SVP international sales and rights at Abrams, Mary Wowk will retire on December 31. Wowk joined Abrams in March 2007 as vp sales. Her long career in publishing has included working at Houghton Mifflin, Little Brown, Simon & Schuster, Anness Publishing, and Black Dog & Leventhal. At Viking Penguin, Maya Baran has been promoted to assistant director of publicity; Kristina Fazzalaro to publicity manager; and Ciara Johnson to associate publicist. Ilana Gold has joined Workman Publishing as assistant director of publicity. She was previously at Hilsinger-Mendelson. An effort is underway to find a buyer who will save the Venice, FL […]
International News
Vivendi Grows Lagardere Stake
Vivendi continues to build their stake in Lagardere, filing notice last week after passing the 25 percent threshold — having built their position up to 26.7 percent of shares. They began buying the stock in April of this year — starting with a 10.6 percent stake — initially as a show of support for management in the first stages of its battle with activist investor Amber Capital. In mid-August Vivendi aligned with Amber in calling to seat four members of the board, and that campaign has intensified since, also enlisting the third-largest shareholder in Lagadere, the Qatar Investment Authority — […]
Bernard Arnault Buys Direct Lagardere Stake
Late last week, French billionaire Bernard Arnault bought a 5 percent stake in the publicly-traded shares of Lagardere, signaling the strength of his commitment to supporting ceo Arnaud Lagardere as a majority of shareholders seek to shake up the board and management of the company. Earlier this year Arnault helped shore up Mr. Lagardere financially, acquiring a 25 percent stake in the privately-owned holding company that controls Lagardere. A Vivendi spokesman said the firm was “very happy” that Bernard Arnault had become a direct Lagardere shareholder, Reuters reported. (This will only fuel speculation from earlier this year that the ultimate […]
As Qatar Switches Sides, A Majority of Shareholders Seek to Reseat Lagardere’s Board
Lagardere’s third-largest shareholder Qatar Holding indicated support for major dissidents Amber Capital and Vivendi in giving owners of the stock a meaningful stake in the company’s governance. While the statement issued Tuesday night in a “rare public incursion” from the Qatar Investment Authority stopped short of explicitly backing the push for a special shareholder meeting that is headed to court, the fund deems it “legitimate that all significant shareholders be fairly represented.” Together, Amber and Vivendi control 41.5 percent of shares, and Qatar owns a 13 percent stake, giving them a majority of the stock. CEO Arnaud Lagardere owns just […]
Corporate: Abrams Acquires Cameron, Bonnier UK Makes Flexible Work Permanent, and More
Abrams has acquired Cameron + Company, a family-owned publisher based in Petaluma, CA, publishing books with a focus on photography, art, food and wine, children’s books, and topics of regional interest. Abrams has distributed the line since early 2018. Cameron + Company will be a separate division under Abrams, with vice president and publisher Chris Gruener reporting to Abrams president and ceo Michael Jacobs. The current staff will remain based in their offices in Northern California. Separately, Hardie Grant has bought out Egmont, their joint venture partner in Hardie Grant Egmont, and will rename their children’s line Hardie Grant Children’s […]
International: Hachette UK Acquires Laurence King, and More
Hachette UK has extended their string of modest acquisitions in purchasing Laurence King Publishing (best known for Johanna Basford’s coloring books). King himself, who recently turned 65, will leave after a six-month term as a consultant. Hachette UK has been the distributor for LKP. In 2018, the most recently reported year, LKP had sales of £16 million, with almost no profit. The gift, trade and art books will keep the LKP name as an imprint of Orion, run by Anna Valentine. Their student and professional books will become an imprint of Quercus and the children’s publishing will be part of […]