Open Road Integrated Media announced it has received $11 million in Series C funding led by private equity group NewSpring Capital (whose technology fund NewSpring Growth Capital III supplied $8 million) with existing investors Kohlberg Ventures, Azure Capital, and Golden Seeds joining NewSpring in the financing, bringing the total amount Open Road has raised to $24 million. On Open Road’s blog ceo Jane Friedman said the new funding will be used for new technology, additional revenue streams, expand their International Publishing Partners Translation Program (which includes 8 partners to date) and further investment in “appropriate content and technology companies.” Andrea […]
Earnings Reports
Even with Big Hits, Mondadori Slides In First Half
Earlier in August, Italy’s Mondadori Group reported results for the first half of the year. “There was a slowdown in the trade books market” that pushed Mondadori’s total book sales down 7.3 percent to €134 million, with EBITDA of €10.3 million (down almost 20 percent). Among their publishing lines, however, sales rose 2.6 percent at Edizioni Mondadori (thanks to 700,000 copies in print of Dan Brown’s INFERNO), and 8.2 percent at Piemme (thanks to Khaled Hosseini’s AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED.) The company says it maintained its market share, still leading the trade with 26 percent of all trade revenues. (They […]
Sales and Profits Decline for Indigo As Fifty Shades & Hunger Games Effect Wanes
Earlier this week Canada’s dominant bookseller Indigo reported a 8.1 percent decrease in sales of C$171.5 million for the fiscal first quarter ending June 29, with a net loss of C$15 million (far greater than the $5.5 million loss for the same period a year ago.) Indigo attributed the revenue drop to “declining book and eReader sales,” as compared to the last year’s “strong sales of the Fifty Shades and Hunger Games trilogies.” They also closed 8 stores in the intervening year. Superstore sales comps were down 7.1 percent, small-format store comps fell 13.1 percent, and even online sales remained […]
People, Etc.
Amulet has revealed details on Jeff Kinney‘s forthcoming eighth Wimpy Kid book, HARD LUCK, sporting a lime green cover for its November 5 release. Kinney says, “As a writer, there’s something wickedly satisfying about putting Greg Heffley under duress, and in the eighth book, Greg suffers a multitude of indignities. But this time around he has a secret weapon against the slings and arrows of middle school.” Meryl Streep will narrate the audio version of Colm Toibin’s THE TESTAMENT OF MARY, for September release. Some day soon, now that HarperCollins comprises a more meaningful portion of the new foxless News Corp., […]
Quarto Nudges Forward
Quarto Group reported results for the first half of 2013, with sales down slightly to $72.2 million (declining $1 million) and operating profit up slightly at $4 million (rising $100,000). CEO Marcus Leaver said in the release, “These results are encouraging overall but much remains to do. They show a portfolio in transition; where we have taken action, the results have begun to show, and more action is to come. Importantly we are clearly bringing down our debt levels and shall continue to do so.” Sales at their US division Quayside led the group, rising almost $2 million at $29 million. […]
Houghton Files SEC Papers for $100 Million IPO
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt formally filed a preliminary prospectus with the SEC last Friday, preparing to offer shares to public worth up to $100 million. As reported earlier, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are the lead underwriters, joined by Citigroup, Credit Suisse and Wells Fargo. None of the proceeds will go to the company however; this offering is all returning some cash to HMH’s backers, and giving them a liquid public market to trade (and value) their shares. Houghton will not formally release second quarter 2013 results until later this month, on August 15 — though they essentially disclosed those results […]