In the capital-raising arms race among the big Hollywood talent agencies — which have grown into entertainment conglomerates themselves — United Talent Agency sold a minority stake to Investcorp and PSP Investments. Deadline and Variety say they sold approximately 40 percent of the agency, for an estimated $200 million. (When the search for investors was initiated…
Finance
Deja Vu All Over Again: Vivendi Negotiates to Buy Editis
In reporting half year results, French conglomerate Vivendi announced that they are in “exclusive negotiations with Grupo Planeta” to acquire the French book publishing division Editis. (Once upon a time, Editis was owned by a different incarnation of Vivendi, Vivendi Universal Publishing, which also used to own Houghton Mifflin. Hachette Livre bought and retained 40…
Abrams Acquires Overlook Press
Abrams announced the acquisition of The Overlook Press, two and a half months after the death of founder and publisher Peter Mayer. As of August 1, Abrams will handle all aspects of the publishing, marketing, and business operations for The Overlook Press’ books, including its forthcoming titles, while sales and distribution will be handled by…
Investor Schottenfeld Tries A Little Agitation Again with Barnes & Noble Stock
Investment groups associated with hedge fund manager Richard Schottenfeld acquired holdings in Barnes & Noble sufficiently as of July 12 to file with the SEC, indicating control of more than 5 percent of the company’s stock. In this case they control 4.16 million shares, or 5.68 percent of the bookseller’s shares, and according to the filing…
KKR Acquires RBmedia
Investment firm KKR has acquired audiobook powerhouse RBmedia (previously known as Recorded Books) from Shamrock Capital. The financial details of the sale were not disclosed, though as one of the largest private equity firms with assets under management of over $150 billion, KKR focuses on investments of scale. With a catalog of 35,000 published audiobook…
Briefs: Quarto Reshuffles Board; Rowman & Littlefield Acquires Pineapple Press; and More
Quarto has reshuffled its board of directors just two months after Laurence Orbach was reinstalled himself as executive chairman. Orbach will now step down from that position to become a non-executive director, while Andy Cumming, who joined Quarto’s board in March after 17 years at Lloyds, is promoted to chairman and senior independent non-executive director….