The McEvoy Group has acquired Minneapolis–based personalized gifts and books publisher I See Me! from founders Maia and Allan Haag for an undisclosed sum. Owner of properties including Chronicle Books, McEvoy plans to use the acquisition to build upon Chronicle’s personalized books and gift line. “We’re excited to welcome I See Me! to our family of companies,” said The McEvoy Group founder and ceo Nion McEvoy in the announcement. “We believe that together with Chronicle Books’ growing personalized publishing program, MyChronicleBooks, we will provide the best and most innovative personalized publishing and gifts in the market.” The 14-year-old company will remain headquartered […]
Finance
People, Etc.
Tisse Takagi has teamed up with The Science Factory as an agent, based in New York, focusing on non-fiction in the areas of biography, food, and music as well as science. She was an editor at Basic Books. It’s the first appointment since Peter Tallack, who runs the agency from Hamburg, Germany, founded the company six years ago. He describes the collaboration as an exciting step in extending the company’s international reach and intellectual breadth and depth. Co-ceo of The Carlyle Group David Rubenstein will take over in October as chairman of the James Madison Council, an advisory and fundraising […]
Inkling Closes Consumer Business to Focus on Enterprise Side; Lays Off 25 Percent of Staff
Inkling is officially closing its consumer retail business and has laid off something close to 25 percent of staff as a result. (CEO Matt MacInnis confirmed the layoffs to TechCrunch, indicating that 25 percent “was a little high.”) The company will focus on the enterprise/platform side, licensing their technology to publishers and large companies creating content for in-house use. MacInnis indicates that part of the business is performing well “and will continue hiring, he said.” MacInnis already discussed the company’s shift in a Fast Company article in March, “What Happened When A Digital Textbook Company Was Forced to Redefine Its […]
More Acquisitions: Recorded Books Buys Highbridge Audio, Harper Christian Buys Olive Tree
We already have to expand our recap of mergers and acquisitions for 2014: Workman Publishing announced the sale of its audiobook imprint HighBridge to Recorded Books as of May 1. (As noted in our list of 2014, Recorded Books itself was bought by new investors earlier this year.) Workman will continue to distribute HighBridge, and Workman imprint Algonquin will continue to license audio rights of select titles to HighBridge. The deal is notable since historically Workman has always been a buyer, not a seller, of assets. They acquired HighBridge in 2006 from Target. Carol Workman says in the announcement: “Our affiliation with HighBridge has […]
Publishing M&A 2014
News Corp.’s agreement to acquire Harlequin and F+W’s acquisition by Tinicum are among the biggest deals in what has already been a busy year for mergers and acquisitions among book publishing related companies — along with the failed deal to sell Perseus to Hachette Book Group and Ingram. (This was originally posted in early May, and then updated multiple times thereafter.) Among the announced deals (some of which have not closed yet) since January 1, 2014 are: Hachette Book Group > Black Dog & Leventhal Start Publishing > Cleis Press Bonnier Publishing > Igloo Books AGI > Vigliano Associates Apa Publishing […]
New Investors Take Control of F+W
F+W has sold a majority stake in the company — which just rebranded itself as “a digital-first content and service provider for devoted enthusiasts” — to New York-based private investment firm Tinicum and affiliated funds. F+W ceo David Nussbaum says in the announcement, “This investment will enable us to continue to rapidly grow our ecommerce revenues by building on our platforms and creating best-in-class content and ecommerce solutions. Our singular focus on our communities and creating an unrivaled experience for our consumers will not change.” Nussbaum told employees in a written message that “having the backing of one of the top private equity […]