As expected — albeit on a slow timetable — Italy’s Competition Authority announced last Thursday it has formally opened an investigation into the proposed purchase of RCS Media’s book publishing group by Mondadori. (After more than 7 months of negotiation and consideration, the 127.5 million euro sale was agreed to by the RCS board last October.) The combined companies are expected to control approximately 35 percent of the trade book market in Italy. The CA will aim to “determine whether the acquisition of RCS books by Mondadori will result in the creation or strengthening of a dominant position” in the trade publishing market. […]
Archives for January 2016
People, Etc.
At Crown, Julian Pavia has been promoted to executive editor. Porter Anderson is taking over as editor of Publishing Perspectives from Ed Nawotka, who has run the publication since it was founded in 2009. Anderson was associate editor at FutureBooks, where he is replaced by Molly Flatt. In Germany, Piper publisher Michael Hartges will leave his position at the end of the month after 7 years there, following a disagreement with management over editorial direction. At Winter Institute in Denver today, retiring Tattered Cover owner Joyce Meskis was honored with a proclamation from Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, who appeared before the booksellers […]
Supreme Court Will Consider Apple’s Appeal on February 19
When the Supreme Court next convenes for conference on February 19, one of the cases it will consider is Apple’s petition to have the high court hear its appeal of the guilty verdict in the ebook antitrust case. Apple had responded one more time, on January 15, to the Department of Justice’s end of year opposition to their appeal.
Buzz Books Spring/Summer Preview: Literary & Debut Fiction
Our second excerpt from Sarah Weinman’s extensive preview of forthcoming spring and summer titles focuses on literary and debut fiction. You can start reading many of the highlighted titles — noted with an asterisk — right now in Buzz Books 2016: Spring/Summer. (Collect the trade editions from NetGalley or Edelweiss, or get the consumer editions from your ebookstore of choice.) And please note: because we prepare this preview many months in advance, titles, content, and publication dates are all subject to change. No matter what the blizzard does to Winter Institute travel, it’s your best way to sample some of the […]
Coming Soon: Digital Book World Is Close
Winter Institute is the big industry event starting this weekend, but coming up soon on the calendar is our seventh annual Digital Book World, which moved to March 7 – 9, still in New York City. There is still some early pricing available now through early February, so it’s a good time to get serious about your plans (and please use the registration link for Publishers Lunch readers to save hundreds of dollars on the individual ticket prices). DBW has just released a great free white paper with over 10 essays and q&as from a number of the featured speakers that anyone […]
Scholastic Drops After Cancelled Buyback
On Thursday morning Scholastic cancelled their Dutch auction offer to buyback up to $200 million worth of their shares, citing the drop of more than 10 percent in key stock market indices since the offer began on December 28. As a result, their stock fell over 10 percent during the day, declining almost $4 a share to close at $33.64. It has rebounded a little bit Friday morning with the broader market rising. (At the reset prices, the company is better off deploying the same cash buying shares on the open market, or finding other uses for their cash.) Scholastic […]