Further to recent reports that storytelling website Wattpad had put itself up for sale, on Tuesday publicly-held Korean internet conglomerate Naver said it would acquire Wattpad for cash and stock valuing the company at over $600 million. (The mix of cash versus stock is not being disclosed at this time.) Korea’s largest search engine, Naver’s properties also include digital comics publisher Webtoon — said to have 72 million monthly active users — which it sees as pairing well with Wattpad’s community. The deal is expected to close some time in the second quarter. Naver has a market cap of roughly […]
M&A
eBook Player Glose Is Acquired by Medium
In its ever-ambitious search for a business model and clear expression of why it exists at all, website Medium has acquired Paris-based Glose — an ebook platform and store, perhaps best known in the trade as the ebook vendor HarperCollins switched to for selling their ebooks directly to customers, after BookShout went of out of business. Glose and their roughly 20 employees will remain based in Paris, their ceo Nicolas Princen becoming vice president of books at Medium. Glose claims 1 million readers worldwide, and their separate Glose Education “serves as the ebook provider of choice for over a dozen […]
People, Etc.
Kate Dresser has joined Putnam as senior editor. She was previously at Gallery Books. At Holt, James Melia has been promoted to executive editor; Ruby Rose Lee is associate editor; Catryn Silbersack moves up to publicist; Sarah Fitts is associate publicist; and Nicolette Seeback is now associate art director. Riva Hocherman becomes associate publisher of Metropolitan Books. Ashley Lau has joined the marketing department as senior designer. At Celadon Books, Rachel Chou has been promoted to senior vice president, associate publisher, marketing and publicity; Christine Mykityshyn to senior publicity director; Anna Belle Hindenlang to senior publicist; Jaime Noven to senior marketing […]
Wattpad Said to be Looking for A Big Sale
After receiving unsolicited interest from a US internet company last fall, Wattpad is reported to have invited bids for the company. The company is “now in active talks with multiple interested parties and could sign a deal as early as this month,” the Globe and Mail reports. By their account they are “in talks with multiple parties to potentially sell the enterprise for upward of $500 million.” The company told the paper, “We don’t have any news to share.” While the platform has lots of users — 90 million a month — after more than 14 years it still does […]
Acquisitions: A Big Buy for Wiley, and More Titles for Chicago Review Press
Wiley announced the acquisition of open-access publisher Hindawi Limited, “one of the world’s fastest growing scientific research publishers,” for a total purchase price of $298 million. “The acquisition of Hindawi enables Wiley to move farther and faster toward our goal of meeting the world’s urgent and escalating need for new knowledge,” said Wiley ceo Brian Napack. London-based Hindawi expects to record $40 million in sales for 2020, with year over year growth of 50 percent. Chicago Review Press has acquired half of Fulcrum Publishing‘s list, comprising 126 new and backlist titles across graphic novel, gardening, natural history, and travel. The acquisition expands […]
2020: The Year in Mergers and Finance
Befitting the pandemic year, 2020 recorded only modest merger activity, as most potential buyers focused on preserving liquidity over acquisitions. In the end, the year was as notable for what didn’t happen as what did. Cengage and McGraw Hill called off what would have been the year’s biggest merger after running into resistance from the Department of Justice and other regulators. (Both are left with significant debt to pay down.) Barnes & Noble Education spent all year busily not getting acquired: They explored “strategic” options for months and concluded that the company was doing fine on its own — which […]