Storytel has given itself a significant financial lift with a new share issue that raises approximately 400 million SEK (about $37 million) from its two largest shareholders — EQT Public Investment and Roxette Photo — while also bringing in Finnish media company and book publisher Otava as an investor. (In a separate announcement, Otava says they bought a 3.5 percent stake in the streaming media company, for about 125 million SEK.) Shares were priced at SEK 45.50. The board “believes [it] will strengthen the liquidity of the shares and be beneficial to the Company” and help “ensure a strong balance […]
International News
PRH Acquires Remaining Stake in PRH Grupo Editorial Portugal
Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial announced Friday it has agreed to purchase the remaining minority stake of 15.6% of PRH Grupo Editorial Portugal from Manuel de Freitas and his family. De Freitas had retained that share when selling the 20|20 Editora group to PRH in 2021. With that transaction, de Freitas leaves the company, where he served as general director. Editorial continues to be run by Clara Capitão, with Pedro Veiga Ferreira, as director of financial, logistics and systems director, both reporting to Patxi Beascoa.
Prescott Prevails on Primary Charges of Plagiarism By Pasternak
In the long-running case brought in the UK by Boris Pasternak’s great-niece Anna Pasternak against Lara Prescott, author of the novel THE SECRETS WE KEPT, alleging copyright infringement of Pasternak’s nonfiction book Lara: The Untold Love Story and the Inspiration for Doctor Zhivago, UK Justice Edwin Johnson found in favor of Prescott on all of the major claims. If you are a fan of close textual reading, the dense 149-page ruling is a substantial work that stands on its own. Broadly, Justice Johnson was “satisfied that the defendant used Lara only as a secondary source,” calling it “obvious when one […]
Frankfurt Deal Trends Show Strong Sales, with Fiction and Debuts Rising
Recently we reported strong third-quarter dealmaking trends in the US, with near-record overall deal volumes, driven by continued strength in adult fiction, and balanced by some weakness in children’s book sales. Now it’s time for our usual look at the “pre-Frankfurt” dealmaking window in particular. Like last year, the Frankfurt Book Fair falls a week later than usual, so for the second year in a row the counts include one extra day of deal reports. (Often, FBF comes five weeks after Labor Day, so the count usually covers five weeks plus one day. When FBF falls late, starting from the […]
CAA Announces International Rights Team
As expected since CAA finalized their acquisition of ICM in late June, the agency has now formally acknowledged recently “bringing the agency’s translation rights business in-house.” Previously, ICM had a longstanding substantial co-agenting agreement with Curtis Brown UK, in which the UK agency had represented UK and translation rights to ICM titles. (Curtis Brown UK was itself acquired by CAA rival UTA in June.) CAA’s London-based rights team comprises a number of Curtis Brown UK veterans, run by Helen Manders and Daisy Meyrick, and joined by Claire Nozieres, Sarah Harvey (previously at CB UK, most recently head of rights at […]
RBmedia Acquires John Verlag’s German-language Audiobook Catalog
Audiobook company RBmedia has acquired John Verlag’s German-language audiobook catalog. The newly-acquired titles–described in a release as “predominantly nonfiction audiobooks in the politics, investigative journalism, business, biographies, and advice genres”–will be added to the RBmedia Verlag audio brand. As the company notes in the announcement, since 2021 RBmedia has acquired five European audiobook catalogs—Booka, ABOD, Hörbuch München, Éditions Thélème, and now John Verlag.