Penguin Random House has taken full control over South Africa-based Random House Struik, buying out the 50.1 majority ownership stake owned by Times Media Group’s New Holland Publishing. Random House Struik came about from a 2008 merger between Random House South Africa and Struik Publishers, and the entity will “now work in close cooperation” with Penguin South Africa “with a view to integrating the businesses within Penguin Random House in 2014.” The purchase is consistent with PRH’s buyout of Penguin India’s longtime partner Ananda Publishers in October, and Random House’s acquisition a year ago of the other half of what […]
Finance
Murray Says Extra Digital Margin Is Shared By Everyone
HarperCollins CEO Brian Murray was one of many executives presenting to UBS’s annual Global Media and Communications Conference on Wednesday. (You can listen to the full webcast and view the slides via this link on the News Corp. site. The royalty discussion starts about 19 minutes and 30 seconds in.) Consistent with an investor presentation earlier in the year as News Corp. was preparing the spinoff of the freestanding company that houses Harper, Murray told investors that “the opportunities before us have never been as positive as they are today.” Among the slides, this one shows the variations in ebook […]
Riggio Sold to Book Tax Loss
After markets reacted with concern Wednesday morning over Barnes & Noble chairman Len Riggio’s block sales of 2 million shares in the company, he explained to the WSJ that the “tax planning” indicated in his SEC filing really meant he wanted to book an easy paper loss. So Riggio didn’t really care what price the shares were sold for. Selling converted a paper loss of about $40 million into an actual tax writeoff worth real money. As far as the government is concerned, he was selling shares that he acquired at what a spokesperson said was an average price of […]
Riggio Sells Shares, and Barnes & Noble Stock Falls Further
BN chairman Len Riggio revealed in an SEC filing that he and his wife sold 2 million shares of Barnes & Noble stock on Tuesday. The sale was below market price, at $13.81 a share, “in a privately negotiated block trade.” As recently as last Thursday those share were worth over $5 million more — before the company disclosed two SEC investigations. Riggio also gave 160,000 shares to The Riggio Foundation, and the foundation itself “made a gift” of 80,000 shares. The filing says “the aforementioned transfers were made for tax planning purposes.” The Riggios still own or control roughly […]
People: Judith Regan Returns to Publishing, Backed By Phaidon
Judith Regan will return to book publishing as ceo of Regan Arts, proclaimed a “publishing imprint and multimedia venture” backed by Phaidon Global (owner of Phaidon Press). Regan said in the announcement: “I am thrilled to partner with Phaidon, one of the world’s finest publishers, and Leon and Debra Black and family who are all deeply committed to the power of creative expression and the future of the book. Their love of great artists, authors, stories and design is an inspiration to all. I am grateful to have the opportunity to work with such a gifted and dedicated team.” The […]
BN Faces Follow-On Investigations
After we called attention on Friday morning to Barnes & Noble’s disclosure of two SEC investigations, market reaction was swift (and by most standards excessive). The stock fell by approximately $2 a share on heavy volume of over 7 million shares, closing down about 12 percent for the day, at $14.43 a share. You could posit that investors are worried that the investigations might pose a distraction to management — but that’s where the beauty of a company that runs itself with no ceo to be distracted ought to help out. Almost as swift as the sell-off was a wave […]