RBmedia has acquired German audiobook publisher ABOD, which will supply titles to its newly launched German-language audio brand RBmedia Verlag. ABOD licenses and produces audio titles from German publishers, focusing on nonfiction, primarily politics and economics. ABOD founder and ceo Rudi Singer, said, “Since founding ABOD in 2012, I have put much work and care into building a first-rate audio catalog. With RBmedia’s vision, I am confident that we will see these efforts continue to gain momentum.” Chicago Review Press has acquired LGBTQ+ fiction publisher Interlude Press, including a catalog of nearly 100 titles, and its YA imprint Duet Books. […]
Finance
2021: The Year In Mergers
It was a blockbuster year for mergers and acquisitions, even with the headline-making lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice to try to block Penguin Random House‘s deal to acquire Simon & Schuster. Prospective sellers across the publishing landscape read the environment and made big deals, often at healthy multiples. With growing sales, strong profits, and impressive resales, publishing is actually looking investable to a wider range of players. And there was plenty of notable activity beyond the roster of straight acquisitions. Scholastic experienced a dramatic change in control following the abrupt death of Dick Robinson, and surprising designation of […]
2021: The Year in Finance
With Bookscan-monitored print sales up 11 percent in units through November and AAP-reported dollars up even more through October, trade publishers are lined up for a strong, and profitable, year. Multiple publishers have set new earnings records so far this year, as the pandemic-related increase in reading – including backlist sales, audio consumption and online purchasing – held, even as lockdown restrictions loosened in many regions. Based mostly on reports for the first three quarters — with a couple of recent updates — here’s where publishers’ march to a profitable 2021 stands for now: Bertelsmann For the first half of […]
Acquisitions: Dark Horse Media Agrees to Sale to Embracer Group
Swedish video game holding company Embracer Group plans to buy comic book publisher and entertainment company Dark Horse Media, in a deal that is expected to close next year. Dark Horse’s 300 intellectual properties include The Mask, Time Cop, Father’s Day, and Ghost and it licenses Star Wars, Avatar the Last Airbender, Stranger Things, Witcher, and more. It also owns a retail business called Things From Another World selling graphic novels, comic books, and collectibles. Eighty percent of the shares of Dark Horse will be acquired from a Chinese investor, and the remaining 20 percent are from founder and CEO Mike Richardson […]
Lagardere Board Prepares for Tender Offer
Ahead of the coming tender offer from Vivendi to buyout the remaining shareholders of Lagardere, the company’s board appointed an ad hoc committee. Soon that committee will recommend “an independent expert in accordance with the General Regulations of the French Financial markets authority.” Separately, Joseph Oughourlian has resigned from the board now that his company Amber Capital has sold their shares to Vivendi.
Acquisitions: ABC-CLIO to Bloomsbury, Wuxiaworld to Radish
Bloomsbury has acquired academic publisher ABC-CLIO for $22.9 million (£17.3 million). ABC-CLIO will become part of Bloomsbury’s Academic and Professional division within Bloomsbury USA. In 2020, ABC-CLIO reported sales of $14.7 million (£11.5 million), and profit before tax of $1.2 million (£0.9 million). Outside of integration and acquisition costs, the company is expected to add £2.1 million in revenue and £0.3 million in profit before tax to Bloomsbury’s current fiscal year, which ends on February 28. “ABC-CLIO is a strong addition to Bloomsbury USA, our Academic and Professional division and Bloomsbury Digital Resources,” Bloomsbury ceo Nigel Newton said. “This acquisition […]