Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced that evp and chief learning officer Rosamund Else-Mitchell will leave effective June 28. She will receive a year’s salary, among other benefits. An agreement between the parties “also provides for a release of certain claims by Ms. Else-Mitchell against the company, mutual non-disparagement obligations, certain confidentiality requirements, and non-competition and non-solicitation…
Bookstores
Waiting for Readerlink, Investor Agitates and Barnes & Noble Shares Ebb
In the absence of real news about bidding for Barnes & Noble, agitator and modest BN investor Richard Schottenfeld filed paperwork with the SEC in which he asks for a better price than the $6.50 a share deal with Elliott Advisors. The stake controlled by Schottenfeld and related investors is down to under 2.5 million…
People, Etc.
At Simon & Schuster, Allison Stegeland has been promoted to the newly created position of international sales manager. Shannon Grant joins the independent sales team as field sales account manager for the Southern California and Arizona region as well as select educational jobbers. She was previously senior children’s book buyer at Books Inc. Gabrielle Greco…
Briefs
Boston Globe books editor Paul Makishima has left the newspaper. Barack Obama and Michelle Obama have another production deal; under this one, their production company Higher Ground will “develop and produce podcasts” exclusive to Spotify. The Obamas “are expected to participate in at least some of the podcasts, which “could potentially mean hosting, narrating or…
Now Official: Elliott Advisors to Buy Barnes & Noble, Daunt to Become CEO
Following quickly on a WSJ advance report Thursday that was slightly off, “funds advised by” Elliott Advisors in the UK have an agreement to buy Barnes & Noble for a modest $6.50 a share. That’s about $476 million to purchase the shares outstanding, plus the assumption of long-term debt makes the cash purchase “valued at”…
Booksellers Discuss Health Insurance, Wage Pressures, Direct Publishers Sales and More
The American Booksellers Association’s annual Town Hall meeting at Book Expo always provides an interesting window into the issues on booksellers’ minds, and this year’s version was focused squarely on practical matters. First and foremost, booksellers wanted to know what happened to two promised initiatives from the past: Affordable group health insurance for booksellers and…