• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Login
  • Register

Publishers Lunch

The Publishing Industry's Daily Essential Read

  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help

Barnes & Noble Education Buys Online Writing Business for $58.5 Million

August 7, 2017
By Michael Cader

Barnes & Noble Education acquired Student Brands on Friday for $58.5 million in cash. Student Brands is a subscription-based writing skills services business, with properties in the US, Brazil, France and Mexico.

BNED has been trying to buy its way to growth, so far without convincing investors. Earlier this year they paid the Riggios $174 million to buy MBS Textbook Exchange (and in 2016, their more modest acquisitions included LoudCloud, for $17.9 million, and Promoversity). Despite this year’s over $230 million in acquisitions, the company has a market cap of less than $340 million.
Release

In other acquisitions, Netflix made their first purchase — and they have bought a comic book publisher, Millarworld (“Kick-Ass,” “Kingsman” and “Old Man Logan”). Terms were not disclosed, but Netflix said in the announcement, “Mark has created a next-generation comics universe, full of indelible characters living in situations people around the world can identify easily with. We look forward to creating new Netflix Originals from several existing franchises as well as new super-hero, anti-hero, fantasy, sci-fi and horror stories Mark and his team will continue to create and publish.”

Meanwhile, Audible has paired with bestselling author Cesar Millan on Audible for Dogs, “an audio content destination designed to foster calm, relaxed behavior in dogs.” They say it was “inspired by a 2015 independent academic study showing that listening to audiobooks outperformed music in reducing stress in canines. 76% of dog owners who played audiobooks for their dogs reported an increase in calm, relaxed behavior in their pets over a four-week period. Dogs responded best to narrators of the same gender as their primary owner, played at average volume on an in-home listening device.”

People
Jack Rabinovitch, 87, founder of Canada’s Giller Prize, died on Sunday. Rabinovitch, who worked in commercial real estate, founded the prize in 1994 to honor his second wife, literary journalist Doris Giller. Brad Martin, president and ceo of Penguin Random House Canada says: “Jack has been a great friend to authors and to everyone in the book industry, and he will be greatly missed.”

Filed Under: Education, Finance, Free

sidebar

Primary Free Sidebar

Login


Forgot password
Quick Pass users click here to log in
Get Full Access
The publishing industry's essential daily read

Each Publishers Lunch Deluxe subscription includes full access to our searchable multi-year archive of industry news, a nightly email reporting 10 to 50 deal transactions, and our database of industry contacts, scripts, and posting privileges.

Learn More

RSS Automat

  • Rupert Murdoch to Retire from News Corp and Fox Boards September 21, 2023 NYT
  • OpenAI's New DALL-E3 Lets Artists Opt-Out of Future Training; Rejects Request to Mimic the Style of Living Artists September 20, 2023 TechCrunch
  • Another Response to AI-Generated Books: KDP Lowers Limit On Number of Titles You Can Create, "To Help Protect Against Abuse" September 18, 2023 KDP Forum
  • TikTok (and Instagram) Stars Sell Cookbooks September 18, 2023 NYT
  • Actor and UK Harry Potter Audiobook Narrator Stephen Fry Demonstrates How His Voice Was Copied By AI Without Permission September 18, 2023 Deadline
  • Neal Sofman, Legend of Bay Area Independent Booksellers, dies at 75 September 15, 2023 SF Chronicle
  • Major Textbook Publishers Trying Suing Shadow Library LibGen Again September 15, 2023 Torrent Freak
  • Deesha Philyaw Has Seven-Figure Deal with Mariner for "The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman" in 2025 and "Girl, Look" September 14, 2023 AP
  • Copyright Office Doubles Down on Declining to Register Award-Winning Midjourney-Created AI Art September 12, 2023 Copyright Review Board document
  • Sarah Weinman on How Richard Osman Found His Way to Mysteries and Success: "The simple answer is that they are really good" September 12, 2023 Esquire
© 2023 Publishers Lunch. All Rights Reserved.