This morning HarperCollins presented to US employees internally a voluntary retirement package, available to people over age 55 who have been with the company for more than five years. The offer was made to employees at the company’s New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles offices and their Scranton warehouse. It does not extend to Zondervan or any Harper units outside of the US for now; spokesperson Erin Crum notes that “each business area has different needs and legal requirements.” Noting that they company “has never done anything like this before,” Crum would not indicate a target number of job […]
Finance
Bowker Parent Takes Stake In LibraryThing
LibraryThing has sold a minority interest in the enterprise to Cambridge Information Group, which owns Bowker (as well as AquaBrowser, ProQuest, Serials Solutions and RefWorks). LT’s Tim Spalding writes on his blog that a key factor was “moola.” He notes, “LibraryThing has been profitable for a while, but we didn’t have much of a cushion. It was a nail-biter. We needed servers and new employees, but what if we had a few down months? And did I mention the economy is sick? (Cut to Tim worrying.) The CIG deal frees us from worry and gives us room to grow. While […]
Horn Book Sold
The Horn Book, Inc.–the Boston-based publisher of The Horn Book Magazine and The Horn Book Guide, which review over 4,000 children’s books annually–has been acquired by Ohio’s Media Source, best-known for their Junior Library Guild review and selection service for children’s and YA books. Horn Book will continue to run editorial operations from their Boston office. Editor-in-chief Roger Sutton says in the announce: “The expertise, enthusiasm, and resources that Media Source brings to the table will allow us to enlarge our audience while maintaining our independent viewpoint and high standards. Our print and digital publications will be refreshed, redesigned, and […]
O'Reilly Media Lays Off 30 People
On Thursday O’Reilly laid off 21 employees at its Sebastopol, CA headquarters and more throughout the company. The local paper says “the cuts affected almost 14 percent the company’s 222 employees.” Spokesperson Sara Winge says “we’re being hit by the economic malaise.” She indicates that “the Digital Media branch was restructured into one publishing division along with the company’s Missing Manual group, O’Reilly Technology Exchange and its Head First series.” The report says the company had sales of about $70 million in 2007.Press Democrat
Sterling Cut, Too; Naming Names At RH
The job reductions announced yesterday by Barnes & Noble have extended beyond the executive office and bookselling part of the company into their Sterling Publishing unit. One source at Sterling estimates that approximately 15 people at the publishing unit were laid off, throughout Sterling’s New York office, Lark Books line, and warehouse. At least two Sterling executives were let go. Moby Lives has information on one of them. BN spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating would not confirm or comment on our information, saying that “we have not broken out reductions by department.” Asked about Sterling’s publishing output, she said “there are […]
Barnes & Noble Cuts Almost 100 Jobs
The leading bookseller announced after the close of the market that they are eliminating “close to 100 positions in its corporate headquarters.” CEO Steve Riggio notes in the release it is “the first time in the company’s history we’ve had to do this,” adding that “the business climate in which we are operating is unprecedented, and therefore, the reduction in expenses is inevitable.” He notes “the current business climate and the downturn in retail sales mandate that we reduce corporate overhead costs as appropriate to our overall sales volume.” The company will take an after-tax charge of $2.5 million to […]