South Carolina’s Post and Courier reports on state records showing that Amazon’s Createspace is eliminating 58 jobs in North Charleston, starting in March. An Amazon spokesperson confirms, “After a thorough review of our service offerings, we’ve made the decision to discontinue Createspace’s paid professional editing, design and marketing services. We will work closely with impacted employees through this transition to help them find new roles within the company or assist them with pursuing opportunities outside the company.” The service division will close in July. The newspaper says the layoffs are mostly customer service positions. The change has no effect on Createspace’s […]
Finance
More Talk of A CBS-Viacom Merger; Waterstones’ Sale Near and Daunt Would Like to Stay
Shari Redstone is once again looking seriously at merging CBS and Viacom back together, multiple “insiders” told TheWrap in a report Friday afternoon that lifted shares of both companies. (CBS continues to gain in early Tuesday trading.) She “has concluded that a bigger footprint is necessary for the companies to thrive,” the article says, as “three individuals with knowledge of the companies said that Redstone is actively moving in that direction [of a merger.]” Those insiders say that CBS chairman Les Moonves “is now open to the possibility,” and an individual close to Moonves told TheWrap: “He’s having active discussions with […]
Three Top F+W Executives Leave; Restructuring Consultancy Is Hired
In the continuous restructuring of F+W Media, the top three executives were dismissed from the company as Monday, according to an internal memo provided to Publishing Perspectives. Consultant Greg Osberg was appointed interim CEO and “charged…with accelerating the transformation already underway.” CEO Tom Beusse, coo Joe Siebert, and cto Joe Romello all left the company. Beusse was hired just under 2 years ago. The corporate website still lists Adams Media as one of their properties, even though it was sold to Simon & Schuster over a year ago. The company still publishes books under imprints including David & Charles, Krause Publications, and […]
Penguin Random House Buys Rodale Books
Penguin Random House announced Tuesday it has purchased the trade-book publishing assets of Rodale Books from Hearst — the new owners of Rodale — and will “take over the publication of its frontlist and backlist titles effective immediately.” Longtime distributor for Rodale Books Macmillan will continue to sell and distribute the titles for the time being. PRH spokesperson Claire von Schilling tells us, “It is the expectation that we will transition to PRH platforms in the first half of the year, on a timeline that ensures that we can take care of the authors and the books as seamlessly as […]
Barnes & Noble Stock Heads to Fresh Low
As we had reported on Friday, Barnes & Noble’s poor holiday sales and reduced earnings guidance drove the bookseller’s shares over 13 percent to new all-time lows, closing at $5.60 a share. In early Tuesday trading, shares were pushed down further, to approximately $5.125 a share, down another 7 percent or more for the day so far. That brings the bookseller’s market cap down to about $370 million.
With Poor Holiday Sales and Reduced Earnings Guidance, Barnes & Noble Stock Is Hammered
While the industry celebrates the arrival of a book that is driving the national agenda and sending customers to stores all over, Barnes & Noble continues to suffer from underperformance, low store traffic, and sluggish online sales. The chain disclosed holiday sales in contrast to industry trends after the close of the market on Thursday. Perhaps more importantly, those poor holiday sales will impact earnings: BN reduced their earnings guidance from EBITDA of $180 million — the minimum chairman Len Riggio had said BN needs to ensure “a future” — down to a range of $140 million to $160 million. […]