BBC Worldwide write down nearly £34 million (or $54 million) on the value of Lonely Planet, after paying £42 million earlier this year for the remaining 25 percent of the company outside of its control. (The BBC bought a 75 percent stake in 2007 for £89 million.) “The strength of the Australian dollar in recent years has led to challenging sales conditions for the Lonely Planet business,” said the company in a statement. “This has been compounded by declines since 2008 in key travel guide markets suffering from the impact of the global financial crisis.” The rise in the Australian […]
Finance
Amazon Agitates for Voter Referendum to Overturn California Tax Law
Amazon’s next move in the California sales tax battle is to support an effort to revoke the new law that makes online retailers with affiliates or subsidiaries subject to sales tax through a voter referendum. In the first phase, they will need over half a million signatures from voters by the end of September to get on the ballot. But it’s not clear that overturning the new requirements would hold much appeal for individual voters beyond the 25,000 or so revoked affiliates in the state, since earlier California law requires individuals to pay sales for their online purchases, whether or […]
Landlords Ask Judge to Slow Final Decisions on Borders
You can be forgiven for finding a measure of comedy in each hurry and up wait stage of Borders’ bankruptcy proceedings. Just a few weeks ago Borders was lamenting that their inability to negotiate deadline extensions from landlords was going to force the early closure of some of their “profitable” stores. Now we’ve gone full circle, with multiple landlords complaining about Borders’ rush to finalize an auction of the company, starting with the stalking horse bid from Najafi, or liquidate almost as quickly. The new slow of motions was not unexpected–yesterday was the stipulated deadline for landlords to object, and […]
Bloomsbury Buys Continuum for $32 Million, Cites “Soft Market” in Interim Statement
Bloomsbury announced that it has bought academic publisher Continuum from Nova/Paul Investments Capital and management shareholders for approximately £20.1 million (or $32 million) in cash. In a statement the company’s board said it “has been looking for a transformational acquisition to act as the cornerstone of its Academic & Professional division.” Continuum marks the sixth academic publisher Bloomsbury has bought over the past five years, and for the first time it provides a New York-based academic publishing office, with its own editorial and marketing team. Continuum forecasts EBITA of £0.6 million for the year ending June 30 on sales of […]
Riggio Returns Malone’s Praise, and BN Stock Rises
After John Malone’s praise for Len Riggio and Barnes & Noble from Sun Valley, ID, Riggio added similar remarks yesterday, saying he “couldn’t think of a better partner than John Malone and a finer group of executives than the team at Liberty.” The combination lifted Barnes & Noble shares back to well above Liberty’s opening offer of $17 a share in yesterday’s trading. The stock had dropped as low as $16.35 in late June after reporting continuing losses in establishing Nook, but rose yesterday to close at $17.85. A WSJ blog grasps at straws a bit to suggest that Riggio […]
Bookselling: Malone on BN; BA Objects to Amazon/Book Depository, WHSmith Store Comps Decline
Attending the Allen & Company conference in Sun Valley, Liberty Media ceo John Malone spoke publicly about the potential Barnes & Noble buyout for the first time since the possible merger was announced back in May. “It would be a bit of a flier for us, on whether or not Barnes & Noble can play competitively with the likes of Apple and Amazon in the digital transformation,” he said. “That’s really the bet.” Malone characterized the steep decline in brick-and-mortar bookselling as akin to those who survive a smallpox epidemic: “If you’re still alive, well, maybe you got a chance […]