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 […]
Finance
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 […]
Borders CEO Tries Newspaper Interview to Elicit Publisher Support
Borders ceo Mike Edwards provides a “rare interview” to the Ann Arbor News, trying to obtain through the press the financing from publishers that he isn’t getting through direct negotiations. Big publishers remain unconvinced that there is a sound business reason for them to carry all the risk and finance Borders’ attempt to re-emerge from bankruptcy (so that Edwards and his team can collect bonuses). Edwards pedals it as a “shared risk scenario” but it’s not clear who else besides the creditors would be taking any risk. (The implication is that he’s still using the prospect of Borders liquidating as […]
People, Etc.
At Random House, Jeff Weber has been promoted to director, online digital sales and Candace Chaplin moves up to VP and director of sales and marketing, nonfiction brands, a newly created position. Deb Shapiro has launched Deb Shapiro & Company, a PR/marketing company for authors and books. For the past seven years, she was director of publicity and online marketing at Bloomsbury Publishing. The late Kim Ricketts’ daughter Whitney confirms that Lara Hamilton will take over running Kim RIcketts Book Events, as the family remains “closely connected to the business.” “Lara shares my mom’s passion for good books, cooking, and […]