Parent company Dufry AG formally filed a registration statement with the SEC related to a proposed IPO of Class A shares in their travel retail subsidiary Hudson Ltd. They expect the offering to occur some time in 2018, with Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and UBS Investment Bank jointly running the offer. Hudson’s units include Hudson Booksellers and Hudson News among their portfolio of 971 stores across 87 “transportation terminals and destinations.” In the preliminary prospectus, the company discloses that sales of “literature and publications” (e.g. books, newspapers and periodicals) were $192.5 million in 2016 ($187.2 million in 2015, and $182.1 million […]
Archives for November 2017
Washington Post’s Books of the Year
The Washington Post named their 10 best books of the year: Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst, by Robert M. Sapolsky The Future Is History, by Masha Gessen I Can’t Breathe, by Matt Taibbi I Was Told to Come Alone, by Souad Mekhennet Less, by Andrew Sean Greer Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders The Power, by Naomi Alderman Rising Star: The Making of Barack Obama, by David Garrow Saints for All Occasions, by J. Courtney Sullivan Sing, Unburied, Sing, by Jesmyn Ward
Marking the Day
With celebration in the air ahead of tonight’s National Book Awards ceremony and the first quiet[er] news day in a while, we’re able to take a beat and mark the occasion: This month is the 16th anniversary of PublishersMarketplace.com. (As usual, that means Publishers Lunch on its own is close to 18 years old, though we didn’t know we were “starting something” when it began, so there’s no official birthdate.) We were amused by a recent WSJ article on the hot trend in which “Niche Online Publishers Bank on Subscriptions Over Advertising.” Their contention is that selling subscriptions and memberships […]
People, Etc.
Maris Kreizman will leave her position as editorial director of Book of the Month club on November 30 after a little over a year with the company, to give her “full attention back to my own writing.” At William Morrow, Heidi Richter has been promoted to senior publicity director, while Anwesha Basu moves up to publicity director. In the UK, Charlie Brotherstone has opened his own literary agency, Brotherstone Creative Management. Brotherstone was at Ed Victor Ltd., representing his own clients and running the film/TV, serial and speakers departments, and a number of years at A.M. Heath. Brotherstone Creative Management will sell rights […]
Briefs: Amazon Books, Books for Amazon Studios, and More
Bookselling Amazon Books is planning a new location on Bethesda Row in Bethesda, Maryland. The retailer filed a building permit on November 8 to renovate the 6,000-square-foot space at 7117 Arlington Road, currently occupied by a home furnishing store. Barnes & Noble will close their big, nearby 37,500-square-foot store at Bethesda Row at the end of the year when their lease expires, after 20 years in the location. In Washington, DC proper, online bookseller Mahogany Books will open a physical store at the Anacostia Arts Center on November 24. Harassment DC Comics has reportedly fired group editor Eddie Berganza, following an extensive report in BuzzFeed recounting […]
People, Etc.
Simon & Schuster executive vice president of sales and marketing Michael Selleck will retire at the end of the year. He has been with the company since 1984. CEO Carolyn Reidy said in a statement, “Simply put, there are very few people within Simon & Schuster who possess Michael’s institutional memory and intimate working knowledge of our publishing history, our systems, operational infrastructure, and business practices and put them to such good use on a daily basis. And there are likewise few with his charisma, good sense and infectious enthusiasm…. Michael has, over the years, helped build the Simon & Schuster […]