Though Vivendi was previously awaiting regulatory approval from the French government for their acquisition of Amber Capital’s 17.5 percent stake in Lagardere — originally expecting the deal to close by December 15 — the company has decided it does not need to wait any longer. “Recent analyses carried out by Vivendi have led the company to consider that this acquisition could take place now since, in accordance with applicable rules on the control of concentrations.” Vivendi says it will not exercise the voting rights attached to Amber shares “until the approvals required for the acquisition of the control of Lagardère […]
International News
Hachette UK’s Shelley Expects Supply Chain Challenges to Continue
Hachette UK CEO David Shelley told authors in his annual letter that supply chain challenges have been “the most extreme that I have seen in my 24 years in publishing” and he notes that “it is clear that these will be ongoing issues and that 2022 will be marked by them.” While some of their issues have been exacerbated by Brexit, other elements are shared by US publishers: “One of the issues our team have been grappling with is a worldwide shortage of paper. Due to unexpected surges in sales in all markets during Covid lockdowns, the world has gone […]
UK Judge Allows Ambramovich’s Libel Suit Against Harper to Move Forward
Last week UK High Court Mrs Justice Tipples made a preliminary ruling that allows Roman Abramovich’s libel lawsuit against HarperCollins and author Catherine Belton over the book PUTIN’S PEOPLE to proceed to trial. The judgment was limited to analysis of “the meaning of the passages” that Abramovich’s alleges are libelous, to “determine the impression that would have been conveyed to the ordinary reasonable reader.” Mrs Justice Tipples found that the book asserts “the claimant is under the control of President Vladimir Putin and, on the directions of President Putin and the Kremlin, he has had to make the fortune from […]
Forthcoming: Larsson’s Millennium Series Sequels
The next books in Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series will have a new publisher in Sweden. Polaris has acquired the Swedish rights for books 7, 8, and 9 in the series, from Moggliden, which manages Larsson’s estate. Hedlund Literary Agency represents Moggliden. The previous books were published by Norstedts. The author for the new books has not yet been named. David Lagercrantz wrote books 4-6 in the series after Larsson’s death. US rights for the new titles have not been announced (Knopf has published the previous books in the US). “We are pleased to have agreed with Polaris on the next […]
China’s COL Digital Publishing Group Awarded Copyright Infringement Damages from Apple
Apple has been ordered by Tianjin Binhai People’s Court in China to pay $1.9 million to Chinese online publisher COL Digital Publishing Group after several third party apps were found to be publishing book content without authorization. The court said Apple failed to conduct due diligence on third-party apps to stop infringement. Online platforms in China do not have the same kind of Section 230 protections as in the US, where companies have almost no liability for third-party content. A partner at Shanghai Debund Law Firm You Yunting tells South China Morning Post, “Chinese courts have established rather high standards […]
AAP Shows Trade Paperback Gains in July
The AAP’s July StatShot report shows another good month for trade publishers. Sales of $705 million were up 9.3 percent from $645 million a year ago (which was a very strong month). The gains came entirely from a jump in trade paperback sales: Adding $35 million in adult books, and $27 million in children’s and YA books. Digital audio sales of $58.9 million were up less than 6 percent ($3.1 million), and ebook sales of $82.7 million were down more than 15 percent from $98.1 million a year ago.