In line with previous reports, the Bookseller reports — based on an ad submitted to the publication — that UK wholesaler Bertrams (and its subsidiaries Dawson Books and Education Umbrella) has been put up for sale. It’s being offered by Middleton Barton Valuation (MBV), a restructuring firm. Earlier in the month, the Sunday Times had reported that parent company Aurelius was preparing to appoint bankruptcy administrators for the wholesaler.
Bankruptcy
UK Wholesaler Bertram’s Said to be Preparing Bankruptcy Filing, After Selling Off Some Assets
The UK’s second-largest book wholesaler Bertram’s is reportedly about to appoint bankruptcy administrators, the Sunday Times reported. That puts in jeopardy about 400 jobs, and considerable sums owed to publishers — despite Bertram’s being owned by investment group Aurelius. The owners have already cashed in some of Bertram’s liquid assets, announcing the sale of online bookstore Wordery to Elliott Advisors on Friday. (Elliott says they will run the company separately from Waterstones and Barnes & Noble.) In early April, they sold two other subsidiaries: Dutch antiquarian bookseller Erasmus and academic book and journal supplier Houtschild International were sold to Casalini […]
eNews: Stats on Google, Kobo and James Patterson; Borders Transitions; Unbound’s Deal; and More
Making the rounds electronically now (we missed it when posted a week ago), Google eBooks said their apps for iOS, Android and Chrome “have exceeded 2.5 million” installs since December. In contrast, Kobo said in early May they were “close to 4 million users” with adoption accelerating. (They went from 2 million users to 3 million in somewhere between 60 and 90 days.) Google There are varying degrees of consternation online based on whether or not people were paying attention previously, but as announced, Borders is transitioning their branded ebook line–which was already powered by Kobo–over to the Kobo brand. […]