Quarto has completed their acquisition of The Harvard Common Press, as of February 1, adding hundreds of titles to their backlist along with over 25,000 recipes. HCP will become an imprint of Quarto, with editorial and production run out of Quarto’s office in Beverly, MA and editorial director Dan Rosenberg keeping the same role. Harvard Common Press president and publisher Bruce Shaw and associate publisher Adam Salomone will no longer have daily operational positions, but will “remain in advisory roles with Quarto.” The two are partners at Salt Venture Partners, investing in food-related start-ups, and co-founders of The Food Loft. Shaw says in the announcement, “I’m pleased […]
Finance
People, Etc.
Chelsey Emmelhainz will join Skyhorse on February 8 as an editor acquiring for both the Skyhorse and Arcade imprints. Previously she was an associate editor at William Morrow. Cindy Ratzlaff has joined S&S imprint North Star Way as director of brand development, reporting to Michele Martin. Previously she was president and founder of Brand New Brand You, an author brand development agency, and earlier was vp, brand marketing at Rodale. Martin said in the announcement: “Cindy has a unique set of skills that are a perfect fit for the mission of North Star Way. She understands the shift in how […]
Scholastic Drops After Cancelled Buyback
On Thursday morning Scholastic cancelled their Dutch auction offer to buyback up to $200 million worth of their shares, citing the drop of more than 10 percent in key stock market indices since the offer began on December 28. As a result, their stock fell over 10 percent during the day, declining almost $4 a share to close at $33.64. It has rebounded a little bit Friday morning with the broader market rising. (At the reset prices, the company is better off deploying the same cash buying shares on the open market, or finding other uses for their cash.) Scholastic […]
Macmillan Learning Acquires Roberts & Company
The US-based educational publisher Macmillan Learning announced Monday it has acquired Roberts and Company, publisher of higher education textbooks, interactive media, and original monographs in biology, chemistry, engineering and related disciplines. Macmillan Learning ceo Ken Michaels says in the announcement, “This acquisition is core to our ability to provide educators and students robust content and cutting edge technology in scientific courses. We are thrilled to partner with their authors to increase our formidable reach. Their mission to change and improve learning strongly mirrors our own.” Co-founder and publisher Ben Roberts will become vp of Macmillan’s STEM team, reporting to managing director Susan Winslow, after the expected […]
Taking Stock of A Rough Year
People in book publishing are accustomed to trading a relatively flat market for a relatively stable financial environment, in good times and bad. But 2015 saw two dramatic financial changes that will clearly carry over into 2016. Everyone knows the price of oil fell substantially last year, but another timeless investment did even worse: the stock of Pearson, the international educational publishing giant (and still owner of 47 percent of Penguin Random House). Since announcing a small drop in sales and modestly reduced earnings expectations in October investors, have abandoned Pearson’s shares. Down 42 percent in 2015, the company shed $6.4 […]
Barnes & Noble “Pleased” with Flattish Holiday Sales
Barnes & Noble celebrated a happily mediocre holiday sales season, in a press release reporting on the nine weeks sales of through January 2. Total sales of $1.1 billion were slightly lower, down 0.8 percent, “due to lower online sales and store closures.” Same-store sales inched up, rising 0.6% over the holidays. Nook sales continue their fade, per the year’s pattern, down 25.8 percent to $41.2 million. Though the bungled summer relaunch of their web site clearly continued to cause problems, new ceo Ronald Boire says in the release, “We were also encouraged by the improved performance of BN.com during December, as the […]