Webtoon Entertainment’s IPO priced at the top of its indicated range earlier this week, issuing 15 million shares at $21 a share, yielding gross proceeds of $315 million. The company receives another approximately $50 million from a private placement of additional shares to parent company Naver. In NASDAQ trading, the stock rose above the initial offering price, this morning priced at about $24 a share.
Former Scribd Co-Founder Launches AI Licensing Company for Books
Scribd co-founder and former ceo Trip Adler’s new start-up Created By Humans officially announced itself today, after the recent raising of a $5 million seed round led by David Sacks at Craft Ventures and Mike Maples, Jr. at Floodgate. (Other investors include Jason Calacanis at Launch Fund, Sam Lessin and Garry Tan at Slow Ventures, and author Walter Isaacson.) The intention is to create an AI rights licensing platform that “makes it simple for authors/publishers to license the AI Rights of their content to AI companies for use in training models and more” — even though the current status of […]
Here’s A First: Some Actual Amazon Book Sales Data
Business Insider obtained a rare document: A 25 page confidential report, “used for a weekly business review at Amazon,” that provides data about their book retailing business for the first 10 months of 2022. It’s not the complete data of our dreams, and the reporter has not posted the full document so there are many nuances and gray areas that still leave us with more questions than definitive conclusions. (Per their historical policy of not providing data like this on an official basis, the company declined to provide any clarity on the data, or validate the article in any way.) […]
Booktopia Suspends Trading of Its Shares
Struggling Australian online bookseller Booktopia looks to have reached a troubling new stage. Late last week they suspended trading of the company’s stock — which is worth only five cents a share — pending an announcement. But the follow-up announcement earlier this week simply said that trading in their shares would remain suspended, “pending the release of an announcement regarding further outcomes from the previously announced strategic review including its progress in seeking additional funding.” Co-founder, board member and once-again executive Tony Nash told The Guardian Australia, “We’re in motion at the moment, so [an announcement] will be probably more […]
Authors Equity Announces First 10 Titles, Starting In September
Authors Equity announced their first 10 planned titles, with the first due in September. The main commonality, as they write in the announcement, is “that these are all creators driven to try something new.” Among the first releases are books by entrepreneur and business/marketing guru Seth Godin, self-help author Rachel Hollis, and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman. Authors Equity will also publish the James Frey novel (Next to Heaven) that recently sold for TV rights next summer. Their other fiction offerings include a romance “every couple of months” from 831 Stories, starting Authors Equity off on September 10 with Big Fan […]
Nourry Announces New Publisher, Pairs with Simon & Schuster In First-Look Agreement
Following preliminary reports in April, former Hachette Livre CEO Arnaud Nourry officially announced his new publishing venture, Les Nouveaux Editeurs. The company says it has a broad partnership with Simon & Schuster that includes a “first-look agreement for future editorial acquisitions, joining forces in some auctions and bidding together for series, licenses and other multi-book acquisitions.” S&S explains in a separate announcement, “Under the agreement, which includes adult, childrens, and illustrated/graphic titles, each company will have the first opportunity to acquire projects for its market which satisfy certain parameters and for which the other company has acquired world rights. The […]