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 percent of the European Editis empire in 2004; the remainder was sold to Wendel Investments, which sold Editis to Planeta in 2008.) The announcement says Editis — France’s second-largest publisher after Hachette Livre — had 2017 sales of approximately €750 million and a recurring EBIT […]
Finance
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 Abrams as soon as existing contractual obligations expire. (Overlook has been distributed by Norton. And Abrams using Hachette Book Group for distribution services.) Longtime Overlook associate publisher Tracy Carns and several other employees will join Abrams, continuing in their current roles. “Acquiring The Overlook Press’ […]
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 they are holding a number of options, hoping for a boost in the share price. Schottenfeld has invested in Barnes & Noble before; back in late 2012 he claimed to have a “significant ownership interest” in the company (but not big enough to declare to […]
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 titles across multiple imprints, RBmedia calls itself the largest independent audiobook publisher in the world. They offer audio titles from multiple publishers to consumers through Audiobooks.com by subscription, and provide a broader catalog of digital content to libraries through the RBDigital platform. Tom MacIsaac, president […]
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. In addition, coo Ken Fund has also been appointed as executive director of the board. Acquisitions Rowman & Littlefield has acquired Pineapple Press, a Sarasota, Florida-based company specializing in “all things Florida”, including art, folklore, gardening, history, nature and travel. Pineapple Press, founded in 1982 […]
Penguin Random House Buys Hind Pocket Books in India
Penguin Random House India has acquired Hind Pocket Books, founded in 1958 and “widely considered as pioneer in publishing Hindi and Urdu paperbacks in India,” as the Times of India puts it. PRH India says the acquisition “will build further on [their] presence in local language publishing, to which it has been committed for over a decade,” since Penguin started a Hindi program in 2005. Vaishali Mathur, who has been responsible for Indian language publishing and rights at Penguin Random House India, will now serve as editor-in-chief of Hind Pocket Books, while continuing to build her English language list. Penguin […]