Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s parent company has executed their financial restructuring pretty much exactly as described last month. With their $800 million annual debt service reduced to more like $250 million a year, the company should now be able to operate more or less normally. About $7 billion in debt has been converted into a mere $3 billion of debt, with the senior secured lenders–led by John Paulson’s hedge fund, which bought that debt on the cheap to take control of the company–holding most of the equity for now, until he’s ready to sell it again. Earlier investors, including financial whiz […]
Finance
BN to Burkle: No
In the least surprising news of the month, the Barnes & Noble board hasunanimously agreed with itself and told investor Ron Burkle they willnot abandon the poison pill that was created specifically to blockBurkle from accumulating too much of the company’s stock. They also write: “The Board also would like to correct a misstatementcontained in your letter regarding the total stock holdings of theRiggio family and other Company insiders. Please be advised that,excluding options that are not votable, Barnes & Noble’s directors,management and other executive officers currently hold approximately 31%of the Company’s outstanding stock.” The real question is whether Burkle […]
Make eBooks Cheap, Or Grandpa Will Steal Them
It’s tempting to dismiss today’s NYT piece on ebook readers preference to pay less money for titles for the unsubstantial work that it is. But since it runs in the Times, some people will automatically take it seriously, despite the anecdotal reporting and absence of any data. (Not that none exists–but there’s no mention here of recently-presented findings on price sensitivity from the BISG and Verso surveys, or Kobo’s presentation that they sell almost as many ebooks at prices greater than $9.99 than they do at $9.99 itself, or the informal accounts of agents who have seen pricing data presented […]
Acquisitions: Buyers for Kirkus, and Teleread
Chairman emeritus of Simon Property Group and owner of the Indiana Pacers as well as co-owner of Tecolote Books in Montecito, CA Herb Simon has purchased Kirkus Reviews. Chief executive of Calendar Holdings and the other partner in that bookstore (as well as former Barnes & Noble employee) Marc Winkelman will be ceo of the new Kirkus Media and hold a small stake in the operation, with Elaine Szewczyk and Eric Liebetrau remaining in their leadership roles. He indicated to the NYT that “the company would continue to publish Kirkus as a print magazine while beefing up its digital offerings. […]
Aletheia Buys Another 2 Million Barnes & Noble Shares
In concert with their friend Ron Burkle’s assault on Barnes & Noble’s board, Aletheia Research disclosed to the SEC their continued purchases of BN stock. Between January 21 and January 29 alone, they added more than 2 million shares, bringing their stake in the company up to 17.44 percent. At today’s share price, which is rising, they are still about $8 million in the red on their investment-to-date of $210 million.
Burkle Complains to Barnes & Noble Board; "Allow me to acquire up to 37%" Stake Like the Riggios
We return to another of the hot topics of recent months: what does investor Ron Burkle and his investor-friends at Aletheia Research want with Barnes & Noble now that they have built 19 percent and 17 percent blocks of the company’s stock, respectively? Are they looking to take control of the company, force it private, or simply overthrow the Riggio family from control? Yesterday Burkle filed with the SEC to indicate the acquisition of more shares, accompanied by a letter that he sent to the BN board. He makes it clear that he would like to “wag[e] a successful proxy […]