The special meeting called for in July by two large shareholders in Quarto Group will be announced shortly, Sky News reports. They have been “leaked” a letter from Tim Chadwick, who the two dissenting owners–confirmed to include The Wellcome Trust (and 9.7 percent owner), and thus by elimination J.O. Hambro Capital Management (a 9.5 percent owner)–want to appoint to the board while removing chairman and ceo Laurence Orbach. Chadwick is said to insist that Quarto sell or close “all loss-making, relatively risky, or unproven activities and [use] the net proceeds to accelerate debt repayment.” He laments that the publishers’ “results […]
International News
eNews: Google Brings eBooks to Japan; Kobo Adds Portugal; Nook Launches Video; and UK to Appoint eLending Review Panel
After launching Google Play, including ebooks, in Korea, Google will open the service and sell their Nexus 7 tablet in Japan as of October 2, with the device retailing for 19,800 yen ($250.) Reuters reported that executive chairman Eric Schmidt attended the launch, telling a briefing that the continuing growth of the smartphone market would set up a battleground among companies getting into the online shopping space: “It is the defining platform and the defining battle in our industry.” Google Play in Japan will include Japanese-language ebooks. Elsewhere in international expansion, Kobo is extending its partnership with FNAC in France […]
eNews: Google Launches in Korea, and More
Apparently Google launched an ebook venture in Korea earlier this month, with participation from publishers including Woongjin, Ridibooks and Munhakdongne Publishing. An unnamed official told The Korea Herald (found via The Digital Reader), “We picked Korea since the adoption rate of smart devices, including smartphones, are one of the highest among other nations.” Korea Herald Yale University Press announced that they have received a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation “to launch extensive market research and development of a new electronic model for illustrated books.” The award and subsequent work is intriguing since so far illustrated books have lagged […]
People, Etc.
Bloomsbury India will start publishing in November, drawing on titles from the company’s UK and US lists. Rajiv Beri is managing director; Diya KarHazra is trade publisher, and Amit Bhatia is academic and professional publisher. Douglas Markham, recently fired by Books-a-Million from his position as evp and chief administrative officer, alleges through attorney Mark White that “for some time, BAMM has made it known to our client that the company did not support his service to the US Navy.” Markham is a captain, and as BAMM had reported previously, was on leave for part of 2009 while on active duty […]
People, Etc.
Editorial director of Rizzoli Paolo Zaninoni is leaving after almost ten years at the company. General manager of RCS trade books Massimo Turchetta will replace Zainoni on an interim basis. In addtion, Federica Magro has been named manager of Bur and Vintage paperbacks. Previously she was an editor at Mondadori. At Simon & Schuster Children’s, Liesa Abrams has been promoted to executive editor and moves from Aladdin to Simon Pulse, though she will continue to edit Aladdin’s Dork Diaries, Unwanteds and Beyonders. In addition, Annette Pollert moves up to editor, while Karen Nagel has been promoted to executive editor at […]
eNews: Amazon Publishing Promotes Sales Figures; Kobo Pairs With Livraria Cultura In Brazil; And More
In a letter to agents obtained by paidContent, vp, Amazon Publishing Jeff Belle touted supposed sales figures on a handful of titles released by the company’s West Coast imprints to encourage agents to publish with Amazon, saying he was “energized by the early results.” Among the citations, Belle said the cumulative sales numbers for the 87th Precinct titles by Ed McBain reissued by Thomas & Mercer over the past year exceeded 250,000 units (but that’s across several dozens of books); Sean Chercover’s thriller THE TRINITY GAME, published in July, “is already well on its way to surpassing 100,000 copies,” and […]