The Anderson family announced on Tuesday evening that it “has withdrawn the previously announced non-binding proposal to acquire all of the outstanding publicly-held shares” of Books-a-Million. They say that “after discussing the proposal with the special committee of the company’s Board of Directors and its advisors, the Anderson family has decided not to pursue the proposed acquisition at this time.” Shortly after the $3.05-a-share offer was made in late April, a raft of investor lawsuits were filed challenging the offer. Investors believed the offer, which provided a 20 percent premium over the share price at the time it was made, […]
Finance
A Look at the SEC’s Correspondence with Barnes & Noble Over Agency and Sterling
Newly appearing in our RSS feed of SEC filings for Barnes & Noble is batch of correspondence from this spring that appears to have been previously confidential in which the government asked for a series of clarifications in BN’s public financial statements. (The most recent document is actually dates from mid-June.) One interesting area of discussion is the SEC’s desire for more specific information about BN’s agency ebook sales. They wrote: “We note your disclosure that certain digital content is distributed under an agency pricing model in which publishers set fixed prices for eBooks and that you receive a fixed […]
BBC Takes a Second Writedown (And A Reorganization Charge) on Lonely Planet
The BBC took a second writedown against the value of publishing unit Lonely Planet for the fiscal year ending as of the end of March, taking a £16.1 million “charge to the income statement.” It’s the second time the broadcaster has taken a charge because of the travel publisher–the previous writedown, of just under £34 million, was revealed this time a year ago (hence some headlines this week talking about a £50 million charge). Last year the impairment was blamed on both the rising Australian dollar and the bankruptcies of major booksellers; this year the BBC focuses again on the […]
Corporate: Quarto Shareholders Call For Orbach’s Removal; Apollo Floated as McGraw-Hill Education Buyer; And More
Two shareholders who together hold more than 19.2 percent of common shares in Quarto have written to the board of directors asking for a special meeting and the removal of Laurence Orbach – co-founder, ceo, chairman, and the company’s largest shareholder – as a director of the company. (Orbach is set to step down as ceo next year, with current coo Marcus Leaver to replace him.) They also ask that Tim Chadwick be named to the board, though no details were provided as to why this should be necessary. In a statement the Quarto Board said it “believes that it […]
McGraw-Hill Hires Bankers to Investigate Education Sale, Too
A day after McGraw-Hill filed SEC documents offering financial details about the planned spinoff MH Education company, the NY Post reports that the company has also hired Evercore Partners and Goldman Sachs to explore an outright sale of the unit. As usual private equity firms are tipped as the most likely bidders, though the paper notes in an understatement that private equity has “a mixed record in the education publishing and testing space.” The source or the paper–it’s hard to tell which–asserts that “the education unit is worth an estimated $3 billion, based on its $400 million in Ebitda, or earnings […]
Harper Closes Thomas Nelson Purchase
HarperCollins has finally closed their acquisition of Thomas Nelson, first announced at the end of October 2011, following a lengthy examination period by the Department of Justice. Harper says “Thomas Nelson will continue to operate as an independent company with its unique editorial focus on inspirational and Christian content. Details, such as how Thomas Nelson will benefit from HarperCollins global print and digital platform, will be forthcoming.”