As expected, Books-A-Million shareholders approved the Anderson family’s plan to take the company private in a deal worth $3.25 a share. The transaction is set to close on Thursday, December 10, and, according to BAMM’s announcement, the merger agreement was adopted by the stockholders representing approximately 88.3 percent of the aggregate voting power of outstanding common stock, as well as by 66.3 percent of shareholders not affiliated with the Anderson family, “thus satisfying the ‘majority of the minority’ stockholder approval condition in the merger agreement.” In their most recent quarterly filing, posted last month, Books-A-Million reported third quarter sales of […]
Finance
Barnes & Noble Finishes Down Close to 17 Percent
Barnes & Noble stock rebounded a little from its morning low on Friday to finish at just above $10 a share — still down $17 percent on the day (with Barnes & Noble Education falling over 7 percent as people sold anything either Barnes or Noble). In a down market overall, Barnes & Noble is declining again Monday morning, down over 7 percent so far. In the company’s quarterly SEC filing, they detailed the components of the recent period’s sales decline. The problematic relaunch of the BN.com website decreased online sales by $17.5 million — or 22 percent, which is significant […]
Robert Hale Ltd Closes After Nearly 80 Years
UK publisher Robert Hale Ltd will shut down after almost 80 years in business, the Bookseller reports, leading to the immediate loss of 10 jobs, with 4 more set for elimination next year. The company’s lists and imprints, including NAG Press, J A Allen and Buried River Press, have been bought by The Crowood Press. Chairman John Hale “intends to retire and realize the family’s assets next spring.” The publisher is no longer active as of December 1, but will continue some operations as it calculates remaining royalties and winds down. “It is a sad time, but we are delighted that our […]
Corporate: Big Quarto Investors Exit, NGS Closes Fox Deal
The Quarto Group disclosed that two significant shareholders — Harwood Capital and Wellcome Trust — have sold their holdings in the company. As a result, Harwood managing partner Christopher Mills will step down from his position as a non-executive director of the company when a replacement has been appointed. Mills notes in the announcement, “In the three years since Harwood took a hands-on approach to our investment in Quarto with the support of Wellcome and others, the share price has improved by close to 50 percent. The corporate governance of the company is now in accordance with best practice, the management team of Tim Chadwick, Chairman, and Marcus […]
Corporate: Expanded S&S Library Option, Expanding Orbit, and More
Simon & Schuster is testing an expansion of their business proposition for library ebook lending. Announced by Overdrive on their blog, the new pilot offers an expanded two-year lending term for a roster of about 550 titles, with the second year priced at 50 percent of the one-year lending sales price. The starting selection includes at least some bestsellers and frontlist releases. Hachette Book Group’s sci-fi/fantasy imprint Orbit will increase the number of titles it publishes by 50 percent starting with the fall 2016 season, growing to about 90 titles a year. The line says it will hire additional editorial, marketing, and design staff to […]
Bertelsmann Earnings Gain In Third Quarter
In a brief third quarter trading update (in the European tradition) Bertelsmann says they had “stronger growth in revenues and profits” over the past three months “than during the first half of the present fiscal year” — when sales had grown modestly, though due to currency exchange and acquisitions, sliding on an organic basis. Sales were up €141 million in the third quarter (or 3.5 percent), to €4.112 billion, as “operating EBITDA improved markedly.” For the first 9 months, Bertelsmann has earned €573 million in operating profit, a record for this point in the fiscal year and equal to what they earned […]