As expected, “activist” investor Ron Burkle revealed yesterday that he has taken the next logical step in his battle with Barnes & Noble, suing the company’s board in a Delaware Court. In his SEC filing, he disclosed additional purchases of BN shares in recent days as well, now controlling a 19.62 percent stake–just below the 20 percent limit of the company’s poison pill. In the lawsuit Burkle rails against a “self-dealing scheme designed to entrench the Riggio family in their control of Barnes & Noble and prevent an effective proxy contest from being mounted by Yucaipa or other public stockholders.” […]
Finance
In Reorganization, Octopus USA to Close As UK Cuts List and Consults on Job Reductions
“Strategic changes” from the Octopus Publishing Group in London include the closing of Octopus USA, launched within Hachette Book Group USA at the beginning of last year. As a result, USA associate publisher Jonathan Stolper and director of publicity and marketing Andrea Glickson’s jobs are being eliminated, though the company says they “launched and managed the Octopus USA business very successfully, and Octopus’ profile in North America has grown significantly thanks to their hard work.” HBG’s client services group will continue to handle sales and distribution of Octopus titles here. In the broader reorganization of the unit, they will focus […]
People, Etc.
Skira Rizzoli Publications has hired Margaret Rennolds Chace as associate publisher, reporting to Charles Miers, starting next week. Most recently she was managing editor of publications at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. At the New York Times, Julie Bosman is taking over as the reporter covering book publishing. At Harper Children’s, Mary-Kate Gaudet has been promoted to editor. With the flooding in Nashville, TN, we heard concerns about the potential personal and business impact. Spokesman for the Ingram Book Company Keel Hunt replies to our query: “CEO Skip Prichard reports there has been no flood damage at Ingram facilities, and […]
People, Awards, Etc.
At Simon & Schuster Children’s Alexandra Penfold has been promoted to editor, and Julia Maguire, Navah Wolfe and Lydia Frost have all moved up to assistant editor, while Kimberly Boyer is now assistant editor of Little Simon and Jessica Echeverria is assistant editor at Simon Spotlight. In other promotions, Catharine Sotzing is now associate marketing manager, education & library; Michael McCartney and Nick Sciacca both moved up to senior designer; and Cara Petrus was promoted to associate art director. Naomi Benaron‘s RUNNING THE RIFT won $25,000 Bellwether Prize for Fiction, “the largest monetary prize for unpublished fiction in North America,” […]
Random House Discloses Sale of Japanese and Korean Units
Random House revealed quietly in an internal personnel announcement that over the past 10 months the company has retrenched from two pieces of the Peter Olson expansionist years. In September, they discontinued their Japanese joint venture, Random House Kodansha, which began in 2003, and in February they divested their Random House Korea, which they had started as a joint venture with JoongAng and bought full control of four years ago. In both cases, the units were sold to the CEOs and executives who run the companies. Random House Kodansha ceo Yuji Takeda led the buyout of what is now called […]
Education Gains Slightly at McGraw-Hill; United Media Licensing Sold
Reporting results for their fiscal first quarter, McGraw-Hill’s education division rose 1.5 percent to $317 million, with a reduced operating loss of $61.8 million. Higher ed, professional and international sales rose over 8 percent to $206 million due to “surging sales of digital products,” but school education sales fell 9 percent to $112 million. Those digital gains included “double-digit revenue increases” from “e-books, online courses and online homework management assessment products for students.”Release Brand management group Iconix has bought United Media Licensings from the E.W. Scripps Company for $175 million. As part of the deal, Iconiz has created a partnership […]