Bloomsbury’s stock “experienced unusually strong volume on Tuesday amid talk that Pearson was considering a bid,” the Times of London claims. Both companies are sitting on cash and have lower share prices: Bloomsbury’s market cap of 95 million pounds is less than one times Potter-free sales and the company had 50 million pounds in cash before announcing their most recent acquisition. Pearson, meanwhile, is said to have 580 million pounds in cash. Their shares showed a little life today after declining for a few months.Times Bloomsbury’s latest targeted purchase is Hodder Education’s higher ed textbooks covering media and communications, history […]
Finance
Bidness News: Springer Falls Short; RBI Dumps Travel Mags; Bertelsmann Gets Music Money from KKR
Second-round bids for a portion of Springer Science and Business Media are said to have fallen “signficantly short” of the target of 500 million euros for a stake of up to 49 percent. Owners Cinven and Candover are reported to have asked the bidders to try again, please. Reuters says “two of the sources said a valuation of 350 million to 380 million euros for a 49 percent stake was a reasonable estimate…. Proceeds would be used to tackle high looming debt payments Springer is unable to meet.”Reuters Meanwhile, after failing to sell RBI whole last year, Reed Elsevier is […]
Penguin UK to Cut "About 100" People
One of the few big trade publishers to not cut jobs since the recession hit last fall, Penguin UK is now taking some of the steepest cuts of any UK publisher (both Random UK and HarperCollins UK had significant layoffs earlier this year.) The company said today it “anticipated…the loss of around 100 jobs in the UK” after the the mandated consultation period with employees. Penguin positions the realignments as “a series of changes to its UK business which are designed to strengthen the appeal and relevance of its publishing, reduce costs in all areas of the business, and prepare […]
Bloomsbury's Next Purchase: Academic Publisher Tottel
Bloomsbury’s latest strategic acquisition is professional and academic publisher Tottel, based in the UK and Ireland, to be bought for 9.96 million pounds. They will rename the unit Bloomsbury Professional. In the fiscal year ending in February, Tottel had sales of 6.25 million pounds, operating profit of 0.93 million pounds, and EBITDA of 1.19 million pounds. The company says: “Bloomsbury has identified academic and professional publishing as a growing niche sector. The proposed acquisition of Tottel fulfils a strategic objective of Bloomsbury in pursuing opportunities in this market and follows from the acquisitions of Methuen, Berg Publishers, and The Arden […]
Perseus Cuts Jobs, Imposes Furloughs
Perseus Books Group ceo David Steinberger announced “a reduction in staff” to employees last Thursday, along with “a summer furlough program, in order to limit the size of the reduction” with employees taking off no more than six unpaid days (including two extended holiday weekends). Steinberger also reported that “the senior leaders of the company have accepted a more significant compensation reduction to help prevent the company and our people from greater cuts.” Steinberger says “approximately 20 people are leaving the company” with “most reductions” coming from the company’s publishing units rather than the distribution services group. He indicates the […]
Arcade Files for Chapter 11 Protection
Jeannette Seaver filed for bankruptcy protection for Arcade Publishing last week, with assets of $4.5 million and liabilities of $6.3 million. The company owes Little, Brown almost $500,000 for a loan and distribution services. The filing, as quoted by Crain’s, says that “the challenges of a small, independent publisher were made especially difficult by the current economic climate. For the past several months since the death of the Debtor’s president, Richard Seaver [who died in January] the Debtor has struggled in an effort to reorganize and seek investors. The loss of Mr. Seaver coupled with the ongoing financial issues in […]