It was almost a year ago that the Frankfurt Book Fair announced that continued construction at the fairgrounds would change the layout of the show starting this year, so some people may have forgotten to plan accordingly when making this year’s appointments. But a fresh announcement this week serves as a timely reminder, while providing information on further changes planned for next year’s fair and beyond. Mostly importantly, the agents’ center has moved from its standing location at the top of Hall 6 (floor 6.3) over to the historic Festhalle near the fair’s main City entrance. (The Festhalle is the […]
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Allison Devlin has been appointed sales director in client sales at Penguin Random House Publisher Services. Former literary manager at The Gotham Group Eddie Gamarra has been hired as vp studio business development for Nickelodeon. Legal A jury cleared Nicholas Sparks of all counts of defamation and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, concluding a long-running suit filed by Saul Benjamin, former headmaster of the North Carolina school founded by Sparks and his wife. In the suit, Benjamin accused Sparks of defaming him by claiming to others that he was mentally and/or physically ill, and terminating him because of […]
Shareholder Sues Over Barnes & Noble Sale; F+W UK Books Business Sold
Investor Richard Scarantino filed suit in a Delaware Federal Court against Barnes & Noble, seeking class action status on behalf of stockholders, arguing that the company’s tender offer solicitation “omits material information with respect to the Proposed Transaction, which renders the Solicitation Statement false and misleading.” From a Google search, filing lawsuits just like this one is the primary activity for which Scarantino is known. In particular, he charges that the statement left out “material information regarding the company’s financial projections” for the future. As well, he alleges it left out certain details about the financial analyses performed by financial […]
Germany Wins Some Marketplace Terms Improvements from Amazon, As EU Investigates Bigger Issues
Germany’s Federal Cartel Office accepted a number of “concessions” from Amazon and closed the “abuse of dominance proceedings” they started last November, while the bigger and more volatile charges have been taken up by the European Commission “to assess whether Amazon’s use of sensitive data from independent retailers who sell on its marketplace is in breach of EU competition rules.” Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said they will “take a very close look at Amazon’s business practices and its dual role as marketplace and retailer.” So far, “Based on the Commission’s preliminary fact-finding, Amazon appears to use competitively sensitive information – about […]
Editis to Acquire Archipel in France
France’s second-largest publisher Editis — bought by Vivendia from Planeta earlier this year — is in exclusive negotiations to acquire L’Archipel. (Generally speaking, these exclusive negotiations lead to a formal acquisition, and the parties speak about it as a done deal in their press release.) L’Archipel will remain under the direction of founder and president Jean-Daniel Belfond, who would report to Editis ceo Pierre Conte. Created in 1991, L’Archipel has a backlist of over 2,500 titles. In the machine-translated release, Belfond says, “The support of Editis, with a preserved autonomy, will allow us to devote ourselves fully to what drives […]
Briefs: Germany’s KNV Sold, Scribd Minis, Rebel Girls Imprint, PRH UK Pulls Book
Bankrupt German book wholesaler KNV (Koch, Neff and Volckmar) was auctioned by the trustee to Berlin-based privately owned logistics company Zeitfracht. The sale price was not disclosed, but the creditors’ committees have approved the purchase agreement. Zeitfracht says it will retain all employees — approximately 1,600 jobs — and continue to operate KNV’s three locations. Press release Subscription service Scribd is formally rolling out Snapshots (which launched in beta in February), “designed to offer key insights of a book in about 15 minutes to spark subscribers’ interest in reading the book in its entirety.” It’s “the literary equivalent of a […]