This will be the last daily newsletter this week. We will be back at least once next week, probably towards the end of the week, to stay on top of whatever develops. Deals newsletters will maintain their regular schedule through to Monday’s weekly round-up, and from there will also be more occasional — depending upon the flow of deal reports. As always, PublishersMarketplace.com works for you 24/7 no matter what, and we will be reporting and clipping news to the website, adding new deals as they flow in, posting job openings and more. We wish all of our readers happy, […]
Giving A Holiday Discount on PM
With the holidays upon us, we have one of those very occasional discount offers available. If someone in your life would like access to PublishersMarketplace.com, they can enjoy all that our site has to offer at 40 percent off the usual price for the first month! To qualify, enter this code — Happy23 — in the Promo Code: box that appears in the payment plan section of the Registration page. Feel free to share this offer with friends, and enjoy the holidays with some extra data. The code is valid for just a short time, through December 27.
The Year in Mergers
2023 was the year of “finally” in mergers and acquisitions, as two long-in-the-making deals involving some of the largest trade publishers finally closed. Simon & Schuster was sold to KKR three-and-a-half years after their parent company started the sale process. And Lagardere (parent of Hachette Book Group and the rest of Lagardere Publishing) is finally controlled by Vivendi, two years after the latter launched their tender offer to acquire Lagardere, and three-and-a-half years after first buying a stake in Lagardere. In order to take control of Lagardere, Vivendi finally had to divest of Editis — after trying other options — […]
Top Pearson Shareholder Wants Stock Relisted in US
Activist investor Cevian Capital, which owns more than 12 percent of Pearson’s shares, has a magical solution to increase the company’s stock: Move the listing from London to New York. Cevian managing partner Christer Gardell tells Bloomberg, “To change the listing is an easy and effortless way to increase the value of a company.” He reasons, “As most of the competition is based in the US, we see an upside to the share of 30-40 percents from a relisting.” Pearson does trade on the New York Stock Exchange through an American depositary receipt listing. A Pearson spokesperson said they are […]
Penguin Random House Acquires Hay House
Penguin Random House continues to expand, acquiring mind-body-spirit, self-help, health and wellness publisher Hay House, for undisclosed terms. Long self-distributed, Hay House moved their distribution to PRHPS in 2018. They have a backlist of over 1,500 titles. Hay House ceo Reid Tracy will continue to run the operation, and “no changes are planned for its Carlsbad, CA, New York, and London offices, or its management and employees.” The company was founded in 1984 by Louise Hay, author You Can Heal Your Life. Tracy says in the announcement, “I am excited to remain at the helm of Hay House in partnership […]
More of the Best of the Best Books of 2023
Right on schedule as usual, with many more listmakers weighing in, the favorites have separated into two pretty clear lists of top fiction and nonfiction. At the top of the lists, novels by James McBride and R.F. Kuang are vying for book of the year honors, with a number of other titles tightly packed and right behind them. In nonfiction the competition at the top is equally close between Safiya Sinclair’s memoir and David Grann’s latest. (Kuang’s Babel was tied for No. 9 on last year’s fiction list, while McBride’s Deacon King Kong was tied for No. 6 on the […]