Once Hurricane Sandy stops being the foremost story no doubt trade publishing will return to speculation about the pending deal to create Penguin Random House. With government approval required in multiple territories (and particularly complex negotiations in places where Penguin faces litigation or investigation related to the adoption of the agency model), we thought it might be instructive to revisit the last major trade publishing merger. It was March 1998 when Bertelsmann announced their $1.4 billion deal to acquire Random House and merge it with their trade division, Bantam Doubleday Dell. News of that deal also came as a surprise […]
Finance
Financial: D&M Owes More than $6 Million; Quarto Counts Votes In Opposition to Dissidents; and More
The Vancouver Sun obtained bankruptcy documents for publisher D&M, showing the company owes 143 creditors more than $6 million. The largest amount, $3.8 million, is owed to a bank and a printer. Holtzbrinck Publishing Services is owed $354,000, and a number of authors are also among the company’s listed creditors. Quarto has sent out proxy documents to shareholders in advance of the November 7 meeting and vote called by dissident shareholders managed by Harwood Capital. The company’s board says that shares controlled by directors as well as two shareholders (including retired board member and co-founder Robert Morley) provide 31.1 percent […]
Further Sizing Up of Penguin Random House
From comments to the Guardian by Penguin ceo John Makinson and other reading between the lines, it’s clear that the Penguin Random House deal began on the Pearson side of the fence. Makinson made clear to the paper, “It has been a very thorough process. The board of Pearson examined [every option] exhaustively. There was a great deal of analysis of all options available to Penguin. We looked at selling, merging, buying, running it differently within Pearson. We concluded this was the best option for Pearson’s shareholders and the publishing industry.” (That may also be why the reaction to News […]
Briefs: Two Bidders Remain For McGraw-Hill Education; Nook Opens in the UK As Promised, Pairs with Asda
Citing “people familiar with the situation,” the WSJ reported late last week that Apax Partners (which owns a majority stake in Cengage) and Apollo Global Management are “leading contenders” to buy McGraw-Hill Education, both having done “serious due diligence” on the division. Bids on the ongoing auction were due last Thursday though “after McGraw-Hill decides on a preferred bidder, the two sides will have to reach agreement.” That’s all a polite way of confirming that there are only two bidders still interested in the unit, and the offering prices are likely still below what McGraw-Hill said they were looking for. The […]
Random House and Penguin Make Merger Plan Official
After last week’s official confirmation of talks and a newsmaking weekend overture from News Corp., Bertelsmann and Pearson made their intended partnership official in an early Monday morning announcement that they have agreed to combine their trade book businesses into a single entity known as Penguin Random House. Under the deal, which is “expected to complete in the second half of 2013” but could take some time while awaiting regulatory clearances in multiple territories, Bertelsmann will hold 53 percent of the new company and Pearson will take a 47 percent stake, agreeing to hold those stakes for a minimum of […]
News Corp. Said to Ready “Substantial Cash Offer” to Buy Penguin Outright
On Sunday, two different News Corp. newspapers both come up with unidentified sources for the same story. First the Sunday Times of London wrote that “News Corp. has joined the race for Penguin with a last-minute overture to the directors of Pearson, the media conglomerate that owns the book publisher. Glen Moreno, Pearson’s chairman, will put the approach to directors in the next few days. Rupert Murdoch…is understood to have indicated he will make a substantial cash offer — thought to be about £1 billion [or about 1 times annual sales] — for Penguin, subject to due diligence.” (Actually they […]