As we wrote last night (a couple of times), Wall Street views Liberty Media’s offer of $17 a share for Barnes & Noble as the opening price, not the price at which a transaction will close. Shares rose past that point by the close of the after-market last night at 8:00 and opened regular trading this morning at more than $18 a share. A number of factors are driving the share price now–some having to do with revised assessments of Barnes & Noble’s value now that someone else wants to go steady, and some relating to technical trading factors. Despite […]
Finance
Liberty Media Offers to Buy Barnes & Noble
After an investigation of strategic options begun by Barnes & Noble’s board last summer, today after the close of the market the company announced an offer from a prospective buyer. The special committee of the board charged with evaluating offers said that John Malone’s Liberty Media has offered $17 per share in cash to acquire control of the company. But “the proposal states that it is contingent on the participation of founding chairman Leonard Riggio, both in terms of his continuing equity ownership and his continuing role in management.” The committee says it “will evaluate this proposal” along with financial […]
No Buyer for All of Borders; Edwards Previews Kobo Plans
It will surprise no one (except perhaps some PW readers) that there were no bids to buy Borders in its entirety as a going concern by the “soft deadline” of May 6. Giving you some idea of a savvy bookselling appraisal of what’s left that’s worth buying, Barnes & Noble is said by Bloomberg and the WSJ to have placed a modest bid: To buy about 10 locations, the booksellers’ web site, and the Borders Rewards customer databases. (A BN spokesperson would neither confirm nor deny the report to the WSJ.) Practically speaking, the chain still has another month or […]
Waterstone’s Sale Nears, In Messy Process
HMV is making the same mess out of a Waterstone’s sale that they have made out of the booksellers’ neverending “turnaround.” The fundamental problem is threefold: They spent a while pretending the bookseller wasn’t for sale when it obviously was; they are selling at the worst time ever to sell an English-language book chain; and they have had unrealistic price expectations for the current market. Making it worse, HMV needs to raise enough cash to satisfy their lenders since they are in violation of their banking convenants, but the Waterstone’s proceeds will not be sufficient by themselves. The latest update […]
Dorchester Tells Now-Disbanded Unofficial Creditors Committee It Does Have a Plan
Early last week Dorchester enthusiastically announced that they will resume publishing “a full trade line” next month. That hopeful message was preceded by a vote of no confidence from the authors whom Dorchester still is said to owe royalties (and in some cases, reversions of rights as well). On April 22, representatives of a group of authors and publishing professionals who had formed unofficial unsecured creditors committee told Dorchester they were disbanding. “The Unofficial Committee has taken this step,” said the representative from law firm Lowenstein Sandler in an email obtained by us, “because it has determined that Dorchester will […]
Random House Acquires Smashing Ideas
Building on a business partnership to develop children’s apps initiated last September, Random House has acquired Seattle-based digital media agency Smashing Ideas in a deal that closed May 2. Terms were not disclosed. The company says it “signals the intention of Random House and its parent company to be leaders in digital content creation, and demonstrates their commitment to expanding revenues from mobile and interactive online products and services.” Smashing Ideas will “continue to operate independently” from Seattle and another office in the UK, “primarily focusing on its current and future client businesses.” With respect to Random House, the unit […]