Outerbridge Capital Management, with a 13.5 percent stake in Barnes & Noble Education that’s deeply underwater, said in an SEC filing it would nominate four alternate directors to the board of the company “to unlock its immense potential.” Outerbridge paid approximately $22.2 million to acquire their shares, now worth less than half that. They say their nominees “have deep operational, financial, and strategic experience within the education, technology and investment industries” and also “possess experience steering companies through periods of rapid growth, reinvention, and times of crisis.” But the filing may really be designed to advertise their belief in the […]
Agent and A Publisher Part Ways with Author Myke Cole
Author Myke Cole’s literary agent Joshua Bilmes at Jabberwocky and one of his publishers, Angry Robot, parted ways with the author after new allegations of abuse were made against him. Cole apologized for his behavior, and reiterated an apology from 2018 — and then said he was “exiting…the public square…for the foreseeable future.” Bilmes posted: “I and Myke Cole have parted ways. I founded JABberwocky with the goal of doing right by the clients — all of the agency’s clients — and of doing right by the staff that have come to be part of the JABberwocky team. No one […]
Indigo Had Fourth Quarter Sales Drop and Big Writedowns, Before the Major COVID Impact
Canadian bookseller Indigo reported results for the fourth quarter ending March 28, with a poor finish to what had already been a transitional year for the company. Fourth quarter sales of $178 million (CA) were down 10.6 percent compared a year ago, falling $21 million. Stores were closed for the last two weeks of the quarter because of the pandemic, and the company said those March school break weeks “historically drove meaningful sales.” They showed a big net loss for the quarter almost equal to sales, of $171.3 million. That loss included non-cash impairment of $56.6 million — of which […]
Another Trumpsuit, Looking to Block Mary Trump’s Forthcoming Book
Donald Trump’s younger brother Robert Trump is said by a person familiar with the matter to have filed asking the Queens County Surrogate’s Court for a temporary restraining order blocking publication of Mary Trump’s forthcoming book TOO MUCH AND NEVER ENOUGH: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. The suit is being filed there because it charges that her publication would violate a nondisclosure agreement related to the settlement of the estate of Fred Trump Sr., the president’s father. The book is scheduled for July 28 publication. Once again, the Trumps are using attorney Charles Harder, who failed […]
Most of the International Thriller Writers Board Resigned, So A New Board Can be Elected
Following a significant protest from its membership over their handling of a complaint about a member’s behavior at an industry event, 8 of 11 members of the board of International Thriller Writers (ITW) resigned. Before doing so, “to ensure continuity of operations until a new Board is selected by the membership,” the board accepted the resignation of executive director Elizabeth Berry effective July 10, and appointed Kimberley Howe to serve as interim executive director. The ITW did not indicate who remained on the board, but the AP reported that co-presidents Heather Graham and John Lescroart are the ones still serving. […]
Bookselling: Indigo’s Reisman Warns More Government Support Is Needed, As Indie Booksellers Explain Out-of-Stock to New Supporters
Canada’s dominant bookselling chain Indigo has closed 20 of their smaller-format Coles stores “which were either not profitable or very, very marginal,” ceo Heather Reisman told BNN Bloomberg. “That was a tough decision because in those communities, we were the only bookstore, and I suspect the only store willing to operate at a loss to serve the community,” she said. Indigo is due to report fourth quarter results later this week, but as of the third quarter, they had 111 small format stores under the Coles, Indigospirit and The Book Company brands. Indigo has reopened 60 to 70 percent of […]