Lulu.com is laying off 24 employees, almost a quarter of their workforce of 100. The reductions include recently-hired president Bryce Boothby Jr. and European vp Cristel Lee Leed. The company plans to relocate its headquarters from Morrisville, NC to Raleigh within the next few months. CEO Bob Young tells NewMediaAge “with the credit and capital markets frozen solid Lulu couldn’t continue burning through money at its previous pace. We’re very disappointed…. we were forced into a position of having to cut costs.” Bob Miller’s Harper Studio has made an agreement with Harper UK to provide for direct publication in the […]
International News
Challenges to Germany's Print Titans
Ever since Gutenberg German industry has led the way in big printing presses but now ” Germany’s dominance in spreading the written word is in danger of fading,” the WSJ reports. Heidelberger still leads the world in sheet-fed offset presses, a market in which German companies control 70 percent. But the world is moving to digital presses, and the German business faces additional challenges from less expensive Japanese machines, further helped by a weak yen. Illinois’ Goss International is a competitor as well. They bought a majority stake in Heidelberger’s web offset unit in 2004 and are now developing offset […]
Concerns Remain Over UK Suppliers
Despite boisterous remarks made by the managing director of UK wholesaler Bertram’s in The Bookseller, concerns remain about both Bertram’s and corporate sibling EUK, due to the financial troubles of parent company Woolworth’s. The founder of Amstrad computers Alan Sugar is reported by the Telegraph to have acquired a four percent stake in the company’s shares, which have fallen 80 percent in a year. Datamonitor says: “Retailers across the entertainment industry are thought to be increasingly concerned with the financial health of the market’s dominant wholesaler, EUK. The worries surrounding EUK’s parent, Woolworths Group, based on the deterioration of its […]
WH Smith: A Bookseller Whose Stock Actually Rises
WH Smith presented the market with a pleasant surprise, reporting sales of 1.352 million pounds, up 4 percent for the year, with profits rising 15 percent to 76 million pounds, above analysts’ expectations. Like-for-like book sales were “flat excluding the impact of last year’s Harry Potter release” (aka “down”). “Gross margin was up year on year. We were pleased with our share performance versus the general high street,” the company said. And among their travel stores, “extended books charts, improved display of chart titles and strong promotions have contributed to our books performance and we have also seen an encouraging […]
UK Publishers Think Thrifty
We’re headed into uncharted waters in gauging the effect of economic crisis on the consumer publishing business, and the Guardian looks for some signs. UK chain Waterstone’s “has seen 200% increases in sales of two titles about keeping chickens in recent weeks.” And Weidenfeld & Nicolson publishing director Alan Samson is looking for threads of string: “Books on saving string, thrift in World War Two – publishers would be well advised to check out their backlist and see if they’ve got these sorts of books.” More broadly, Viking editorial director Joel Rickett says, “We’re thinking more widely about the kind […]
Bertram's Stabilizes?
Managing director of UK wholesaler Bertram’s Michael Neil assures the Bookseller that “conversations have concluded and we are now trading normally” with publishers following the cancellation of some credit insurance policies for their parent company Woolworth’s. But since the company never acknowledged a problem in the first place (“From our perspective and from our customers’ there hasn’t been any disruption to our service. Our warehouse is full of books and sales have been better than ever”) that’s only worth a certain amount. The financial condition of Woolworth’s a whole remains perilous. Separately, the FT reports today (and Woolworth’s confirms) that […]