Most of ViacomCBS executive Alex Berkett’s testimony on Monday morning was in closed session. But he confirmed for the record that the final three bidders for Simon & Schuster were PRH, Vivendi and HarperCollins. The other invited bidders in the first round were “another strategic buyer” (e.g. a company in publishing), and a financial buyer, identified as based on “relationships that we had with certain human beings at one of the private equity firms and their background in the publishing business.” (This means, presumably, Richard Sarnoff at KKR). And “there was a very small strategic buyer that had a financial […]
McIntosh Speaks Broadly About Publishing; Approves About 200 Seven-Figure Deals A Year
PRH US ceo Madeline McIntosh testified for a good portion of Monday in the DOJ antitrust trial, spending much of her time on a level-headed explanation of many of the financial, strategic and procedural nuts and bolts of publishing. There were a lot of numbers, but one number stood as representing just how big PRH already is as a company. McIntosh approves all advances at the company of $1 million or more, and annually, “on average, I directly approve about 200” such deals. So of the approximately $1 billion market the government says ATSB represent — and the roughly $370 […]
Pearson Sells the Last Part of their K-12 Education Business In South Africa
Pearson has finished the long-running sale of most of their K-12 education businesses around the world, with a deal to sell the South African units to Novus Holding. The total price is £53 million, and Pearson has a 75 percent share of the company. Pearson decided to retain their K-12 education businesses in Australia and English-speaking Canada. The businesses sold since 2021 had provided revenue of £252m, and £22m in adjusted operating profit. Pearson says they “achieved a blended multiple of 14.1x EV/EBITDA 2021” across the various international units sold. That’s much better than they did while unloading the big […]
A3 Thursday: Charles Duhigg’s Atypical Testimony, and More
Author of The Power of Habit Charles Duhigg served as a curious and somewhat baffling witness for the defense on Thursday. The upshot is, he is a very happy Random House author, and he has made so much money he really doesn’t care about his advances. Also, despite having an MBA and having written about economics, he does not appear to understand the nuts and bolts of business very well. Duhigg has had a rewarding and valued partnership with his editor, Andy Ward. On the process of writing The Power of Habit, Duhigg said, “It would not be unfair to […]
People 8/10
Jamison Stoltz has been promoted to editorial director of both Abrams Press and The Overlook Press.
AAP Decides Not to Pursue Legal Fees from Maryland — This Time
The AAP notified Judge Deborah L. Boardman that it “does not wish to burden the Court with a request for costs and fees” from the State of Maryland after their thorough drubbing in court. But in a warning to other states still contemplating similarly unconstitutional efforts to encroach on the Copyright Act with respect to terms for ebooks sold or licensed to libraries, the AAP makes clear that its “decision is limited to this case, which involved the first bill of its type passed by a state legislature. AAP expressly reserves all rights, claims, and remedies that may be applicable […]