Investor Richard Schottenfeld at Schottenfeld Management filed revised ownership forms with the SEC, indicating he has increased his stake in Barnes & Noble, now controlling over 5 million shares, or approximately 6.9 percent of shares outstanding. Schottenfeld’s companies have been engaged in a lot of trading of the bookseller’s stock — mostly through options. As…
Finance
Briefs: A New Marquez, Salinger’s 100th, Center for Fiction Nominees, and More
Forthcoming Vintage Español will published a selection of journalism by the late Nobel Laureate Gabriel García Márquez, El Escándalo del Siglo (October 23, 2018). An English-language edition of The Scandal of the Century will be published by Knopf in May 2019. The book will include an introduction by Jon Lee Anderson and an editor’s note…
IPG Acquired Midpoint; Bonnier to Make Units Independent Companies
Independent Publishers Group (IPG) purchased distributor Midpoint Trade Books on August 17. Midpoint founder Eric Kampmann is serving in “a consulting and advising role and will assist in the transition,” with Alex Kampmann taking over daily management as vp, general manager, Midpoint. Eric Kampmann continues to own and operate Beaufort Books and Spencer Hill Press, which will still…
New Accounting Rules Will Likely Lift Penguin Random House’s Sales: It’s A Long Story
On Thursday Penguin Random House’s parent company Bertelsmann will be the last of the big companies to report financial results through June 30, and when that happens, there will be something different about PRH’s results. The company will use a different accounting method for their ebook sales, making their overall sales for the past six…
Penguin Random House Offers Early Retirement Buyout
Penguin Random House announced internally on Wednesday an early retirement buyout offer for veteran employees, described in a post from chief human resources officer Frank Steinert: “We are pleased to announce that we are making available a Voluntary Separation Offering (VSO) for a set of our long-tenured employees.” They suggest it “might be helpful” for…
Quarto Approves Taking On Still More Debt
At a special meeting, Quarto Group shareholders approved an amendment to the company by-laws so that they can take on still more debt (which stood at $64 million as of their last annual report). Just over 10 million shares, or a little over half of the shares outstanding, voted in favor of the proposal. Almost…