The European Commission “opened an in-depth investigation” into the 2003 sweetheart tax deal between Luxembourg and Amazon. This is not the tax loophole that lets Amazon sell digital goods across Europe at Luxembourg’s low VAT rate, under the pretense that they are selling the items from that nation (and that loophole goes away in 2015 regardless). Rather, this is a deal that lets Amazon pay almost no corporate tax on their €13.6 billion in Euroeapn sales. In the current structure, the FT reports, Amazon’s Luxembourg operating unit showed minimal profit of €29 million on those sales, though it paid €2.1 […]
Finance
Corporate: Bertelsmann Buys Balance of Gruner + Jahr; Ingram Opens In California; and More
Bertelsmann will pay an undisclosed nine-figure sum to buy out the remaining 25.1 percent stake in magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr from Jahr Holding. The cash transaction is set to close November 1. Chief executive Thomas Rabe says, “We are following up [our] clear commitments to the television, book and music industries with another clear commitment to journalism.” G+J had sales of €2.1 billion in 2013, though sales were down almost €100 in the first half of 2014. Last Friday Ingram Content Group, opened a 50,000-square-foot print-on-demand printing and distribution operation in Fresno, CA. It’s their first facility in California. […]
Corporate: Faber Press, Harper Takes Control of Nelson Brasil, and More
In the UK, Henry Volans will lead a new Faber Press division as director. It comprises poetry, drama, film and classical music publishing in all formats, and incorporates Faber Fine Press, Faber Finds, and Faber Digital as well. CEO Stephen Page says: “Henry takes on a very wide brief with this role, looking at how we create value for our authors, and for our readers. With the materials at hand – the extraordinary backlist, the talented editors, there is a huge amount that can be done. Faber Social was our prototype for this without even knowing it, finding out what readers want and […]
People, Etc.
Amazon’s director of author and publisher relations Jon Fine “has decided to leave the company at the end of the year,” according to internal announcement cited by Porter Anderson. The note from Charles Kronbach says, “Over the last seven years, he has represented Amazon at hundreds of publishing and author events around the world, helping to raise awareness about the myriad opportunities Amazon offers to the storytelling community. More to come on transition as we move towards Jon’s departure at year’s end.” Fine first joined Amazon in 2006 as director of copyright and media law. At Viking Penguin, Melanie Tortoroli […]
Egmont USA Is Up for Sale
The Egmont Publishing group announced Thursday it has decided to sell their Egmont USA division “as part of an overall strategic focus on market leading positions.” The company was established in 2008 and started publishing in 2009. The $900 million publishing division has decided “to invest in books and magazine businesses where Egmont can hold a leading market position.” CEO of Egmont Publishing International Rob McMenemy said in the announcement, “Since 2009, and starting from scratch, Egmont USA has built a children’s fiction and young adult fiction list, and it has a strong plan for the future under the excellent leadership […]
Corporate: PRH Finalizes Objetiva Purchase; Amazon’s WriteOn Beta; Authors Guild Met with DOJ; Core Source Adds Print Metadata
On October 1, Penguin Random House completed their acquisition of Brazilian trade publisher Objetiva, the final piece in their acquisition of the Santillana trade publishing business (the rest of which closed on July 1). As previously announced, CEO of Companhia das Letras Luiz Schwarcz will also oversee Objetiva, and Roberto Feith continues as general director. Amazon’s coming “new reader-powered publishing program” that was reported on a little over a week ago is called WriteOn by Kindle, Laura Owen discovers. The tag line on the beta site is, “Making good stories great and great stories better.” Access for now is by invitation code. An email […]