With Books-a-Million stock languishing since last summer, trading for around $1.70 a share, on Thursday evening the controlling Anderson family offered again to buy out the other shareholders and take the company private. The non-binding proposal from executive chairman Clyde Anderson on behalf of the family offers $2.75 a share for the shares. In April 2012 the family offered to pay $3.05 a share. After shareholders objected to what they considered too low a price, in July 2012, “after discussing the proposal with the special committee of the company’s board of directors and its advisors, the Anderson family…decided not to pursue […]
Archives for January 2015
Simon & Schuster’s North Star Way Division Promises Expanded Suite of Services
Simon & Schuster has launched North Star Way, a new publishing unit focused on practical nonfiction that the company says “will offer authors an expanded suite of profile-building, ancillary services that extend beyond the boundaries of traditional publishing.” Bringing books to market starting in spring 2016, it is lead by vp, publisher Michele Martin. She reports to Scribner Publishing Group president and Touchstone publisher Susan Muldow, and North Star will get support f0r its program from existing Touchstone personnel. Martin relinquishes her role as associate publisher for the Gallery Publishing Group, with that position to be filled by someone new at a later date. […]
People, Etc.
Random House’s ambassador to independent booksellers Ruth Liebmann “will expand her role to provide the same critical support to the Penguin Publishing Group with our independent booksellers as she does currently for the Random House divisions.” She takes on the broader title of vp, account marketing, Penguin Random House (and she maintains her oversight of the Random House Events Department). President of sales Jaci Updike writes, “Every day, Ruth makes an exceptional difference with our independent booksellers. A former New York City bookseller, Ruth began her career at Random House in 1995 as a Manhattan sales rep. Over the past two decades, […]
Amazon Has Slow Media Growth, But Slight Earnings Improvement Drives Stock
The sometimes inexplicable world of Amazon performance metrics continues. The company reported fourth quarter sales on Thursday after the close of the market, with relatively modest growth — up 15 percent to $29.33 billion, below analysts’ expectations of $29.7 billion. But their meager net income of seven-tenths of one percent — $214 million, or 45 cents a share — was much better than the miniscule earnings Wall Street was prepared to expect (22 cents a share), and so the stock has risen about 10 percent (or $30 a share) after an hour of trading on Friday. But let’s focus on the data […]
Caldwell’s The Fifth Gospel, A PL Buzz Book, Tops March Indie Next List
The preview version of the March Indie Next List has The Fifth Gospel by Ian Caldwell as indie booksellers’ No. 1 selection for the month. An exclusive pre-publication excerpt is available to read right now in our just-released Buzz Books 2015: Spring/Summer, if you have not downloaded your copy yet. The rest of the list features: The Buried Giant, by Kazuo Ishiguro Where the Dead Pause, and the Japanese Say Goodbye: A Journey, by Marie Mitsuki Mockett Soil, by Jamie Kornegay Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania, by Erik Larson Leaving Berlin, by Joseph Kanon Barefoot Dogs: Stories, […]
People, Etc.
Derek Stordahl is promoted to evp, Bloomsbury USA with responsibility for Bloomsbury’s performance across their academic and trade businesses; he was previously head of sales. Cristina Gilbert is promoted to vp, sales and marketing for Bloomsbury’s US adult and children’s divisions. Alex Glass has formally announced his new literary agency, Glass Literary Management, formed late last year after he left Trident Media Group, where he worked for 13 years. He will continue to concentrate on nonfiction (including prescriptive, narrative, memoir, sports, pop culture, and celebrity); adult literary and general fiction; and children’s fiction. Heather Flaherty joins the Bent Agency as an agent […]