Shelf Awareness has quietly posted an online amendment to their Saturday dispatch titled “Amazon’s ‘Declaration of War.'” By later that morning, when the publication sent out a press release to the media, they had learned that Amazon’s price cuts were in response to Overstock.com’s Thursday press release promising to price books 10 percent lower than Amazon. The online story was revised to remove the inflammatory headline and the quote from which it was taken, but these changes were not flagged in that media alert. “In our eagerness to get out the updated version, we neglected to add a line that […]
Bookstores
Amazon Matches Overstock Discounts; Adds Thousands of Warehouse Jobs
Things are changing quickly this summer in once-staid book publishing. It was early this month that the NYT warned America that “as competition wanes, Amazon cuts back discounts” on books. Based on penetrating “anecdotal and fragmentary” evidence, the newspaper convinced average Americans that Amazon was cutting back on book discounts — particularly from smaller and academic publishers — daring to charge only a little less than list price, as part of their Plot to Destroy Publishing. Then last Thursday, Overstock.com put out a press release announcing “a limited time” promotion, promising “we’ve priced our books at least 10-percent below Amazon.com’s […]
Barnes & Noble Increases Historical Earnings, Pays Lynch Severance, and Postpones Nook International Rollout
Barnes & Noble filed restated historical financial statements with the SEC after concluding that they had “overstated certain accruals for the periods prior to April 27, 2013, as a result of inadequate controls over the accrual reconciliation process at its distribution centers.” The company made a few other historical restatements as well. The primary effect was to increase their reportable earnings from the past three years–so the 2012 net loss got $4 million smaller; the 2011 loss got $5 million smaller; and the 2010 earnings rose $6 million. With those corrections, the company also filed their delayed annual report with […]
New Owner for Quail Ridge Bookstore
Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh, North Carolina will be sold at the end of month, store founder Nancy Olson announced late last week. The new owner, according to the Raleigh News-Observer, is Lisa Robie Poole, married to Waste Industries CEO Lonnie C. “Ven” Poole III (who is also a benefactor of North Carolina State University). Olson, who decided to sell the bookstore last November, will stay on for three months as part of a transitional period, with the sale officially closing on July 31. Poole told a crowd of store customers Friday she has no plans to change […]
People, Etc.
Anthony Cheetham is stepping down as ceo of Head of Zeus in January 2014, though he will retain the role of chairman. Replacing him as ceo and publisher is Amanda Ridout, who will join the company on September 4. Ridout was most recently managing director of Phaidon Press, and before then managing director of HarperCollins UK. “I am delighted to join the team at such an exciting time in the company’s development,” Ridout said in a statement. “After just a year in existence they have already got a strong list of authors and I look forward to building on these […]
Lynch Resigns from Barnes & Noble; Is Replaced By No One In Particular
After presiding over losses of hundreds of millions of dollars with a device-focused strategy that ended in tatters the past holiday season, Barnes & Noble ceo William Lynch has resigned effective immediately. Announced after the close of market on Monday, the official remarks made it sound as if Lynch was asked to leave; he says “I appreciate the opportunity to serve as CEO of this terrific company over the last three years.” Just four months ago in early March the company had amended and extended Lynch’s employment agreement to award him a cash bonus of $1.8 million for the Microsoft and Pearson […]