Amazon has bought Lexcyle, makers of the Stanza reader application, for an undisclosed price. Stanza has been downloaded by approximately 1.8 million users. Lexcycle says on its web site, “We are not planning any changes in the Stanza application or user experience as a result of the acquisition. Customers will still be able to browse, buy, and read ebooks from our many content partners.” But of course it’s now up to what Amazon plans. When launching their iPhone app for Kindle, Amazon made it clear that they find the iPhone an inferior platform for long-form immersive reading, but fine as […]
Finance
Borders Drops Stock Split for Now; Will Clean Out Board
With its shares trading at over $1 per share for almost two weeks now, Borders has decided not to ask shareholders to approve a reverse stock split at the company’s annual meeting on May 21. (The NY Stock Exchange has also decided to temporarily suspend the dollar-per-share minimum for all companies.) Borders also announced a sweeping change in the composition of its board. Two positions will be eliminated as it shrinks to eight members–and five directors who will still stand for re-election intend to “step down over the coming months as suitable replacements are found.” They have so many openings […]
BookTour Raises Money; Backers Include Amazon
BookTour.com, which has been privately funded by founder Chris Anderson, has raised $350,000 in Series A funding. According to the regulatory filing, backers include Amazon.com.
Random UK Layoffs Claim 33 Positions; Cambridge Likely to Limit Printing Cuts
A month ago Random House UK announced their intention to cut staff by approximately 5 percent (as did Harper UK) and now the Bookseller says that the company announced the elimination of 33 jobs today. Individuals were not named, but the magazine says that cutbacks included Transworld senior publishing director Francesca Liversidge and other “senior editorial” people.Bookseller In other UK publishing layoffs, lobbying of the eighteen academics who comprise the Syndicate that governs Cambridge University Press has raised “hope that at least half of the [book printing] jobs threatened by the restructuring will be saved,” the Guardian reports. Director of […]
Author Solutions Buys Canada's Trafford
Author Solutions continues to roll up its rivals, now buying Canadian self-publisher Trafford Publishing. CEO Kevin Weiss tells the WSJ his company will have close to $100 million in sales in 2009. Trafford ceo Geoffrey Reid, who will remain in that position, tells the paper, “We felt that Author Solutions was consolidating the market, and we wanted to be part of that.”WSJ
Pershing Square Gives Borders Another Year
The biggest worry of the year for book publishers has been answered, as Borders appears to have been granted another 12 months to sort itself. Leading shareholder and lender of last resort Pershing Square has extended their $42.5 million term loan to Borders until April 1, 2010. But Pershing has once again won big concessions for that extension: The “put” option to buy the Paperchase chain (which Pershing never wanted to own in the first place) will expire, and the big grants of 14.7 million warrants will be reset from the previous price to $7 a share down to today’s […]