In another of the annual filings for those owning more than 5 percent of public companies, Texas-based hedge fund Dimensional Fund Advisors (a huge quant fund that has over $260 billion in investments) disclosed that they increased their stake in Barnes & Noble during 2012. A year ago they reported having taken a 5.45 percent position of about 3.2 million shares by the end of 2011. The new filing indicates that their stake had grown to 7.28 percent of BN stock by the end of 2012, or roughly 4.3 million shares. Barnes & Noble’s stock has risen following the disclosure […]
Finance
Canada’s D&M Sold to Harbour Publishing Owners
Bankrupt Canadian publisher D&M has agreed to sell the assets of their flagship imprint, Douglas & McIntyre to Howard and Mary White, the owners of Harbour Publishing. The sale includes all books contracted or published under the Douglas & McIntyre imprint, with a list of approximately 500 titles. Howard White tells the National Post he believes “there is more life in this beast than people thought.” Scott McIntyre says in the announcement, “The successful conclusion of first the Greystone and now the Douglas & McIntyre asset sales confirms that the quality imprints of D&M are on a solid new path for the […]
Waterstones’ First Year Under New Management Shows Big Losses
Fretting about the state of Barnes & Noble’s bookstores is put into perspective by reports from the UK on the performance of Waterstone’s. A government corporate filing showed just how badly the chain had been suffering. It’s important to underscore that the results everyone is writing about are old–they cover the fiscal year ending almost a year ago, in April 2012. The bookseller had a £25.4 million operating loss, and a £37.3 million after-tax loss. Sales fell 14 percent, down to £410.4 million, and same-store sales dropped 11.1 percent. Managing director James Daunt blamed the result on “what I inherited…. […]
Najafi Companies Sells Off Direct Brands To Mysterious Holding Company
Just one week after a $200 million capital investment in former ICM chairman Jeff Berg’s new agency Resolution was disclosed publicly, Najafi Companies announced Tuesday afternoon that it sold its majority interest in Direct Brands to Pride Tree Holdings “during the last quarter of 2012.” Najafi originally bought Direct Brands, the parent company of Columbia House, Book-of-the-Month Club and other book clubs, from Bertelsmann in July 2008. Then Najafi subsequently purchased DirectGroup France, Belgium, Switzerland and Quebec from Bertelsmann in March 2011. The European entity was not announced as part of the sale to Pride Tree. Curiously, little information is […]
Corporate: Tisch Raised BN Stake to 8.1 Percent; Amazon to Mint Their Own Virtual Money
In an annual SEC filing Tuesday, investor Daniel Tisch disclosed that at some point last year he raised his stake in Barnes & Noble from 5.1 percent (originally disclosed in January 2012) to 8.1 percent, or nearly 4.9 million shares, the holdings he controlled as December 31. Two million shares are registered to Tisch’s personal investment company TowerView, while the rest of the stake is held by Four Partners, another investment company owned by all four Tisch brothers and run by Thomas Tisch, though Daniel Tisch has “sole voting power and sole investment power” over the entire BN holding. Separately, […]
Canada’s Greystone Books Bought of Bankruptcy By Heritage House; Templar Buys Piccadilly Publishing
Canada’s bankrupt D&M Publishers has sold the assets of the Greystone Books imprint, including all forthcoming books under contract, to Heritage House Publishing. The new owners are bringing back Greystone founder Rob Sanders to lead the imprint again, and Nancy Flight returns as associate publisher. Sanders will also be “a significant shareholder” in the new entity Greystone Books Ltd. Heritage House’s announcement says that their president Rodger Touchie “initiated” the purchase and was “assisted by longtime Greystone business partners, including the Perseus Books Group from New York.” PGW will continue to distribute Greystone in the US and will expand their […]