Rather than exit the Penguin Random House joint venture entirely, Pearson agreed to sell a 22 percent stake to majority owner Bertelsmann in a deal yielding $1.034 billion, as part of a recapitalization of the trade publisher, while retaining a 25 percent holding going forward. The deal gives PRH an enterprise value of $3.55 billion, at 1.05 times annual sales of $3.387 billion (or 6.7x EBITDA). Pearson will receive $968 million “from the sale and associated dividend payments” (the sale itself yields $781 million at the enterprise value), plus another dividend of $66 million in April 2018. The original deal […]
Archives for July 2017
The PM News App
We are delighted to launch the PM News App, a new way for members to check the latest from Publishers Marketplace on your mobile devices. The PM News App provides easy access to all of our most frequently updated items — starting with Publishers Lunch news posts and Automat links, along with domestic Deals, Job listings, and Rights Board posts. Everything can be read “in app” without having to link back to the site. And while the focus is on the most recent posts, by clicking “load more” in any section you can page your way back in time as […]
People, Etc.
Barnes & Noble has added a new executive, hiring Carl Hauch as vp, stores, “responsible for the entire retail store organization and profitable growth of the business, driving sales, training, developing talent and recruitment.” Hauch reports directly to ceo Demos Parneros. He has been chief operating officer at urgent care provider CityMD, and previously was an executive at Starbucks, serving as ceo of Starbucks Switzerland and Austria. Separately, Len Riggio has been named Grand Marshal of this year’s Columbus Day Parade in New York City. His theme will be A Celebration of Italian-American Authors, and he is “inviting Italian-American authors from across the […]
Milo Does File Suit Against Simon & Schuster for Breach of Contract
As promised and boasted, Milo Yiannopoulos filed suit against Simon & Schuster in New York Supreme Court on Friday, alleging “willful and opportunistic breach of its contract.” He says in the filing that the publisher “wrongfully, and in bad faith, terminated the contract with Yiannopoulos in violation of its terms and cancelled Dangerous under pressure from authors, bookselling accounts, business and special-interest groups, celebrities, and various other self-appointed censors who disagreed with views expressed by Yiannopoulos.” The suit seeks minimum damages of $10 million. He claims in the suit that the cancellation of his book contract “caused irreparable harm to […]
People, Etc.
Canongate publisher Jenny Todd is leaving, after 12 years at the company. Jamie Byng says, “We couldn’t have taken the company as far as we have without Jenny’s considerable talent and unstinting commitment to growing Canongate and enabling our diverse list of writers to flourish. We all wish her well in her future endeavours and know that she will bring the same flair and creative energy wherever she goes next.” At DK North America, Mary Marotta joined as vice president of sales, marketing and publicity. Most recently, she was deputy publisher for Simon & Schuster Children’s. Brandi Larsen joined as vice president […]
The August Buzz Books Monthly
With big downloads for our two Buzz Books 2017 Fall/Winter collections, we continue our monthly sampler program with the release of August Buzz Books Monthly, available now on Amazon, iBooks, and NetGalley. Our monthly collections offer just the right amount of excerpts for consumers, and include a comprehensive preview that highlights hundreds of notable forthcoming titles for the month (listed by subject category and then again week by week). The August edition is all about fiction, starting with New People by Danzy Senna. The other five adult titles are debuts, including: Stay With Me, by Ayobami Adebayo The Half-Drowned King, by Linnea Hartsuyker See What I […]