OverDrive acquired Australian cloud-based ebook discovery site Booki.sh (not to be confused with still-to-launch US-based ebook discovery site Bookish) for an undisclosed sum. Booki.sh founders and principals Joseph Pearson, Virginia Murdoch and Peter Haasz will join OverDrive from their existing offices in Melbourne to expand the global distributor’s publishing, library and school initiatives. OverDrive in turn will expand the Booki.sh distribution and digital bookstore platforms as well as integrate Booki.sh HTML5 and EPUB reading technologies into OverDrive library and school services. “Joseph, Virginia and the Booki.sh team have created a fresh, direct and immersive reading experience that uniquely serves the […]
Finance
No Sterling Sale for Now
After a lengthy process of soliciting offers to purchase Sterling Publishing, run by investment bank Broadwater & Associates, the targeted completion date of February 29 has come and gone, apparently with no deal in place. People familiar with the bidding process indicate that although there was at least one interested publisher until recently, that company withdrew and there are currently no offers on the table. Sources familiar with the offering cited a number of factors as potential complications to a sale, including a decline in Sterling’s sales through parent company Barnes & Noble’s stores, the separate negotiation of Barnes & […]
Controlling Share In Agatha Christie Estate Sold to Acorn Media
As part of the unwinding of Britain’s Chorion, Washington, DC-based Acorn Media Group has purchased Chorion’s 64 percent interest in Agatha Christie Limited, calling it “the most important deal in the company’s history.” The Christie estate includes over 80 novels and stories, 19 plays, almost 40 TV movies, “and many more TV and feature films in development.” Acorn is “the leading distributor of British TV on home video in the US.” Chorion bought their rights to the Christie Estate in 1998 for 10 million pounds. The Christie family retains its 36 percent holding and Mathew Prichard, Agatha Christie’s grandson, remains […]
Like Others, Harlequin Sees Sales Soften and Margins Hold Up
Canada’s Torstar reported fourth-quarter and fiscal year results Wednesday, and the performance of Harlequin fits the general pattern of other publicly-reported trade publishers: sales were down a little, and operating earnings rose. This is what the digital transition looks like. For the full year, digital comprised 15.5 of revenues of $459 million CA (down 2 percent from $468 million the previous year). In the fourth quarter alone, digital accounted for 17.7 percent of worldwide sales of $118 million, down $2 million. Digital sales added $7 million in the fourth quarter compared to a year ago, while retail print sales declined […]
Bloomsbury Exits Germany, Selling Berlin Verlag to Bonnier
With no more JK Rowling books to issue in German, Bloomsbury is relinquishing their division in that country, announcing an agreement to sell Berlin Verlag to Bonnier’s German subsidiary, which owns Piper Verlag. In classic Bloomsbury fashion, the deal structure has multiple parts. Bloomsbury will receive a total of 4.4 million euros in cash–but only 2.6 million euros are for the purchase of Berlin Verlag. Piper will have a three-year license, renewable at Bloomsbury’s option, to publish the company’s trade books in Germany (worth 800,000 euros in the deal) and 1 million euros to use Bloomsbury Berlin and other related […]
Figment To Acquire Teen Writing Site Inkpop From HarperCollins; OverDrive Will Distribute Harry Potter eBooks to Schools and Libraries
HarperCollins is selling off teen writing website Inkpop, which it created in 2009, to Figment for an undisclosed sum. The move, the WSJ reports, reflects HarperCollins’ conclusion that “the benefits of marketing its titles to a significantly larger combined audience outweigh the advantages of controlling its own teen writing website.” In three years of operation Inkpop built up a base of approximately 95,000 users, while Figment has more than 115,000 teens using its site, with “non-existent overlap” between the two groups, according to Figment co-founder Jacob Lewis. Figment will assume control of inkpop’s operations, activity, and website as of March […]