California money manager Altheia Research & Management, run by Peter Eicher, filed with the SEC now that it has amassed at 10.8 percent stake in Barnes & Noble. Altheia says it has “no plans or proposals” other than investment purposes, but qualifies that by noting the firm “reserves the right to act in concert with any other shareholders of the Issuer, or other persons, for a common purpose should it determine to do so, and/or to recommend courses of action to management and the shareholders of the Issuer.” Nearly all of their block of stock was acquired beginning on November […]
Finance
Random Says Profitability Rises
Random House ceo Markus Dohle’s year-end letter to employees acknowledges that the “year has been one difficult external and internal challenge after another,” including “the continuing decline in consumer spending, including on books; the pressures of the retail price wars in the U.S. and U.K.; wide-ranging digital-publishing issues; and our divisional reorganizations and integrations.” And “the outlook for 2010 is uncertain right now…with no sign that consumer confidence or discretionary spending will pick up.” The “great news” he shares is that “even with these challenges, Random House on a worldwide basis will improve its year-on-year profitability in 2009.” One could […]
Bookselling: Up Close at Square Books; It's Over at Borders UK
Poets & Writers starts the new year with a new series of interviews with bookselling entrepreneurs, Inside Indie Bookstores. The first installment visits with Richard Howorth of Square Books: “It’s a very difficult business. But in many ways, I like the fact that it’s a difficult business. Otherwise, people who want to make money–by selling crap–would be trying to get into the book business. [Laughter.]” Looking to the digital reckoning, he says: “I think bookstores offer an experience to book consumers that is unique. To be able to go into a place physically, to experience a sensation that is the […]
This Time, Springer Sale Goes Through
Springer Science+Business has finally been unloaded, from one group of private equity firms (Candover and Cinven) to another: Sweden’s EQT Partners, with an 18 percent share being taken by the Singapore government’s investment company. The transaction is more a restructuring of Springer’s extensive 2.2 billion euros of debt than a conventional purchase. The purchase price was not released, though sources are guessing that the sale included 150 million euros in actual cash on top of the assumption of that mountain of debt.Bloomberg
Barnes & Noble Bought Children's Self-Publisher Tikatok
BN disclosed for the first time in its quarterly SEC filing that on September 24 the company bought Tikatok for $2.3 million. Tikatok.com lets parents and their children write, illustrate, and publish stories into hardcover and paperback books. Barnes & Noble says it “plans to use Tikatok as part of its overall digital strategy, expanding the company’s reach to additional parents, educators and librarians.”Filing
Baker & Taylor Buys Blackwell NA; Sells UK Branch
Baker & Taylor announced yesterday they are buying Blackwell Book Services North America to integrate with YBP and Australia-based James Bennett bookseller (also owned by Blackwell). In turn, they are selling their UK unit Lindsay and Croft to Blackwell UK. Also, “Baker & Taylor’s YBP Library Services and Blackwell U.K. have entered into a strategic sourcing agreement under which YBP Library Services will source all U.K.-published academic material from Blackwell U.K., and Blackwell U.K. will source all U.S.-published academic material from YBP Library Services.”Release