At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, editorial director, lifestyle Deb Brody has been promoted to vp, editor-in-chief. (She joined the company a little under a year ago.) In her new role she “will expand her oversight and editorial work across the lifestyle and general interest teams,” adding oversight for Alex Littlefield and a to-be-hired senior editor. Publisher Bruce Nichols notes that the lifestyle group has broadened its program and “there has been increasing overlap with general interest nonfiction,” so “the two groups will work together more closely.” Helen Atsma remains in charge of the fiction program as editorial director, fiction, and senior team members Rick […]
Bookstores
Briefs: Bookselling and More
Bookselling A couple of weeks ago Book Expo announced a preliminary count of 7,425 attendees at the mots recent, saying the group was “comprised primarily of booksellers, librarians, retailers and media.” But a new infographic from the show provides a more precise count of 1,289 booksellers & retailers, and 1,597 librarians in attendance. We asked about the composition of the remaining 4,414 attendees tabulated, which included 860 press registrants, and who came from “various categories including Distributors, Educators, Film & TV Professionals, Licensing Professionals, Literary Agents and Wholesalers among others.” The show spokesperson says they will provide further details once the […]
Corporate: Baldini & Castoldi Sold, New Library Digital Content Apps, and More
In Italy, former head of Bompiani Elisabetta Sgarbi’s publishing company The Ship of Theseus, which launched in early 2016, has acquired the renewed version of Baldini & Castoldi. (They bought 95 percent; Filippo Vannuccini retains a 5 percent share.) The publisher says the purchase and recapitalization of Baldini & Castoldi was down “just with [its] own resources” and “without any bank loans.” The Ship of Theseus was started with what Sgarbi said was “five to six million” euros of investment, some of which came from authors, including the late Umberto Eco. Michele Dalai leaves Baldini & Castoldi following the sale. Sgarbi, who serves as president of Baldini […]
People, Etc.
Former publishing executive Dick McCullough, 67, died last week following a battle with brain tumors. Mike Shatzkin has posted a testimonial to “the best leader I ever met in the corporate world.” He notes: “Dick was not an unconventional person, but he loved eccentricity in other people. He wasn’t a brilliant thinker, but he gravitated to people who were. He learned from everybody. He respected everybody. He was relentlessly fair….He inspired us all to be better people. He inspired us all to have a generous spirit. He valued hard work, but he also valued a good time. I have never […]
Amazon to Acquire Whole Foods Market
Just a day after Bloomberg reported that Amazon had expressed interest in acquiring communication tool Slack at a valuation of $9 billion or more, the etailer itself has announced a larger and more profound actual acquisition: They are buying Whole Foods Market, for cash, in a transaction valued at approximately $13.7 billion agreement, paying $42 per share. The deal is expected to close in the second half of the year. (Amazon is reported have over $21.5 billion in cash on their balance sheet as of earlier this year. There were rumors last year that the etailer was looking at buying WFM.) […]
Bookselling: New Stores, Financial and Legal Updates
After closing last fall, Guide to Kulchur will reopen in Cleveland, OH this month as a bookstore with a “black box space” next door. Founder RA Washington told Cleveland Scene that, with the support of local foundation, he hopes to make the new enterprise a non-profit organization. In addition to bookselling, his goals for the non-profit include “providing books to prisoners; operating GTK Press, a small press for insurgent literature and marginalized voices; and curating speakers and performers in the black box space.” Neighborhood Reads is holding a grand opening in downtown Washington, MS today. And earlier this month, Brick & Mortar […]