Scholastic reported lower sales in their fiscal first quarter, ending August 31, a period that usually shows a loss because schools are not in session. Revenues of $228.5 million were down $34.4 million (or 13 percent) from a year ago. Earnings suffered more, with an operating loss of $(99) million, $41 million higher than $(58) million a year ago. That included $6.3 million in one-time severance charges for restructuring and cost savings initiatives. Trade sales of $72.9 million were down 19 percent, compared to $90.1 million a year ago, with “lower backlist sales, reflective of the overall retail bookselling market, […]
Still Another Lawsuit: Authors Guild Sues OpenAI In New York
Following three similar suits filed in San Francisco (and thus in California’s sometimes unpredictable Ninth Circuit), on Tuesday the Authors Guild and a roster of well-known authors filed suit in New York’s Southern District against OpenAI for the “flagrant and harmful infringements of plaintiffs’ registered copyrights in written works of fiction” in training their large language models. The Guild and named plaintiffs David Baldacci, Mary Bly, Michael Connelly, Sylvia Day, Jonathan Franzen, John Grisham, Elin Hilderbrand, Christina Baker Kline, Maya Shanbhag Lang, Victor Lavalle, George R.R. Martin, Jodi Picoult, Douglas Preston, Roxana Robinson, George Saunders, Scott Turow and Rachel Vail […]
KKR’s Purchase of S&S “Doesn’t Have to be a Blowout Deal”; Attracting Talent and Having Employees Act As Owners Can Drive Success
Journalist Megan Greenwell — who is writing a book on private equity for Dey Street Books titled VAMPIRE COUNTRY — interviews KKR’s co-head of global private equity Pete Stavros on the firm’s pending acquisition of Simon & Schuster. In contrast to facile clickbait like the Atlantic’s recent piece, Greenwell gets details from Stavros about KKR’s expectations, and the workings of their employee ownership plan. Broadly, Stavros says, “We would not invest in a company where the strategy is to get profit dollars up by firing people. We just wouldn’t do that…. we’re not buying into an investment thesis where we’re […]
Retired Founder Reisman Returns As Indigo CEO
Following the abrupt resignation of CEO Peter Ruis in early September, accompanied by the departure of company veteran and president Andrea Limbardi for another job, Indigo Books & Music’s recently-retired founder Heather Reisman has returned to the company as CEO. She has also rejoined the board, which she previously chaired. Reisman stepped down as CEO a year ago, and retired from the board in late August. CFO Craig Loudon, who has been overseeing day-to-day operations along with general counsel Damien Liddle, has been named chief operating officer, in addition to his finance duties. Reisman says in the announcement: “There is […]
Favorite Finger?
When compiling the most recent bestseller lists last week, we noticed two different versions of Fran Littlewood’s AMAZING GRACE ADAMS charting (under two different ISBNs). There is the “original recipe” jacket, displaying a full middle finger — as well as a more TV- and retailer-friendly version, with a quote burst that covers the finger. Holt executive director of publicity Caitlin Mulrooney-Lyski writes in answer to our query, “The full finger was the primary edition, but we created the burst cover for any accounts that preferred it as well as the Today Show for the Jenna pick,” which is apparently a […]
Francisco Partners Joins HIG Capital In RBmedia Purchase
The planned sale of RBmedia by KKR to H.I.G. Capital closed last week. In the announcement, it was disclosed that another tech-focused private equity firm, Francisco Partners, had “partnered” with H.I.G. Capital in the purchase. Francisco Partners executives Matt Spetzler and Jason Brein said in the release: “We are excited to partner with H.I.G. to help usher in RBmedia’s next phase of growth as the audiobook industry continues to expand. Francisco Partners has extensive experience in audio and content publishing, technology and media and we believe audiobooks are at a positive inflection point. Working together, our capital and operating insights […]