Judge John G. Koeltl decided Monday on several matters concerning former Barnes & Noble ceo Demos Parneros’ lawsuit against the bookseller. First, Judge Koeltl denied Parneros’ motion to dismiss B&N’s second counterclaim, which alleges that Parneros acted as a faithless servant by “sabotaging” a potential sale and therefore is liable for compensation. Parneros had asked for Barnes & Noble to start paying fees used to defend himself against those counterclaims — and here the judge ruled in his favor, awarding him advancement of 50 percent of those fees so far. Koeltl said BN’s argument that the alleged sexual harassment and […]
Simon & Schuster Reports Sales and Profit Growth in Q1
CBS reported first quarter results on Thursday afternoon, with Simon & Schuster recording sales of $164 million, up $4 million from the prior year period, attributed to “higher print book sales.” Operating income continued the long-term trend of steady improvement, up $1 million to $17 million. This marks the company’s seventeenth consecutive quarter of growth in profits. Counted outside of operating income was a $5 million charge as part of a CBS-wide voluntary restructuring plan. Similar to Penguin Random House’s voluntary separation offer last year, the initiative was “a one-time offer” of a voluntary buyout “based on a formula having […]
AAP Voices Support for Copyright Small-Claims Alternatives
The Copyright Alternative in Small-Claims Enforcement Act was re-introduced in the House of Representatives on Wednesday by sponsor Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and a bipartisan group of representatives. “We hope that the House and Senate Judiciary Committees will swiftly take up this important legislation,” the Association of American Publishers said in a release expressing support. This represents a second chance in the new Congress for a bill that was first introduced in October 2017 and never made it out of the Judiciary committee after hearings last September. The bill aims to make it easier for independent creators to fight copyright infringement […]
McGraw-Hill Education and Cengage Plan to Merge
As the educational publishing market continues to contract, two of the biggest players — McGraw-Hill Education and Cengage Learning — announced plans today for an all-stock cashless merger that would create the second largest provider of textbooks and higher education learning materials in the United States. With the deal expected to close “by early 2020,” it would create a company with $3.16 billion in annual sales — and more than $4.5 billion in long-term debt. (The leader, a shrinking Pearson, had total sales of £4.13 billion in 2018, or about $5.5 billion. Their North American sales were £2.78 billion, or […]
Amazon Doubles Net Income, Moves Toward Free One-Day Shipping
Amazon announced Q1 earnings last night, reporting that net income had more than doubled, to $3.6 billion compared to $1.6 billion in the period a year earlier. But cfo Brian Olsavsky warned investors not to expect similar performance in Q2, as the company expects margin growth to decline when it spends around $800 million in the quarter to evolve toward one-day shipping for all Prime members, starting in North America and eventually globally. The stock was trading near flat Friday morning on the reduced profit guidance. While profit was up, sales growth continued to slow, in line with analysts’ expectations. […]
Winter Is Here: What the Writers Guild Fight Means for Authors and Agents
More than a week ago the Writers Guild of America (WGA) ordered its members to fire their agents, and there’s no end in sight to writers’ objections to film and TV packaging fees and big agencies’ production affiliates. On April 16, the WGA escalated the situation by filing a civil lawsuit against the Association of Talent Agents (ATA) in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging that packaging fees violate federal and state law with respect to agents’ fiduciary duties to writer clients. (Talent agencies, unlike talent management firms and literary agencies, are licensed and regulated by the state.) It’s a Hollywood […]