The sale of French publisher Flammarion by RCS appears to be down to a single contender, Les Echos reported, after bidding partners Albin Michel and Chequers Capital dropped out when they refused to increase their offer. The lone publishing house still in contention to buy Flammarion is Gallimard, which reportedly is working to raise their original offer of approximately 200 million euros. The RCS board of directors, which waffled its way into the sale offer in the first place, has indicated it might cancel the sale if the offer is not improved sufficiently–which is about the only tool available to them […]
Sales Up, Losses Slimmer in Books-A-Million’s First Quarter
Books-A-Million reported first quarter earnings for the period ended April 28, and sales rose–up 10.5 percent (or $10.7 million)–to $113.1 million compared to a year ago, due to the expanded store base that now comprises 255 outlets. (Sales rose by about the same amount in the previous quarter as well.) It was also an easy comparison to what was a terrible first quarter a year ago, when sales had dropped from $117 million in early 2010. The company recorded a net loss of $1.9 million for the quarter, an improvement from the $3.4 million in losses a year ago (but […]
People, Etc.
At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Angela Zurlo has been promoted to production manager for the Books for Young Readers and Paul Wiseman imprints, effective June 1. Navah Wolfe and Julia Maguire have been promoted to associate editor, BFYR. In addition, Richard Ackoon moves up to executive coordinator, Laura Roode has been promoted to associate art director, and Krista Olsen moves up to design associate. Knopf announced that in six weeks, they have sold over 10 million units (in all editions) of EL James’s three FIFTY SHADES books. They have printed 9.5 million books so far, available in 15,000 physical retail […]
Digital Continues to Rise At Bloomsbury, Now 9 Percent of Overall Sales
Bloomsbury reported results for the fiscal year ending February 29, with total sales up 11.5 percent (£10.7 million) to £103.2 million and pre-tax profit up 53 percent to £12.1 million, as compared to £7.9 million a year ago. That number drops to £4.8 million when accounting for the sale of Bloomsbury’s German unit (which they now admit was a money-loser) and the acquisition of Continuum, as well as relocation and restructuring costs. (The company’s reporting returns to a normal 12-month fiscal year, after using a 14-month fiscal year for 2011 to account for various adjustments, which makes some of the […]
People
Jessica Zimmerman has joined S&S’s adult trade imprint as senior publicist. She was most recently a publicist at Center Street. Danny Yanez has joined Franklin & Siegal Associates as literary scout. He was previously at Vintage/Anchor. Jimmy Fallon has been added to the lineup for the BEA Author Breakfast on Thursday morning (June 7), making a “special ‘guest appearance,'” to promote his THANK YOU NOTES 2, which publishes today. Canongate rights director Polly Collingridge will leave to the company to relocate to San Francisco (as her husband Peter Collingridge joins Safari Books Online). She has been with Canongate for 11 years. […]
As Expected, HMH Files For Pre-Packaged Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York’s Southern District Court Monday morning, listing debt of more than $1 billion each in the initial court filing. As previously reported, HMH is going through a pre-packaged bankruptcy to eliminate more than $3 billion in debt left over from the initial $7 billion accrued when Riverdeep merged Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt together several years ago, and hopes to complete its financial restructuring by the end of June. Court documents filed by HMH’s counsel Paul, Weiss, Rifkind and Garrison lists assets of “between $10 million and $50 million,” as well […]