Agree Realty, hit particularly hard by Borders’ bankruptcy as a result of owning 14 properties where the retailer held long-term listings, has slashed the asking price for the company’s Ann Arbor headquarters from $18.349 million to $10 million. Earlier this year Borders indicated it was seeking cheaper and smaller space in the suburban Detroit area, as the 330,000 square-foot headquarters used to house as many as 1800 employees, but that number is down to 500 or less. AnnArbor.com The Tolkien Estate settled its lawsuit against author Stephen Hilliard, whose novel Mirkwood features JRR Tolkien as a character. The estate argued […]
Sales Up For Simon & Schuster in First Quarter
Sales at Simon & Schuster rose 2 percent in their fiscal first quarter, up $3 million to $155 million. Adjusted OIBDA improved as well, more than doubling from $3 million last year to $7 million this time, and adjusted operating income rose similarly from $2 million to $5 million, helped by “lower shipping, production and returns costs from the significant increase in digital sales.” eBooks comprised 17 percent of revenues worldwide (and thus were likely a higher percentage for the US alone) or more than $26 million, up from 7 percent a year ago. While Hachette Book Group said in the […]
People, Etc.
At Random House, Jeff Weber has been promoted to director, online digital sales and Candace Chaplin moves up to VP and director of sales and marketing, nonfiction brands, a newly created position. Deb Shapiro has launched Deb Shapiro & Company, a PR/marketing company for authors and books. For the past seven years, she was director of publicity and online marketing at Bloomsbury Publishing. The late Kim Ricketts’ daughter Whitney confirms that Lara Hamilton will take over running Kim RIcketts Book Events, as the family remains “closely connected to the business.” “Lara shares my mom’s passion for good books, cooking, and […]
Publishers Line Up Instant eBooks on Bin Laden Death
President Obama’s announcement of Osama Bin Laden’s death Sunday was followed quickly by book publishers planning what they could issue digitally as quickly as possible. The WSJ reports that Random House executive editor Jon Meacham will oversee and write the introduction for “Beyond Bin Laden: America and the Future of Terror,” an essay collection featuring a half-dozen other contributors that the publisher hopes to release as an ebook next week. (One essay that seems certain to be included is Salman Rushdie’s op-ed published by The Daily Beast yesterday.) In addition, Free Press is “eager” for a digital book on the […]
People, Etc.
Lynn Smith will join Ruckus Mobile Media in the newly created position of director of business development, effective May 23. Previously she was director of licensed publishing at Scholastic. Jessica Sindler has been promoted to editor at Gotham, where she has worked since 2003. Allison McLean has been promoted to publicity director for Portfolio, Sentinel and Current. Brigantine Media will launch two new imprints, with Voyage devoted to Vermont fiction and Compass specializing in education books, beginning in Fall 2011. The Children’s Choice Book Awards honored Rick Riordan as author of the year and David Wiesner (Art and Max) as […]
Borders Tallies Their Record Losses, Before and After Bankruptcy
In two different statements filed with the SEC, Borders has further cataloged the many ways in which they excel at losing money. Let us count the ways: In the most recent operating month under bankruptcy, between February 27 and March 26, Borders preliminary calculation is that they lost $24.3 million on sales of $91.4 million and “other revenue” of $73.8 million. In the prior month, between January 30 — two weeks before filing for Chapter 11 — and February 26, the company lost $28.3 million, on sales of $127 million (and other revenue of $38.5 million). Yes, that’s a loss […]