Sales at Bloomsbury rose 4.5 percent in the first half of the year, to 36.8 million pounds, though pre-tax profit fell by a little more than half, at 949,000 pounds. Profits on the publishing side fell by 23 percent, mostly due to the inclusion of the new Bloomsbury Professional unit (based on their acquisition of law and tax publisher Tottel), “which is typically loss making in the first half of the year.” Investment income on the mountain of residual Harry Potter cash declined much more sharply, down from 842,000 pounds to 180,000 pounds, reaffirming that the company is much better […]
Finance
BN Proxy Filing Every Bit As Colorful As Burkle’s
Barnes & Noble filed their revised proxy documents with the SEC, angrily accusing investor Ron Burkle of….daring to want to buy more of the company. As asserted before, their largest concern is that Burkle’s Yucaipa and his friends at Aletheia want “to gain creeping control of Barnes & Noble…without paying a control premium.” The company says that raising the limit on their poison pill from 20 percent to 30 percent would allow the two companies to ally in taking over the bookseller. As we have pointed out before, they also question the extent to which Burkle’s other two nominees to […]
People, Etc.
At William Morrow, Peter Hubbard has been promoted to senior editor. At Touchstone, Lauren Spiegel has been promoted to associate editor. In the Eataly food and wine center opening at the end of August in the former Toy Building on lower Fifth Avenue in New York, led by Lidia and Joseph Bastianich and Mario Batali, Rizzoli Bookstore will be the exclusive bookseller. They will also manage book signings by chefs giving classes and demonstrations in the space. Tyrus Books, founded last year, announced that they are acquiring fellow crime fiction publisher Busted Flush Press. Busted Flush publisher David Thompson “will […]
Legal Costs Add to Barnes & Noble’s Losses, As Bookstore Comps Are Nearly Flat
Barnes & Noble reported first quarter sales of $1.397 billion, with a net loss of $62.5 million or $1.12 per share–at the high end of the company’s forecast losses, but more than analysts had penciled in as we reported yesterday. Among the expenses were $9.5 million (or 11 cents a share) “primarily” due to the legal battle in Delaware with Yucaipa. The company declined to discuss the proxy battle in this morning’s conference call with investors following the earnings release. Because of those legal costs and the proxy fight underway, the company lowered its full-year earnings forecast by 25 cents […]
Barnes & Noble Today: Waiting for Earnings, As Riggio and Burkle Both Say They Don’t Want to Work Together
The next news event for Barnes & Noble will be the reporting of first quarter earnings tomorrow morning. Analysts surveyed by Thompson Reuters are expecting a loss of 80 cents a share on sales of $1.42 billion, though the company’s guidance was for a new loss in a range of 85 cents to $1.15 a share. The net loss for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, reported June 28, was 89 cents a share. At the time, BN said they expected first quarter Barnes & Noble.com sales–where Nook revenues are recorded–to increase between 30 percent and 50 percent. BN store […]
Barnes & Noble’s New Strategy: We’ll GIve You Two Independent Directors If You Save Our Chairman
In their latest play in the proxy fight with Ron Burkle, who theoretically wants more independent voices on the board of Barnes & Noble, the company has thrown aside current directors Michael del Guidice and Lawrence Zilavy from the reelection slate (or rather the two “have decided not to stand for reelection”). Delaware chancellor Leo Strine recently rebuked the company in finding that del Guidice is too closely tied financially and politically to Len Riggio’s money and interests to be considered an independent director. Instead the company is nominating David Golden, evp and a partner at investment firm Revolution, and […]