Having overseen McGraw-Hill Education during its spinoff from McGraw-Hill to its standalone status as a private company owned by Apollo Global Management, ceo Lloyd G. “Buzz” Waterhouse, 61, will retire by the end of the year. He’s been in the post only since June 2012. Spokesman Daniel Sieger told the WSJ Waterhouse is stepping down for “a combination of personal and professional reasons,” but will remain on the board. A search is underway for a replacement. On Monday Crown “inadvertently” fed out catalog data indicating a May 6, 2014 pub date for former Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner‘s memoir and a working title […]
Finance
BN’s Klipper Sells Shares
Barnes & Noble retail group ceo Mitchell Klipper sold about two-thirds of his personal shares in the retailer over the past week, taking in roughly $5.6 million for about 400,000 shares. According to the SEC filing, Klipper still controls about 200,000 shares, and has additional interests in the company through his 401(k). A BN spokesperson told the WSJ that a prohibition on stock sales for senior management was removed on August 20 after the company said it was no longer looking at “strategic alternatives” for rearranging their assets, including a possible split of Nook Media and the rest of the […]
Bowker Sells Research, Stats and eCommerce Lines to Nielsen
Bowker has reached an agreement to sell their business intelligence and commerce solutions product to Nielsen, with a closing expected in four to eight weeks. After the sale, Bowker will focus on their core identifier services and library services. Nielsen is acquiring the consumer research lines, which have operated in both the US and UK (comprising the former Book Marketing Limited, which Bowker acquired in 2012), the PubTrack Digital line, and the ecommerce tools. As Nielsen Books president Jonathan Nowell tells us, the companies have “always been two great complementary businesses” that are now coming together. “We’re looking forward to being able […]
Simon & Schuster, Barnes & Noble Resolve Terms Dispute
After more than eight months of contention, Barnes & Noble and Simon & Schuster have resolved their terms dispute, which agents, authors and some at the publisher itself say resulted in significantly reduced orders and display of S&S books in the bookseller’s stores since January. In a joint statement both Barnes & Noble and S&S said they “look forward to promoting great books by Simon & Schuster authors.” A letter to authors and agents from ceo Carolyn Reidy elaborated a little more on the resolution. Reidy thanked them for their support “during this most difficult period”, adding that she and […]
Briefs: More Funding for Open Road; Commonwealth Book Prize Discontinued; And More
Open Road Integrated Media announced it has received $11 million in Series C funding led by private equity group NewSpring Capital (whose technology fund NewSpring Growth Capital III supplied $8 million) with existing investors Kohlberg Ventures, Azure Capital, and Golden Seeds joining NewSpring in the financing, bringing the total amount Open Road has raised to $24 million. On Open Road’s blog ceo Jane Friedman said the new funding will be used for new technology, additional revenue streams, expand their International Publishing Partners Translation Program (which includes 8 partners to date) and further investment in “appropriate content and technology companies.” Andrea […]
Sale of IMG Begins In Earnest
The long-expected sale of IMG Worldwide is now underway, the WSJ reports, with Morgan Stanley and Evercore running the offer on behalf of Forstmann Little. CAA and its private-equity backer TPG is one potential bidder; William Morris (with capital from their backer Silver Lake) is considered a possible bidder as well. Not mentioned in the WSJ story is Lagardere. They are IMG’s major rival in sports marketing and representation, and the conglomerate has expressed interest in acquiring IMG in the past. (By the same token, a talent agency acquiring IMG would find themselves Lagardere’s rival in sports.)