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 […]
Finance
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 […]
Shipley to Sell That Bookstore in Blytheville
Owner of Arkansas’s That Bookstore In Blytheville and former ABA board member Mary Gay Shipley, 67, said in an e-mail that she is ready to sell the store after 36 years. “It is now time for change…. It is my sincere hope that someone or some group will come forward and continue TBIB in some fashion. I am not going anywhere and would be happy to help a new owner transform TBIB into their own vision.” Shipley adds, “I believe the next few years will be exciting for independent booksellers who embrace the multiple reading formats and who are located […]
Corporate News: Quarto Finishes Up On Acquisitions; Colman Getty Acquired
Quarto reported preliminary earnings for the full fiscal year on Tuesday, with sales of $186.1 million up 5.5 percent, helped by “two small acquisitions” during the year, and pre-tax profit of $12.1 million was up 5.2 percent. Digital sales grew fivefold, but still comprise only $2.1 million of sales, or about 1 percent of sales, noted in the release “to satisfy the curiosity of analysts and commentators.” Often mentioned as a potential acquirer of other houses, including the current Sterling Publishing offer, Quarto’s net debt also rose–up 14 percent, to $81.4 million, including the cost of acquiring Cool Springs Press […]
Big Barnes & Noble Options Holder Presses Again for Splitting the Company In Three Parts
Before Barnes & Noble reported third quarter results, investor Michael Glickstein of G Asset Management filed with SEC on Friday to declare a position of more than 5 percent in Barnes & Noble. But in his case, unlike more substantial investors who have filed recently, he owns primarily options to buy just under 3 million shares, exercisable within the next 60 days. (G Asset also owns a little over 41,000 actual shares of Barnes & Noble stock.) That means G Asset’s net investment cost to play this game has been just $1.6 million. Glickstein, 30, has agitated for the board […]