As set in motion earlier this year, former ceo of Australian online bookseller Booktopia Tony Nash was re-elected to the company’s board — and at Nash’s instigation, directors Fiona Pak-Poy and Judy Slatyer resigned from the board. Director Su-Ming Wong resigned in September, and current non-executive chair of the board Chris Beare will step down once a new chair is appointed. The company is still looking for a new ceo as well. In his chairman’s address to the annual meeting, Beare indicated that, “Current year trading (fiscal year 2023) volumes and revenues are down around 20 percent from the same […]
People 11/23
Scholastic Buys Back Fewer Shares Than Allocated
Scholastic announced preliminary results of their “modified Dutch auction” launched in late October to boost the company’s stock price. Authorized to buy up to $75 million in stock, approximately 534,000 shares were tendered and will be purchased at $40 a share — costing the company about $21.35 million. As a result, the stock now trades just above $41 a share on the open market. Also in finance, following the termination of Penguin Random House’s deal to acquire Simon & Schuster, Bertelsmann is planning to float €750 million in senior unsecured notes, which will be used in part to buy back […]
Zombie eBook Class Action Suit Returns
The fanciful class action suit against Amazon and the five largest trade publishers, alleging that publishers were willing and direct participants in Amazon achieving monopoly-level control of the ebook market, is back in an amended version. At the end of September, US District Judge Gregory Woods had dismissed the case, but without prejudice, allowing the plaintiffs to refile, though it’s not clear why this new version should go any further than the previous suit. Federal Magistrate Judge Valerie Figueredo previously had concluded that the plaintiffs gave “no plausible explanation for why the publishers would have been motivated to participate in […]
Now Officially Not: Paramount Terminates Simon & Schuster Sale to Bertelsmann, Will Collect $200 (Million) and Pass Go to Other Suitors
On Monday afternoon after the close of the stock market in the US, Paramount Global confirmed in an SEC filing that they have terminated the agreement to sell Simon & Schuster to Bertelsmann, following the enjoining of the sale on antitrust grounds by Judge Florence Pan. The company says, “On November 21, 2022, Paramount terminated the Purchase Agreement in accordance with its terms. Penguin Random House is obligated to pay a $200 million termination fee to Paramount.” Regarding the status of Simon & Schuster within Paramount, as it heads to record results for the year, Paramount reiterates its previous position: […]
More Barnes & Noble Store Moves
Barnes & Noble will swap locations again, this time in Holmdel, NJ. The current location closes on November 29 after 21 years as the lease expires, and the smaller replacement store in the Commons at Holmdel Shopping Center opens on November 30. The new location is 18,000 square feet and is “across the parking lot.” Separately, the bookseller plans to open a large, 28,000-square-foot store at The Spectrum at Reston Town Center in Reston, VA next spring. The company closed a store in the same mall in 2013. CEO James Daunt hails it as “the largest new bookstore to be […]