Recorded Books acquired the Audiobooks.com retail platform on December 31, 2016 but has officially “announced” the acquisition on Tuesday. (In turn, the publishing arm of Audiobooks.com now operates as Novel Audio.) Recorded Books has also unveiled a broader rebranding of the parent company as RBmedia going forward. The new “unified brand” will “help us position the benefits of the combined organization and product lines to the market.” CEO Tom MacIsaac says in the announcement, “RBmedia is the only company that brings together all three key elements of spoken audio and digital media distribution. Not only do we produce top-quality spoken audio content, we’ve also […]
Finance
Penguin Random House to Acquire Barcelona-Based Ediciones B
Penguin Random House will add to its sprawling Spanish-language publishing program with a deal to acquire Ediciones B in Barcelona from Grupo Zeta. The company says the acquisition “will reinforce PRHGE’s cultural preeminence and market share in Spain, Latin America, and across the entire Spanish-speaking world.” Ediciones B’s imprints also operate in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, and Venezuela. The newly expanded PRH Grupo Editorial expects to publish 2,000 titles a year, and general manager of Ediciones B Román de Vicente will work in “support of” Núria Cabutí Brull, who will continue as PRH Grupo Editorial’s ceo. Spain’s El Confidencial says that PRH paid 40 million euros, while […]
International: Quarto Sells Hong Kong Services, Storytel Expands, and More
Following the sale of their ANZ Books & Gifts Direct business earlier this year, Quarto is continuing to slim the non-publishing part of their portfolio. They will sell their 75 percent stake in Hong Kong-based Regent Printing Services to 1010 Printing Group for $7 million (which includes $2.5 million for Quarto’s share of the excess cash in the business). CEO Marcus Leaver says in the announcement, “We believe Quarto has a unique opportunity in our fragmented industry to become the dominant publisher of illustrated books globally. The sale of Regent will allow Quarto to focus fully on what it does best – to […]
BN Board Authorizes New Stock Repurchase to Boost Share Price
The Barnes & Noble board has authorized spending up to $50 million to repurchase the retailer’s inexpensive shares. While that seems like a modest initiative by most corporate standards, BN stock has been trading near its low point and as of Wednesday, that new authority would have covered roughly 8 percent of all shares outstanding. The market took proper notice and, at least for today, BN shares have risen by almost $1 a share in the first 90 minutes of trading on the news. Of course what outsiders would really like to see the board spend $50 million on would […]
London Announcements from Storytel, Faber, and More
Sweden’s acquisitive Storytel purchased People’s Press in Denmark, which publishes about 100 titles a year, as of March 1. They paid approximately $10.7 million. People’s Press had 2016 sales of about $14.5 million, and has a backlist of approximately 1,200 titles. Storytel acquired audiobook publisher Kontentan earlier this year, following last year’s purchases of Norstedts and Mobifo. The publisher now operates in Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Poland, and their digital service has approximately 340,000 paid subscribers. They will combine their Copenhagen office with People’s Press. Announced now but underway for some time, Georgina Capel Associates has paired with former ITV executive […]
Rabe Reaffirms Plan to Buy Part of Penguin’s Stake, and Bring In Financial Partner
Bertelsmann chief executive Thomas Rabe reiterated in an interview with Germany’s Der Spiegel the plan for Bertelsmann to buy only part of Pearson’s 47 percent stake in Penguin Random House, while looking to a financial partner to buy out the remainder. “I expect we will raise our stake to 70 or 75 percent as long as the conditions are right,” Rabe said again. In the January investor call when Pearson first announced its intention to issue an exit notice for the joint venture, cfo Coram Williams said in the q&a session that it was “up to Bertelsmann whether they acccept that notice. If […]