As of August 31, Jana Partners no longer held any shares in Barnes & Noble, the company disclosed in an SEC filing on Tuesday. The investment firm, which owned 7 million shares of the bookseller when they first filed disclosure forms in April, still held a little over 4 million shares as of their most recent previous filing at the end of June. BN’s stock has been trading near a 52-week low over the past three weeks. At Bertelsmann‘s annual meeting gathering hundreds of executives companywide in Gutersloh, Germany, ceo Thomas Rabe said “the group does ‘not have all the […]
Finance
Company Source Says Idea of A Bertelsmann IPO Is Off Again; Flammarion Sells for Less; Tesco Buys Mobcast
Shortly after Bertelsmann changed its corporate structure to allow for a modest offering of shares to the public–albeit a small stake, with limited or no influence over how the company is run–a source inside the company tells Germany’s financial newspaper Handelsblatt “a flotation is off the table as the family doesn’t want an IPO.” New ceo Thomas Rabe is the one who told press in March that the organizational change “opens up the option of raising equity from third parties,” noting that “clearly if we are going to make more strategic and sizable investments, then more capital will be required.” But […]
As Expected, Amazon Acquires Bulk of Dorchester Backlist
On August 28 Amazon Publishing formally acquired the rights to more than 1000 titles published by Dorchester Publishing, ending the drawn-out saga of the mass market publisher’s longstanding financial troubles. Amazon had originally signaled its intentions to buy out contracts still under the banner of Dorchester Books (which owed nearly $3 million to owner John Backe) in a notice of disposition filed on June 27. There were no other bids. As part of the deal Dorchester authors were offered the opportunity to join Amazon Publishing and receive the full back royalties that Dorchester indicated were owed. Any authors who elected […]
Bertelsmann In Discussions to Buy Full Ownership of Gruner + Jahr
Following Bertelsmann’s corporate conversion last week to a new corporate structure that could allow the offering of stock to the public without divesting much control, Germany’s Manager Magazin ran a piece with a grab-bag of rumor and speculation. (Though partially owned by Bertelsmann’s Gruner + Jahr, the magazine has a spotty track-record in their reports on coming events at Bertelsmann.) One item that Bertelsmann has at least partially confirmed is a report that the company wants to acquire the Jahr family’s 25.1 percent stake in Gruner + Jahr, possibly by swapping them a smaller stake in Bertelsmann itself or one of […]
Corporate: Bertelsmann Finalizes Company Legal Changes; Book Comps Up at Hastings
Bertelsmann has finally made good on changing the company’s overall legal structure to SE & Co. KGaA, which is often used for businesses with a family-style ownership and structure, from AG (a privately-owned joint stock company.) In a brief announcement Bertelsmann stressed the change was an “identity-preserving change of legal form” which won’t change their ownership structure and corporate structure, or anything for the company’s employees. But it could make it possible for Bertelsmann to raise capital by issuing shares to the public, without giving those public shareholders any meaningful control in how the company is run. Back in March […]
Barnes & Noble Stock Falls To Lowest Level Since April
With Barnes & Noble set to report first quarter earnings before the market opens on Tuesday, analysts and short sellers are trotting out their seasonal pessimism about the company’s prospects. The consensus expectation is that BN will post a loss of 96 cents per share on revenue of $1.48 billion, and on Wednesday morning Stiefel Nicolaus downgraded its rating from “buy” to “hold,” causing the shares to decline almost 6 percent, closing at $12.56 per share, its lowest level since April. (Shares are down again slightly so far Thursday morning.) The downgrade is based on sentiment or a hunch rather than […]