The most important development you didn’t read about in anyone’s year-end or 2015 preview pieces is the precipitous fall in the value of the euro. Earlier on Monday the central European currency hit a 9-year low against the dollar. The decline, which started in the middle of 2014, has gained steam over the last two weeks and analysts are quickly revising their predictions for further drops during 2015. With a round of quantitative easing still expected from the European Central Bank and Greece once again considering the possibility of leaving the euro zone, Euro weakness is expected to continue. What […]
Finance
Briefs: Shandler to Run New Morrow Line, Zuckerberg’s Year In Books, and More
Former Little, Brown editorial director Geoff Shandler joins William Morrow tomorrow as vp, editorial director for the nonfiction portion of “a new line of eminent nonfiction and literary fiction” that the division is launching. Liate Stehlik says in a memo the new line “will seek to investigate, inform, entertain, and inspire conversation, highlighting both established bestselling authors as well as introducing talented new voices.” Facebook ceo Mark Zuckerberg made a very public resolution to read a new book every two weeks throughout 2015, “with an emphasis on learning about different cultures, beliefs, histories and technologies.” Under the banner of A Year […]
BN Buys Back Pearson Shares in Nook, Too
When Barnes & Noble bought back Microsoft’s 16.8 percent stake in Nook Media earlier this month for $125 million in cash and stock, they gave Pearson an option to sell back their Nook shares as well. In a filing with the SEC Tuesday morning, BN announced they purchased Pearson’s stake on December 22 for $13.75 million and 602,927 shares of its common stock. The buyback is at the same reduced valuation as the Microsoft repurchase, down from the $89.5 million Pearson paid in 2012 for their 5 percent stake in Nook Media. The deal is what ceo Michael Huseby earlier termed a “tag-along right” that […]
Osprey Is Sold to Bloomsbury
The unwinding of Osprey Publishing is complete with the announcement Monday that the company has been sold to Bloomsbury for £4.6 million in cash and stock. (Of that, £3.2 million is in cash, paid to private equity owners Alcuin Capital.) Bloomsbury says the business had sales of £7 million in 2013, over half of which comes from outside of the UK — mostly in the US — with almost no profit. Bloomsbury was considered a leading candidate to buy Osprey, mentioned along with Hachette UK in October. In June Osprey closed their Strange Chemistry Exhibit A imprints and the company was engaged […]
Moonves: Simon & Schuster Is “A Little Gem”
Right at the end of a 50-minute interview at the UBS investor conference earlier this week, CBS ceo Les Moonves spoke briefly about Simon & Schuster’s recent negotiations with Amazon. Asked, “what’s changing with the new deal?,” Moonves gave a thoroughly non-specific answer: “We’re not allowed to really talk about it; we’ve gotten in trouble with S&S before, but let’s put it this way: I think Carolyn Reidy and her team did a phenomenal job. There clearly was a logjam with Hachette and Amazon and I think we were able to get a place where it’s much more reasonable for […]
BN Pays Microsoft $62.5 Million In Nook Buyback
In a series of complex SEC documents, Barnes & Noble indicated that they have paid Microsoft $62.5 million to buyback their 16.8 percent share in Nook Media LLC, along with 2.74 million shares of BN stock (valued at $62.5 million, though that stock is worth less already). That implies a “fair market value” of about $700 million for Barnes & Noble College and Nook combined. Given that it cost Barnes & Noble $431 million to purchase College from the Riggio family (the last payment for which was just made in September), you can infer that puts a value on Nook […]