Simon & Schuster UK ceo and managing director since 2000 Ian Chapman has been promoted to chief executive and publisher for both Simon & Schuster UK and International. (Chapman had already previously taken on oversight for S&S Australia and S&S India.) CEO Carolyn Reidy writes that “going forward, Ian will continue to apply his considerable publishing and leadership skills across all aspects of our UK and international companies as we seek an even greater level of coordination and growth across all our international publishing. He has assembled a terrific team to help him accomplish those and I know that wonderful […]
International News
People, Etc.
Anthony Cheetham is stepping down as ceo of Head of Zeus in January 2014, though he will retain the role of chairman. Replacing him as ceo and publisher is Amanda Ridout, who will join the company on September 4. Ridout was most recently managing director of Phaidon Press, and before then managing director of HarperCollins UK. “I am delighted to join the team at such an exciting time in the company’s development,” Ridout said in a statement. “After just a year in existence they have already got a strong list of authors and I look forward to building on these […]
Restructuring, or Bankruptcy, Looms for Spain’s Prisa
This spring Spanish media reports touted the idea that troubled Spanish media conglomerate Prisa Group was looking to sell book publisher Alfaguara — possibly to Random House. The company admitted it was “in talks for the transmission of this asset and other Grupo Prisa assets with various partners.” With no deals yet, the WSJ now reports that Prisa is considering a bankruptcy filing — in the US or Spain — possibly as a negotiation technique with lenders as they look to refinance or restructure approximately $3 billion in debt. A short-term loan provided in early June while restructuring discussions were […]
People: Redmayne Appointed HarperCollins UK CEO As Barnsley Exits
After 13 years as ceo of HarperCollins UK, Victoria Barnsley is leaving the company at the end of the week following a restructuring of Harper’s international business. Under the new structure, the management of HarperCollins Australia, HarperCollins New Zealand and HarperCollins India will be transferred from the UK to the US, where they will now report directly to Brian Murray. Replacing Barnsley as ceo is Charlie Redmayne, the company’s former chief digital officer who left in 2011 to serve as Pottermore’s chief executive officer. Redmayne starts back at Harper UK on August 5 and will report to Murray. In a […]
2012 Exports Grow In Line with Trade Sales
The AAP released their second annual report of export sales statistics, extrapolated from the Book Stats data stream and supplemented with additional country-specific data from 150 publishers. As with the previous report, the highlight data provided to us in the press release covers everywhere except Canada — the largest export territory — since some publishers include it within their domestic account. (The full paid report includes information on Canadian sales.) Like the US trade, 2012 exports rose over 7 percent, to $833 million. The unit gain was smaller, at 2.4 percent, and nearly all of the revenue increase came from […]
Sales Rise at OUP
Oxford University Press reported their results for the fiscal year ending March 2013, with sales rising 5 percent (or 4.4 percent on a like-for-like basis) and strong profits. Total sales were £759 million (up £36 million), “in spite of the difficult trading conditions.” Pre-tax profit of £116 million was up slightly, while higher taxes made the net profit a few million pounds lower. Chief executive Nigel Portwood notes, “These results compare favorably with those of our competitors, and are all the more impressive given the difficulties we faced.” PDF report