The French government’s competition authority has approved Vivendi’s acquisition of Editis, the second-largest book publisher in France after Hachette Livre, finding that the transaction “was not likely to undermine competition in the markets for cultural property.” The Authority “took into account the respective market shares of the parties, the organization of the relevant markets, the competitive pressure exerted by the competitors and the counter-power of certain customers, in particular in the digital sector” and dismissed “any competition problem.” The €900 million deal was formalized in mid-November after several months of negotiations, and is now expected to close right away. Owned by […]
Finance
The Year In Mergers, Acquisitions, and Finance
Though 2018 was not as active a year for publishing mergers, acquisitions, and finance as was 2017, it was by no means quiet — and reflects certain marketplace shifts towards consolidation and scale we’ve been paying close attention to for the last several years. Penguin Random House made with a number of modest purchases around the world, including the books division of Rodale, paperback publisher Hind Pocket Books in India, and a controlling stake in Brazil’s Companhia das Letras, while also selling off the app company Smashing Ideas, which was an early outside purchase under ceo Markus Dohle’s tenure in […]
PRH Labs Rolls Out Retail Partnership with West Elm, Promises More for 2019
Penguin Random House has publicized another one of their retail-focused experiments: Creating customized sets of books for display and sales in a pilot group of West Elm stores, pairing books in categories including art, design, and cooking with the retailer’s products. The project began in the summer, and they are calling attention to a holiday Pop-Up at the West Elm on Manhattan’s Upper West Side (on Broadway, between 62nd and 63, right near the PRH headquarters), which also includes gift, music, and children’s books. In the year ahead that “localized assortment program” will roll out to “a broader set of West Elm […]
Sourcebooks Acquires Poisoned Pen Press Titles, For Expanded Mystery Imprint
Sourcebooks will acquire the majority of titles published by Poisoned Pen Press, which it will combine with its own mystery titles in a Poisoned Pen Press imprint. Young adult mysteries under the Poisoned Pencil name will be incorporated into the Sourcebooks Fire imprint. Poisoned Pen editor-in-chief Barbara Peters and her husband, president and founder Robert Rosenwald say in a joint statement, “We know that what started small twenty-one years ago has, like Sourcebooks, continually grown. To enhance the experience of our authors and their readers, as well as of our staff, this is the right time, with a fantastic fit, […]
Rowman & Littlefield Acquires Hal Leonard Imprints, Titles
Rowman & Littlefield acquired the Hal Leonard Performing Arts Publisher Group’s Applause Theatre & Cinema Books, Limelight Editions, Backbeat Books, and Amadeus Press imprints, along with the titles published under the Hal Leonard imprint. They did not acquire the Hal Leonard name, or the company’s businesses of publishing sheet music and music instructional materials and distributing musical instruments. R&L acquired approximately 3,500 titles in the deal, with Hal Leonard retaining a small set of about 50 books that had been published under the flagship imprint. The acquired Hal Leonard titles will be incorporated into Rowman & Littlefield, and the other imprints will continue […]
One Wholesaler to Rule Them All? Ingram Reportedly Looking at Baker & Taylor Acquisition
The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly conducting a “preliminary nonpublic investigation” about booksellers’ use of major wholesalers, Shelf Awareness reports, and telling some interview subjects that the queries are related to the possibility of Ingram acquiring Baker & Taylor. One person interviewed characterized it as a “fact finding” mission to investigate the effects of a consolidation that would leave the industry with a single major wholesaler, servicing both retail and library markets. ABA CEO Oren Teicher said, “To our knowledge, there has never been an instance in the book business when the elimination of competition–and a further concentration of decision-making in fewer hands–has […]