Independent bookstore Frog Hollow Books in downtown Halifax, Canada is closing shortly after 25 years in business. CBC In Germany, leading bookselling chain Thalia reported a same-store sales increase of 0.8 percent.PublishingPerspectives
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The BN Deal A Day Later
Barnes & Noble chairman Len Riggio filed follow-up documents with the SEC that provide further details about the $250 million in owner financing he is providing the bookseller as part of their purchase of privately-held BN College. The loan is broken into two classes of notes: The first, for $100 million, is payable on December 15, 2010 and earns Riggion interest of 8 percent a year; the second, for $150 million, comes due five years after the purchase closes and pays a healthy 10 percent a year in interest. Meanwhile on the stock market, after jumping almost 20 percent after […]
More In Bookselling: Borders Board; Akademos Gets Funding; Vineyard Stores Team up for Russo; Julia Child and Other Sales Reports
Borders has nominated the five new directors who will stand for election in September to take over from the currently-serving directors who are scheduled to step down: Paul Brown, a unit present at Hilton; Ronald Floto, president, FLT International; Michael Grossman, ceo, Tempo Payments; Dan Rose, a vp at Facebook; and Timothy Wolf, chief integration officer at MillerCoors.Release Higher-Ed online bookstore Akademos has secured $2.5 million funding from Kohlberg Ventures, which they will use “to meet rapidly growing demand for its online bookstore and marketplace services.” Additionally eHarmony chief marketing officer Scott Eagle and Kohlberg partner Bill Youstra have joined […]
People
FinePrint Literary Management has hired Laura Wood and Ward Calhoun as agents and Jacqueline Murphy as in-house subsidiary rights director. Wood was most recently associate publisher of Council Oak Books, the latest step in a 20-year career in publishing. She will specialize in serious nonfiction (science and nature, business, history, religion) as well as commercial fiction with a fantastical twist and high-concept science fiction. Calhoun has been a senior editor at Hylas Publishing, and will focus on sports, humor, and pop culture books. Murphy was most recently executive audio editor at Harper Media but prior to that she was longtime […]
Barnes & Noble Will Acquire Private BN College
Barnes & Noble [BKS] announced this morning that the company will acquire the privately-owned Barnes & Noble College operation principally owned by Len Riggio for $596 million, or about $460 million net of the college unit’s cash on hand. One major reason for the combination is the emergence of e-books and BN’s renewed attempts to build their online offerings and compete with Amazon. As Riggio says in the announcement, “Although both companies previously thrived as separate entities, owing to distinctions in their product offerings, the definition of textbooks and trade books has become increasingly blurred. This trend will accelerate with […]
People and Awards
Over the weekend Phoenix Books announced the death of company president Michael Viner, 64, on Saturday, following a battle with cancer. They note Viner was “widely credited with revolutionizing and reinventing the audiobook industry as the co-founder of Dove Audio.” At the Hugo Awards presented this weekend, Neil Gaiman won the prize for best novel for The Graveyard Book. Borders Group has named three vice presidents to lead their store operations: Mike Steele is zone vice president for the West Coast; John Melnick is zone vice president for the Northeast; Dave Marsico is zone vice president for the Midwest. The […]