Following the recent sale of the Financial Times to Nikkei, Pearson has now sold its 50 percent stake in The Economist Group as well, for £469 million (or $731 million). Three-fifths of their stake (or a 30 percent share in the Economist) goes to Exor, the holding company for minority shareholder Agnelli, while the remaining portion (a 20 percent share) has been bought back by the Economist Group itself, funded by the sale of their headquarters, the Economist Complex, which has been the editorial team’s home for more than five decades. Pearson noted the “proposed changes will be put to a shareholder vote next month […]
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Jennifer Ung has joined Simon Pulse as associate editor. Previously she was an assistant editor at Scholastic. Kristen Reach has joined the Kenyon Review as associate editor. Previously she was an editor at Melville House. Bankruptcy Filing Filmed Entertainment Inc. — the parent of DVD direct-seller Columbia House — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, citing $2 million in assets and $62 million in liabilities. The unit was part of Bertelsmann’s once-mighty Direct Group, then part of Direct Brands — purchased, along with the Bertelsmann’s North American book club group Bookspan, by Najafi Companies, which transferred the units to the mysterious […]
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At National Geographic Books, Hilary Black has been promoted to deputy editor, taking on a larger strategic and managerial role in acquisitions and positioning. In addition, Bridget English has been promoted to senior editor and Anne Smyth has been appointed as a full-time project manager. Karen Fink has joined Putnam as associate director of publicity. Previously she was deputy director of publicity at Grand Central. At Dutton, Liza Cassity has been promoted to publicity manager. Terry Vaughn, who held editorial positions at MIT, Oxford, and Princeton University Presses, died August 6 at the University Medical Center of Princeton from complications […]
Briefs
Bill Adams has been promoted to svp, associate general counsel at Penguin Random House. Aimee Chase has rejoined Hollan Publishing as editor, after several years of teaching. She worked previously at Hollan as managing editor. Correcting a brief from earlier this week, Harlequin‘s “global acquisitions team” in the UK is moving into Harper UK’s London Bridge offices, but still reporting into the Harlequin office in Toronto. With the stock market in a down week, the newly-public Barnes & Noble Education, which officially began trading on Monday, is off to a weak start. Shares are down in Friday morning trading, at a little above […]
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at Penguin Random House, Randi Rosenkranz has been appointed to the newly created position of vp, sales development. She most recently was Team Manager, Worldwide Developer Relations at Apple, and before that, Penguin Random House’s vp, digital development. At Bloomsbury USA, Lea Beresford has been promoted to senior editor. Book digital marketing firm FSB Associates is opening a second office in Carlsbad, CA. Founders Fauzia Burke and John Burke will now split their time between the new office and Basking Ridge, NJ. Opening Sales Random House Children’s says that they sold 200,000 copies of Dr. Seuss‘s What Pet Should I Get? […]
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Karin Schulze has joined Abrams as senior subsidiary rights manager. Previously she was associate foreign rights director at Crown. Calvin Crosby has been named executive director of NCIBA, effective in October, after training with outgoing executive director Hut Landon starting next month. Crosby was most recently sales and marketing director of McSweeney’s, and previously served as board president of the booksellers’ group. In addition, Ann Seaton has been hired as administrator. Previously she was manager of Hicklebee’s children’s bookstore in San Jose and will also leave her position on the NCIBA board, to work four days a week for the […]