may have figured out a way to transform the creative output of authors into advertising dollars for Google’s shareholders, Google’s unauthorized commercial uses are not transformative within the copyright law.” In […]
Retailers and Book Prices
Jeff Bezos said a lot of the expected things at the Ignition conference yesterday, a friendly interview conducted by Henry Blodget — whose Business Insider is funded in part by Bezos. The Amazon ceo is quoted widely for such standard remarks as, “Books, in my view, are too expensive. You know, $30 for a book, is too expensive.” (Bear in mind the book he means is one that Amazon pays about $15 for and then decides what to charge.) To us what’s missing is some context. Bezos also “want[s] to see millions of people living and working in space” and is […]