A research paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research prepared by three professors at Ohio State’s Fisher College of Business documents the finding that when states adopt sales on online purchase, “households reduce Amazon exenditures by 9.5 percent.” At least their direct Amazon purchases — since at the same time, purchases from other online sellers, go up 20 percent. Overall physical retailers picked up 2 percent in sales as a result of level playing field on sales tax. As you would also expect, the team found “the effect to be more pronounced for large purchases.” Consumers “decrease their spending […]
Bookstores
Barnes & Noble Stock Falls 12 Percent; Riggio Reflects
Barnes & Noble stock fell almost 12 percent on Thursday following the disclosure of chairman Len Riggio’s big sale of 3.7 million shares, reducing his stake to roughly 20 percent (down from 30 percent at the beginning of December). Trading finished at $16.37 a share on heavy volume of 9.4 million shares, but now investors have a long weekend to cool off. While the recent sales by Riggio and Lberty Media have weighed on the company’s stock price, it had been usually high up until those sales — which made it easier for these big investors to sell. “Several weeks […]
Indies Choice Winners: Atkinson, Marra, Rowell and More
The Indies Choice Award winners (and related ABA-selected E.B. White Read-Aloud Award winners) were named, for formal presentation at BEA. Additionally, indie bookstore benefactor James Patterson will be honored with the Indie Champion Award. The winning books and authors are: Adult Fiction Life After Life, by Kate Atkinson (Reagan Arthur Books) Adult Debut A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, by Anthony Marra (Hogarth) Adult Nonfiction The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, by Daniel James Brown (Viking) Young Adult Eleanor & Park, by Rainbow Rowell (Griffin) Middle Reader Flora and […]
Google Play Continues Growth
Google reported first quarter earnings Wednesday afternoon that were somewhat short of analysts’ expectations on both sales and earnings. Our narrow interest in their earnings reports remains the hints regarding their expanding Play store. The category that includes Play results — “other revenues” — was up 48 percent compared to a year ago, at $1.554 billion. The same revenue line comprised $1.65 for the previous holiday quarter, and just under $5 billion for all of 2013. As we noted earlier, this business category includes the Google Play store; their hardware line (Nexus devices and Chromecasts, but not Chromebooks); and their […]
Riggio Sells Another Big Piece of Barnes & Noble, Sending Shares Down
Any lingering expectation that Barnes & Noble chairman Len Riggio might still take the company’s bookstores private was further dampened Thursday morning by the disclosure that Riggio sold 3.7 million shares of the company’s stock. The SEC filing indicates he received the below-market price of $17.30 per share “in a privately negotiated block trade” yesterday. That reduces his holdings in the company to roughly 20 percent, or approximately 12 million shares. Riggio says in the announcement, “After this sale I remain the company’s largest shareholder, a position I feel very good about. I love this company and I believe in its […]
Corporate: A Wiley Acquisition; and Job Cuts At RH Children’s UK and Weltbild
Wiley announced another sizable acquisition, agreeing to pay $175 million in cash to purchase French-based learning solutions provider CrossKnowledge, which focuses on leadership and managerial skills development. The deal is expected to close on May 1. Wiley has been investing heavily in their professional development division, and acquired a related firm, Profiles International, less than two weeks ago. CEO Steve Smith says the two purchases, along with Inscape (which they bought in 2012 for $85 million), “positions us as a leader in the rapidly-growing area of enterprise talent management. In today’s knowledge-based economy, organizations of all different shapes and sizes […]