Hachette Livre announced that it has increased its stake in Russian publisher Azbooka-Atticus, growing their 25 percent interest to a 49 percent holding in the company.Azbooka-Atticus is Russia’s third largest publisher, publishing 2,000 titles a year, with Hachette reporting annual sales of over $50 million. The company says in the announcement, “The move reflects the successful cooperation between the two companies since Hachette Livre became a shareholder in March 2011, the vibrancy of the Russian book market, and the fine performance of Azbooka-Atticus under its new management.”
Finance
Amazon Acquires Audio Content Producer Rooftop Media for Audible
Amazon has acquired Rooftop Media, a ten-person company that records comedians in performance and licenses digital rights to thousands of hours of broadcast and recorded comedy, Reuters reports. (The acquisition was not announced by the company itself.) Rooftop will become part of Audible.com, which Rooftop ceo Will Rogers says “is obsessed with producing incredible programming.” Audible ceo Don Katz said in a statement, “Audible Studios has been conceiving and producing original content in mystery, science fiction and other genres for years…. With Rooftop’s rich comedic offerings and vast pool of comedy talent, we foresee an even more exciting selection of original spoken-word […]
Digital Startups Bought and/or Closed in 2014
With our story on the closing of Atavist Books, it’s helpful to examine the larger picture of the digital publishing start-up space. In response to a reader query, here is a look at 2014 activity, which breaks into two categories: Companies acquired and/or closed in distress or decline, and those acquired opportunistically, drawn from our comprehensive list of M&A activity throughout the year: Acquired and/or Closed In Distress in 2014 Atavist Books (closing) > IAC/Atavist Inc. Angry Robot > Etan Ilfeld Byliner.com > Vook Red Room (closed) > Wattpad Readmill (closed) > Dropbox Anobii > Mondadori Bilbary > liquidating CourseSmart > […]
Bertelsmann Makes Big Educational/Training Software Purchase
Bertelsmann has agreed to acquire North Carolina-based educational software firm Relias Learning, paying in the “mid-hundreds of millions” of dollars to buyout firm Vista Equity Partners. Two sources tell Reuters that translates into roughly $540 million. Relias produces employee training software that is used by over 4,000 organizations, primarily in health care and human services (but also including such sectors as law enforcement and correctional facilities). Bertelsmann ceo Thomas Rabe notes in a statement, “Relias is the leading e-learning provider in the healthcare and compliance sectors, and the company profits from the three global megatrends of education, health and digitization.” Reuters quotes Rabe […]
McSweeney’s Becomes a Nonprofit
San Francisco-based publisher McSweeney’s announced it will go forward as a nonprofit organization, with the intent of obtaining 501(c)3 status next year. For now McSweeney’s, founded in 1998, will run as a fiscally sponsored project of SOMArts, which runs the South of Market Cultural Center in San Francisco. In a telephone interview with the SF Chronicle founder Dave Eggers explained the move: “We’ve always been a hand-to-mouth operation, and every year it gets just a little harder to be an independent publisher. An independent literary title that might have sold 10,000 copies 10 years ago might sell 6,000 now, for example.” […]
TPG Plans Majority Stake In CAA
The NY Post reports that private equity firm TPG plans to increase their stake in CAA from a 35-percent share to a controlling 51-percent holding. That deal “could be announced within the week, one source familiar with the talks said.” The paper’s sources say the long-term objective of taking control is to put the agency on a path to an IPO. (In other words, TPG has to increase their investment first in order to build a pathway to an exit.) “There is no real easy exit as it stands,” one source says. “The thought is to buy it and build […]