Two companies in publishing and education announced incubator programs this week to help vet and mentor ed-tech startups. Pearson’s program is called Catalyst and is designed to “identify the most promising education startup companies that share Pearson’s commitment to improving people’s lives through learning, and help enable them to break through on a global scale.” The will “match startups with Pearson brands to deliver pilot programmes and offer access to Pearson resources and product experts, including the opportunity to work closely with a Pearson brand over the course of the program.” Pearson release Separately, Kaplan has announced a three-month incubation […]
Finance
Germany Investigates Working Conditions of Temporary Amazon Employees; UK’s Daunt Returns to Criticizing His eBook Partner As “Job Destroyer”
Working conditions at Amazon’s seven distribution facilities in Germany has been in the spotlight since a German TV documentary investigation aired last week. The show focused on the treatment of temporary holiday workers–who are citizens of other European countries–and cited harsh practices from black-uniformed guards employed by security sub-contractor Hensel European Security Services (hired on Amazon’s behalf by an employment agency, the BBC says). Germany’s Deutsche Welle explains, “Instead of being employed by Amazon, as initially promised, the workers are employed by a temp agency, which normally means lower wages. While working, the temp workers are subjected to strict observation […]
Google Said to Plan Retail Stores; Reader’s Digest Files Pre-Packaged Bankruptcy
9to5Google cites “an extremely reliable source” as confirming that Google “is in the process of building stand-alone retail stores in the U.S. and hopes to have the first flagship Google Stores open for the holidays in major metropolitan areas.” The stores would sell Google-branded electronics–tablest, netbooks and phones. But the WSJ adds, “it isn’t clear when or where any stores would open, and one of the people said the Internet giant might not move forward with the plan this year.” The company already operates smaller in-store boutiques under the Chrome brand in Best Buy in the US and PCworld/Dixon’s in […]
A Status Check on Penguin Random House Reviews Outside of the US
Following Thursday’s swifter-than-expected DOJ approval of the Penguin Random House merger, we thought it instructive to check in on regulatory reviews of the deal in other countries. As we pointed out in December, Penguin Random House would, if approved, operate as two distinct entities: a Delaware corporation “that will own Bertelsmann and Pearson’s consumer businesses that operate in the USA”; and a UK-incorporated Penguin Random House that will be responsible for the additional consumer publishing businesses that operate in the rest of the world. The proposed company split may explain why the DOJ could move at a hastier speed than […]
DOJ Approves Penguin Random House Merger
The US Department of Justice has provided an unexpected Valentine to Penguin and Random House: The department notified Bertelsmann and Pearson “that it has closed its investigation into the proposed merger of Penguin and Random House, without conditions,” according to a statement from Penguin. The swift approval is remarkable, particularly since the DOJ took roughly nine months to sign off on the much smaller acquisition of Thomas Nelson by HarperCollins. (The merger deal was announced in October 2012.) That also makes the US the first country to approve the proposed merger. Review is still underway in Canada, at the European […]
Corporate: DailyLit “Joins Forces” With Plympton: Rowman & Littlefield Reorganization
DailyLit, founded in 2006, is “joining forces” with Plympton, the original serial fiction start-up created by Jennifer 8. Lee and Yael Goldstein Love. Plympton is taking over DailyLit and aims to expand it and “bring the DailyLit experience up-to-date” for mobile devices and tablets. DailyLit founders Susan Danziger and her husband Albert Wenger (a partner at Union Square Ventures) are now investors and advisors to the combined company. DailyLit has digitally serialized almost 1,000 titles. Rowman & Littlefield reports that their book publishing sales for 2012 were $50 million, up 6 percent from 2011, while their distribution businesses NBN and […]