As we’ve pointed out, Barnes & Noble’s sales of Nook-branded devices have been running well below projections and their purchase promise made to Samsung. In an amendment to that agreement dated March 7, Samsung agreed to give Nook until June 30, 2016 to purchase at least 1 million co-branded tablets — giving them an extra 9 months to try to meet their minimum. Barnes & Noble’s quarterly SEC filing also provides some additional breakdowns on their business components. In the retail stores, you can now see the balance between growing toys & games sales versus what the company has called stabilizing […]
Archives for March 2015
Scholastic and Universal in 3-Year First Look Deal; Forte To Produce
Scholastic has entered a three-year first-look deal to develop live-action feature films with Universal Pictures — which was already developing adaptations of Clifford, The Big Red Dog and The 39 Clues. Deborah Forte is leaving her role as president of Scholastic Media to develop and produce these properties through her new production company Silvertongue Films, which will operate out of offices in Los Angeles and New York. In a statement, Forte said she was “excited about the new venture” which would allow her to “focus on producing movies based on a selection of Scholastic’s treasured book series alongside some of the most talented […]
Trade Finishes Well In December, Though Adult Hardcovers Remain Down
The AAP reported sales for December 2014 as well as the full year, account for sales from the 1,209 reporting publishers. A strong December helped the trade end the year well, with sales of $591 million up $64.5 million (or 12 percent) from a year ago. Adult hardcover sales still declined in the month however, as was the case for the whole year as well, down $4.5 million in December. eBook sales had their biggest gain since December. For the full year 2014, total trade sales of $6.631 billion were up $258 million (or 4 percent) from $6.373 billion a year ago — […]
People, Etc.
Karen Fink will join Grand Central as deputy director of publicity on March 23. She spent the past 11 years at Random House, most recently as associate director of publicity handling titles across the Random House, Spiegel & Grau and The Dial Press lists. Barry Harbaugh joins the Little A imprint at Amazon Publishing in New York as a senior editor focusing primarily on nonfiction, reporting to editor-in-chief David Blum. Harbaugh spent the last five years as an editor at Harper. Lucy Silag has been promoted to director of Book Country, where she will oversee brand partnerships, manuscript scouting, community […]
In Second Appeal of Court Monitor, Judge Jacobs Is Sympathetic to Apple Again
In the December hearing on Apple’s appeal of the ebook pricing verdict, Judge Dennis Jacobs was the one leaning quotably in Apple’s direction (he is the judge who suggested that any collusion among publishers trying “to break the hold of a monopolist” in the ebook market was “like all the mice getting together to put a bell on the cat”). Again in a Tuesday hearing on Apple’s separate appeal seeking to disqualify the monitor Michael Bromwich, appointed by Judge Denise Cote to monitor Apple following her injunction, Judge Jacobs expressed doubts about the court-imposed actions. Jacobs suggested the amount Apple was paying the monitor […]
Wiley Grows in Q3, But Book Sales Still Decline
Wiley reported adjusted third quarter sales of $466 million, up 2 percent including foreign exchange, while adjusted operating income of $78 million was flat (with net income rising $3.5 million). The company took charges of $24 million in the quarter related to their ongoing restructuring program, of which half was due to prior restructurings of facilities and the other half due to severance costs. The company’s reduced trade book lines remain part of the “professional development” segment, where adjusted revenue 17 percent to $108.6 million, largely attributed to the recent acquisitions of CrossKnowledge (which contributed $16.2 million in revenue) and Profiles International […]