Wasserstein & Co. has sold Recorded Books — which incorporates their earlier purchases of HighBridge Audio and Tantor Media — to LA-based private equity firm Shamrock Capital Advisors. Shamrock’s investment portfolio includes Isolation Network, the parent company of INScribe Digital. Terms were not disclosed, though Wasserstein was thought to have paid approximately $25 million for Tantor Media at the beginning of this year. Dow Jones says that Shamrock typically invests anywhere from $15 million up to $100 million. The price was not released when Wasserstein first bought Recorded Books from Haights Cross in 2014, either. In the last reported data, […]
Archives for August 2015
Barnes & Noble Officially Splits
Barnes & Noble split itself into two separately, publicly-owned companies on Monday. Shares in the retail bookseller began trading at about 65 percent of the value of the previously combined operations, with a market cap of about $1.3 billion, while shares at Barnes & Noble Education dropped below their “when issued” trading level from last week, priced at around $12.65 a share in early morning trading. (With fewer shares outstanding than BKS, BNED is pointing to a market cap of a little over $600 million.)
International: PRH Australia Sells Bookworld to Booktopia; Harper Brasil, With Ediouro; Harlequin UK Layoffs From Harper Consolidation
Penguin Random House Australia has sold Bookworld, the online bookseller that operates two sites based on the former Borders Australia and Angus & Robertson assets, to their larger rival Booktopia. The sale is expected to increase Booktopia’s sales from $54 million (AU) in 2014 to an estimated $90 million by the end of 2015. Amazon is thought to sell $250 million to $300 million of books to Australia annually. Terms were not disclosed but PRH Australia had “paid less than $5 million for the assets of Borders and A&R after the collapse of their parent, REDgroup Retail,” rebranding as Bookworld the following year. […]
August Amazon and iBooks Picks
There are many more lists to share: At Publishers Marketplace we’re already listing our extensive view of notable releases due out in October, joining our titles to watch for September and August. Separately, Time magazine listed their top 10 books so far for 2015. On Amazon‘s best books of August, Infinite Home by Karen Alcott is their spotlight pick, and Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal is their featured debut. The rest of their August picks are: Days of Awe, Lauren Fox Rising Strong, Brené Brown Barefoot to Avalon, David Payne Last Bus to Wisdom, Ivan Doig Street Poison: The Biography of […]
People, Etc.
Obituaries Longtime Knopf editor, translator, and director of foreign rights Carol Brown Janeway, 71, died early Monday morning at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital, two weeks after being diagnosed with late-stage cancer. Janeway joined Knopf in March 1970 and over 45 years at the publishing house she was, as Sonny Mehta noted in the announcement, “an esteemed figure here and abroad, and central to our publication of great international works of literature Authors loved her. Agents respected her. And foreign publishers trusted her. I hasten to add — she was also a formidable dealmaker. She leaves behind an enduring legacy as an editor […]