Moody’s downgraded their ratings on Bertelsmann’s debt to Baa2, but they improved their outlook for the company from negative to stable. While Bertelsmann did not provide any guidance for the year in their recent first-quarter trading update, Moody’s forecasts that full-year sales will fall 15 percent, and that EBITDA “could decrease by around 30 percent.” Beyond that, Moody’s “expects revenues and EBITDA to progressively recover in 2021, but EBITDA will not reach 2019 levels until 2022.” The service says: “The downgrade reflects our expectation of a material contraction in the company’s revenues and profits in 2020 on the back of […]
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Marta Fleming has been promoted to director of international rights at Macmillan, working on St. Martin’s, Flatiron, Tor/Forge, and Celadon Books. At St. Martin’s Publishing Group, Courtney Littler becomes senior editor, focusing on Castle Point Books and the Griffin Puzzle Program, and Joe Goldschein has been promoted to vp, marketing & sales operations. At Macmillan Speakers Bureau, Chloe Volkwein was promoted to lecture agent. Forthcoming Knopf will publish TOGETHER IN A SUDDEN STRANGENESS: AMERICA’S POETS RESPOND TO THE PANDEMIC on June 9 in ebook and audio, with a hardcover to follow in November. The book features new, mostly not-yet-published work by […]
UK Wholesaler Bertram’s Said to be Preparing Bankruptcy Filing, After Selling Off Some Assets
The UK’s second-largest book wholesaler Bertram’s is reportedly about to appoint bankruptcy administrators, the Sunday Times reported. That puts in jeopardy about 400 jobs, and considerable sums owed to publishers — despite Bertram’s being owned by investment group Aurelius. The owners have already cashed in some of Bertram’s liquid assets, announcing the sale of online bookstore Wordery to Elliott Advisors on Friday. (Elliott says they will run the company separately from Waterstones and Barnes & Noble.) In early April, they sold two other subsidiaries: Dutch antiquarian bookseller Erasmus and academic book and journal supplier Houtschild International were sold to Casalini […]
McGraw-Hill and Cengage Terminate Merger
McGraw-Hill and Cengage announced May 4 that they have mutually agreed to terminate their planned merger. McGraw-Hill said “the required divestitures would have made the merger uneconomical,” while Cengage cited “a prolonged regulatory review process and the inability to agree to a divestitures package with the US Department of Justice.” Under the terms of the merger agreement, which the companies have repeatedly called a “merger of equals,” neither company will pay a termination fee. Both the DOJ and the UK’s Competition Markets Authority said the companies would have to divest certain courses where they were the chief competitors before approval. […]
Endeavor Looks to Raise More Capital, Judge Pares Screenwriters’ Suit, and More
As Endeavor starts informing roughly a third of its staff about who is fired, furloughed and/or set for working half-time, the company is also looking to raise another $250 million in financing to help it through the pandemic, the NY Post reports. In the meantime, Moody’s joined S&P Global Ratings in downgrading Endeavor’s considerable debt load to “negative” since their “liquidity position is projected to deteriorate until the impact of the coronavirus subsides.” In other agency news, California US District Court Judge Andre Birotte Jr. dismissed some of the Writers Guild antitrust claims against the big Hollywood agencies in the […]
Vivendi Buys Stake In Lagardere, As Leaders Push Back On Amber Capital Proposal
Vivendi, which owns France’s second largest publisher Editis, has acquired 10.6 percent of Lagardere’s stock. The company says in their release, “This acquisition is a long-term financial investment reflecting Vivendi’s confidence in the future prospects of the French group which enjoys international leadership positions in its businesses and which, like many others, is experiencing difficult times at the moment.” The investment follows a report last week that billionaire Vincent Bollore, Vivendi’s chairman and leading shareholder, was among those buying stakes in Lagardere and planning to support management in their battle with activist hedge fund Amber Capital. Amber has nominated their […]