Vivendi has built a 9.9 percent stake in education and media publisher Grupo Prisa, which owns El Pais newspaper as well as Santillana, a major educational publisher, particularly in South America. Prisa sold the Santillana trade business to Penguin Random House in 2014 and though lightly reported, last October they agreed to sell Santillana’s K-12 business in Spain to Finland’s Sanoma, an enterprise value of 465 million euros. At the time, Prisa indicated the move would establish a framework to separate its media and education businesses down the road. Vivendi’s position in Prisa is another sign of their broad ambition […]
International News
Briefs
Riky Stock will join North South Books as managing director on January 1. She will focus on “strengthening transatlantic ties to the company’s head office in Zurich, Switzerland and developing a more international approach to marketing and communications.” Stock was head of the German Book Office in New York and represented the Frankfurt Book Fair in the US. (That office was recently closed.) One of the year’s unanswered questions has been what France’s Vivendi — and controlling owner Vincent Bolloré — wants from its sizable 27 percent stage in Lagardere. Reuters suggests the battle for control of the company may […]
People, Etc.
Beth Polcari has been promoted to president, international, at Scholastic, starting January 1. She succeeds Nelson Hitchcock, who will retire at the end of the year after 15 years. Rose Else-Mitchell is rejoining the company as president, education solutions, and will work with current Scholastic Education president Greg Worrell and Polcari to combine their existing divisions into a single education solutions group over the next six months, which Ms. Else-Mitchell will lead starting June 1. After the transition, Worrell will continue to advise on strategic partnerships until his retirement in December 2021 after 30 years. Polcari, Else-Mitchell, and Worrell will […]
People, Etc.
John le Carré, the pen name of David Cornwell, 89, who wrote The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, A Perfect Spy, Tinker, Tailer, Solidier Spy, and many more, died of pneumonia December 12, in Cornwall, England. Johnny Geller, his longtime agent at Curtis Brown UK, said in an announcement on Sunday night, “John le Carré was an undisputed giant of English literature. He defined the Cold War era and fearlessly spoke truth to power in the decades that followed.” Brian Tart, president & publisher of Viking Penguin, said, “It has been an honor to be John le Carré’s […]
News Corp CEO Says PRH Would Face Antitrust Fight Over Simon & Schuster
News Corp. ceo Robert Thomson said in answer to a question at the company’s annual meeting he has no doubt that Penguin Random House would face major regulatory issues in the US if they were to prevail in the bidding to acquire Simon & Schuster. “It will clearly be a serious antitrust issue if Bertelsmann acquires Simon & Schuster,” Thomson said. “However cute and clever the structure, if Bertelsmann is a beneficiary, it will be a book behemoth. And this will certainly be a profound antitrust issue for the entire book industry and no doubt for authors around the world.” […]
Bologna Book Fair Announces June Dates, Takes Aim at LBF and Book Expo with General Publishing Initiative
Following quickly on the London Book Fair’s hopes for an awkwardly-timed live book fair next year running June 29 to July 1, the Bologna Children’s Book Fair has also announced new dates, and expanded ambitions. Bologna now hopes to convene their fair from June 14 through June 17, moving from their original dates in mid-April. Both events may be ahead of sufficient vaccination to encourage live gatherings at scale, particularly while hoping to draw visitors from around the world. Note, for example, that Macmillan Publishers in the US recently declared that they will not open their trade publishing offices in […]