As reported yesterday morning, Google eBooks rolled out in various forms during the day yesterday, including integration with participating partner stores from the American Booksellers Association’s ecommerce platform. The ABA posted a list of stores “that have opted-in to sell Google eBooks online”–but as of our check earlier this morning, only 61 of the listed store websites have integrated Google eBooks and let customers know that somewhere on their home page (while 62 store sites have yet to do so.) While there was celebration that at some indies went live in concert with Google–and WORD Books of Brooklyn, NY reported […]
Bookstores
Ackman Is Back, Still Trying to Put Together Borders and Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble stock has sunk so low again that investor Bill Ackman of Pershing Square–who lost a considerable sum on his company’s 37 percent stake in Borders–has returned to the scene with a provocative offer. Ackman still thinks there is financial reason to put the two big bookselling chains together, likely as a salvage route for Borders more than anything, and indicates he will finance a $16 a share takeover offer for the smaller, weaker Borders to buyout BN. The theoretical offer was declared in an SEC filing saying his companies “would be prepared to finance, on mutually acceptable […]
Bookselling: Northern Lights May Close, Palin Books Defaced
Duluth, MN store Northern Lights Books & Gifts has been on the market since August with no buyer yet. Owner Anita Zager tells the local paper she will close the store when her lease expires next February if a buyer does not emerge. Zager says she is exiting due to both family concerns and competition from e-books. “It’s kind of a Gutenberg moment,” she says. “If we had the ability to sell e-books to our customers, it would be different.”Duluth News Tribune At the Borders store at the Indianapolis airport, copies of books by both Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck […]
Updates of All Kinds
1. Despite the skepticism expressed yesterday by co-author of the self-published success THE INVESTMENT ANSWER Dan Goldie about “whether there could be advantages” to having an established publisher take over, people familiar with the negotiations tell us that agent Laurie Liss at Sterling Lord Literistic is well along the path towards a sale, reportedly with multiple seven-figure bids offered and a deal announcement expected shortly. 2. If you read at least some mild skepticism in Barnes & Noble‘s report yesterday on the status of their investigation of strategic options for the company, then you will find credence in this report […]
Bookselling: New Owners for Children’s Store; Preserving Stores North of Boston
Jill Stefanovich and Jenesse Evertson, both buyers at Narnia Children’s Books in Richmond, VA, bought the store this fall after a deal to sell the store to someone else fell through and it faced closure. They have renamed it BBGB, which is “purposefully cryptic,” though it officially stands for Bring Back Great Books.Richmond Times Dispatch Following the closure of Cornerstone Books in Salem, MA, the Boston Globe looks at efforts to survive and prosper among bookstores in the North Shore area, where “about 30 independent booksellers open their doors every day in communities north of Boston, including a few in […]
Barnes & Noble Bidding Update
Following ratification by shareholders of the bookseller’s poison pill plan, the WSJ updated the status of Barnes & Noble’s evaluation of potential bids. “About eight or ten” bidders, both private-equity firms and strategic acquirers, “remain interested” in an acquisition according to “people familiar with the matter.” That’s winnowed from approximately 20 bidders originally said to have been interested in reviewing the company’s financials. The second round of bids is said to be “due in a few weeks,” with no certainty on how many of those interested parties will present revised offers. Chairman Len Riggio said Wednesday he hopes they will […]