Penguin Random House US will open a new distribution center in the UK to supply export sales to continental Europe, which ceo Nihar Malaviya says they “currently expect to be operational next year, likely summer 2025.” Those sales have been serviced from the company’s US warehouse. The company will also develop local UK-based printing of at least some of those US titles. The new facility is actually a current PRH UK distribution center — in Grantham, England, where the UK division is exiting their third-party distribution business Grantham Book Services and was due to close down the plant and lay […]
Balzer & Bray Moving to Macmillan from Harper
Alessandra Balzer and Donna Bray will move to Macmillan Children’s as of April 15. They will set up a new incarnation of their Balzer + Bray imprint there, with both having the title of SVP and co-publisher. Balzer + Bray was launched in 2008 at Harper Children’s. Existing B+B titles, as well as titles already under contract, will remain at HarperCollins, a spokesperson told us. Beginning in fall 2024, Harper’s B+B books will be published under the imprint of the editorial team to which they have been reassigned. MCPG president and publisher Jen Besser says in the announcement, “The only word […]
KKR’s “Base Case” Is to Own Simon & Schuster for Five to Seven Years
Bloomberg Television interviewed KKR co-head of global private equity Pete Stavros and Simon & Schuster ceo Jonathan Karp recently. Asked how long KKR plans to own S&S before exiting, Stavros noted, “We’ve owned business for 20 years before. It takes as long as it takes….” Primarily, however, “Our base case would be this is five, six, seven years. We’ve got a bunch of things we want to accomplish. Maybe it becomes a great public company some day; we’ll see. We’re not in a hurry.” Stavros suggested a leaner supply chain is part of their strategy: “Foreacasting demand for a new […]
Sally Kim to Lead Little, Brown
Sally Kim will join Little, Brown as president and publisher on March 4, leaving her current role as svp publisher at Putnam. Current Little, Brown publisher Bruce Nichols will leave his position on March 1. Hachette Book Group’s new ceo David Shelley says of Kim in the announcement, “She is a brilliant editor as well as a publisher – in common with many of her predecessors at Little, Brown – and I love her editorial taste in fiction and nonfiction, as well as her publishing flair. I believe that Sally will be a visionary leader for Little, Brown and will […]
Profits Fell at Waterstones
Waterstones’ primary holding company recently reported full fiscal year results through the end of April 2023, showing increased sales but much lower profits, following the acquisition of Blackwell’s. Sales reached £452.5 million, up from £400 million in the previous fiscal year — but operating profit fell sharply to £13.9 million, down from £57.6 million the prior year. The lower earnings included 15.4 million in “exceptional items.” The company says they absorbed a £7 million impairment charge on Blackwell’s carrying value after acquiring it in August 2022. The report says that, “disruptions to the distribution centre, caused by the implementation of […]
PRH’s Malaviya: “I like to learn. And you only learn by listening.”
The NYT follows the WSJ’s little-noticed weekend piece on PRH’s decision to join PEN America’s Florida book-banning lawsuit (“Can we get in?”) with their profile of PRH ceo Nihar Malaviya. On meeting a reporter who wanted to write about him, Malaviya “seemed perplexed. I’m not interesting, he said.” He speaks to his managerial frame of reference: “Coming to the country at a young age basically meant I had to completely change my worldview. I went from somewhere where this was very important to somewhere where this completely different set of things was very important. That created in me a respect […]