At a hearing on Monday afternoon, a Delaware Bankruptcy Court judge approved the stalking horse bid for the inventory of Hastings Entertainment from liquidators Gordon Brothers and Hilco that we reported on last Friday. Per that earlier report, the bid “provides for a guaranteed payment of 75 percent of the cost of the debtors’ inventory which is based on in excess of $110 million of inventory and should provide more than $82 million in proceeds.” The bidders were granted the bid protections that they sought from the court, including fees and expenses if their offer does not prevail, along with a requirement that any […]
Bookstores
Potential Stalking Horse Bid Has Hastings On Likely Path to Liquidation
With a potential auction — if there are any bidders — scheduled for July 20, a number of motions have been filed in which Hasting Entertainment is trying to secure a stalking horse bid. After filing for bankruptcy protection just over a month ago, the distressed entertainment retailer looks to be headed for liquidation rather than reorganization, however, since the prospective bid is from liquidators Hilco and Gordon Brothers. In its current form, that bid would just cover the secured lenders, and leave little or nothing for unsecured trade creditors, including many publishers. The proposed stalking horse bid “provides for […]
People, Etc.
At Ecco, Sara Wood has been promoted to associate art director. Andrea Cascardi will rejoin Transatlantic Agency as a literary agent based out of New York. Previously she was managing director of Egmont USA from 2013 to 2015, and before then spent ten years as an agent at TLA. Jennifer Metzger has joined Insight Editions as sales manager. Bookselling Anne Hollander answered the open call from Deep Vellum Publishing head Will Evans and will join him as co-founder of the Deep Vellum Books bookstore in Dallas. The store is expected to set an official grand opening shortly. Alliance Scholastic has a multi-year licensing […]
Bookselling: BN Fires “Under 50” IT People, Portland’s New Indie, and More
Even as Barnes & Noble continues to promise fixes to their botched website relaunch, the company is laying off what spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating called “less than 50 people” at their Westbury, Long Island IT office. Keating wrote to Newsday, “We have a very large IT department in Westbury that supports our stores and financial teams. We had some workforce reductions in specific areas of our IT Group in Westbury to streamline operations.” That facility apparently receives discounted electricity “under the state Power Authority’s ReCharge NY program, which is intended to retain jobs in the state.” Separately, Longtime booksellers Emily Russo and Josh Christie […]
People, Etc.
Deb Brody will join Houghton Mifflin Harcourt as editorial director for lifestyle & culinary on July 18. Previously she was executive editor at William Morrow. Michael Strother has joined Harlequin Teen as editor. Previously he was an editor at Simon Pulse. Jermey Matthews will join MIT Press as acquisitions editor, physical sciences, engineering and math. Previously he was books editor at Physics Today. Patricia Kelly has been appointed general manager of Lonely Planet’s Oakland, CA location, in addition to her current role as director of sales, Americas. Cliff Manko has joined Beacon Press as chief financial officer. He was svp finance […]
Bookselling: Amazon NYC and Amazon’s Reviewers
The New York Post cites at least two sources that tell the paper Amazon is set to lease space at Manhattan’s under-construction Hudson Yards for a bookstore. One source says that stores in development are expected to open in late 2018 or early 2019. A different anonymous source tells the paper, “I don’t know if the final lease was signed yet, but I know the deal is happening. There’s no way that deal is dying.” Later this year, the company will open the next two Amazon Books stores in La Jolla, CA and Portland, OR. Separately, the Seattle Times has a […]