With travel (and travel publishing) in a slump due to the recession, Lonely Planet is eliminating approximately 50 jobs worldwide, or about 10 percent of their workforce, with up to 40 of the layoffs in Australia. Spokesperson Adam Bennett says “it represents the decline of the guidebook market in tough times.” Some reductions will come through not renewing employment contracts, and others from direct layoffs. (There will be modest cuts in the UK and US offices as well.) Acting chief executive Stephen Palmer notes, “Even the most optimistic forecasts do not predict any sustained recovery until 2010 at the earliest, […]
Finance
More Big Cuts At Borders HQ
Borders Group is eliminating another 136 corporate positions, representing approximately 12 percent of their corporate employees, primarily from their Ann Arbor headquarters. The company says “the workforce reduction was spread across virtually all business areas, including marketing, human resources, field management and corporate sales. The reductions were made at various ranks, ranging from entry level to middle management.” New CEO Ron Marshall comments: “While reducing payroll is never easy and we respect the impact it has on employees and their families, it is one of the necessary steps we must take along with other non-payroll expense reductions to help get […]
Reed Elsevier Slashes Value of Stake in Houghton Parent Co.
When Reed Elsevier sold Harcourt Education to Barry Cunningham’s debt-driven publishing mashup (now operating as Education Media & Publishing Group) bankers forced them to take a small share in the company, valued at $300 million. But in yesterday’s earnings report, Reed disclosed that they have marked down the value of that stake in EMPG to 15 million euros. As the Independent notes, “Reed Elsevier’s valuation on its stake points to an overall equity valuation of ¬127m for EMPG, which has a debt mountain of over $7bn.” EMPG tells the newspaper that “across our group of shareholders, investors carry their investments […]
S&P Downgrades B&N Shares
Standard & Poor has downgraded Barnes & Noble stock from “hold” to “strong sell”, noting that B&N shares “have risen about 40% over the past 3 months and are now trading well above” S&P’s target price. The firm also expects further weakening in sales over the next fiscal year and is “also concerned by the long-term trend of declining adult readership levels.” B&N’s Board of Directors also declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per share, payable on March 31 to stockholders of record at the close of business on March 10.Business Week
Borders Deadline Extended Again
Borders Group is paying Pershing Square $750,000 for “reimbursement of expenses” and the extension of the “put” to require Pershing to buy their Paperchase subsidiary, as both the option and the expiration of Pershing’s $42.5 million loan are extended for a second time, until April 15. Borders will report earnings for the fourth quarter and full year on March 31.
Investment Firm Declares Big BN Stake
Arnhold and S. Bleichroeder, LLC (ASB)’s First Eagle Global Fund has accumulated a big chunk of Barnes & Noble stock. An SEC filing declares that the fun controls 11.7 percent of the bookseller’s shares, and with additional interests on behalf of clients their stake of more than 7 million shares comprises 12.77 percent of BN shares.