Princeton Architectural Press founder and publisher Kevin Lippert has bought back the company from Springer Verlag, which has owned the press since 1997. He says in the announcement, “It has been a pleasure to be part of the Springer family for these many years…but the strategic directions of our two businesses were diverging so quickly that a partnership no longer made sense. Our new independent status will provide us with the opportunity to use the innovations we’ve learned from Springer, particularly in electronic books, to continue to broaden the scope of what design publishing constitutes.”
Finance
Layoffs at Ingram and BN.com
A total of 57 employees at Ingram Content Group’s LaVergne location were laid off on Friday from across the organization. Spokesperson Keel Hunt says “this is unfortunate, but in the dynamic arena of content delivery it’s important for Ingram to be right-sized and as efficient as possible.” He tells us the reductions were “a result of the reorganization, announced last summer,” that merged various business units including Ingram Book, Ingram Digital, Lightning Source and Ingram Publisher Services into the overall Ingram Content Group. He adds, “when we announced the reorganization, we of course began a process to identify ways to […]
Firm Denies Representation On Borders Payments
A spokesperson for Lowenstein Sandler tells PW (but, as far as we can tell, not Barron’s or the Financial Times) that the two sources where claimed some publishers had hired the firm as counsel regarding Borders’ receivables were “incorrect.” Separately, we note that an online forum for Borders employees quotes a memo from ceo Ron Marshall after the chain reported disappointing holiday sales earlier this month: “Based on our results this holiday, we have some difficult changes to make in the days and weeks ahead within our organization. There is no way around it–without increasing sales, we are forced to […]
Small Publishers Retain Counsel to Collect Borders Payables
News service DebtWire.com reports via the FT that a group of small publishers has hired the bankruptcy group of Lowenstein Sandler as legal counsel “concerning mounting receivables” owed them by Borders Group. But a spokesperson says Borders “has continued to pay its vendors and is not aware of any material disputes related to its December 2009 payments.” One anonymous executive says “[Borders] have been extending payables… and most publishers have cut back on what they will advance.” The service reports “three major publishers said they received payments in full from Borders for the December period but three smaller firms said […]
Court Approves Readers Digest Plan to Emerge from Chapter 11
On Friday a federal bankruptcy court approved Readers Digest’s reorganization plan for exiting bankruptcy. The plan reduces over $2.2 billion in debt down to about $555 million, wiping out private equity owners Ripplewood Holdings in the process. Senior lenders will hold all of the equity in the publishing company, while bondholders owed over $600 million will just get warrants, “an offer that practically wipes them out” according to the WSJ. A group of company retirees had challenged the plan unsuccessfully in court. While many retiree benefits remain protected, the dissenters “constitute a subset of retirees that receive supplemental pension benefits” […]
More From Barry "Don't Blame Me" O'Callaghan
Education Media and Publishing Group ceo Barry O’Callaghan continues to provide an astonishing mix of remarks and revisionist history to the Irish media. It “bemuses” him that he’s “being positioned as the bad guy” in the evaporation of billions of dollars of equity. It’s not his fault, “It’s just bad luck for me and my fellow shareholders. It’s nothing different from the people who bought houses [in the boom].” Plus, “people are perfectly entitled to take a swing at me because I’ve lost them money and I’m disappointed, too. But don’t blame me for what I don’t control. This downturn […]