As we suggested well over a year ago, there has been little reason for Quarto Publishing to continue operating as a publicly traded company on the London Stock Exchange — and on Thursday morning, the company announced a plan to go private. CK Lau and his Honk Kong-based company 1010 Printing Limited already have a controlling 50.08 percent stake in Quarto, with lead minority investor Andrea Giunti Lombardo owning 22.34 percent. The stock trades very lightly, and fell substantially at the end of August when Quarto reported a 16 percent decline in sales for the first six months of their […]
International News
Vivendi Finalizes Takeover of Lagardere
Following a second promised sale (of Gala magazine to Groupe Figaro), Vivendi announced Tuesday that it has officially closed its deal for a controlling interest in Lagardere. Vivendi’s executives say in the announcement, “As we do for all our businesses, while preserving its integrity, we will support Lagardère in its development and the transformation of its businesses. Together, we will strengthen our international presence in the fields of creation, content and distribution. We are delighted to start a fruitful collaboration, bringing all our activities to new heights.” Vivendi owns 60 percent of Lagardere stock, and just over 50 percent of […]
Sourcebooks and PRH Form Callisto China
Sourcebooks has joined with the Penguin Random House North Asia office to create Callisto China. The new line will publish a selection of Callisto’s titles in the local language. When PRH acquired Callisto’s assets in May in a Sourcebooks-led deal, Sourcebooks ceo Dominique Raccah identified international expansion as a clear growth opportunity. She says in the announcement, “Callisto has developed an extraordinary line of books which have never had exposure to an international audience. This new collaborative partnership with PRH North Asia brings Callisto to the Chinese market in a really comprehensive way.” PRH North Asia already distributes Sourcebooks and […]
Lagardere Becomes CEO of Hachette Livre
Arnaud Lagardère has been named chair and CEO of Hachette Livre, replacing Pierre Leroy, who took over following the departure of Arnaud Nourry after he had opposed the sale of the company. Leroy retains his other role as deputy ceo of parent company Lagardere, just as Mr. Lagardere retains his other role as ceo of the parent company (which presumably now leaves him reporting to…himself). Lagardère says in the announcement: “In light of the impending merger of the Lagardère group and Vivendi, I wanted to demonstrate my historical and deep-rooted attachment to the book trade, which the Lagardère family has […]
Reisman Will Pivot Indigo Back to Books
Returning Indigo ceo Heather Reisman has given a number of interviews in recent weeks, pledging to return the chain to its core values and aiming to lift book sales to comprise 65 to 70 percent of the company’s revenue. “We will have a yearlong journey” in turning around the chain and “we will do this with our customers; books will move to the center.” That will reverse her own long-term initiative to remake Indigo as “a full lifestyle retailer.” The last time books comprised 65 percent of sales was the fiscal year ending in March 2015. She admits, “I was […]
Publishers Make Record Bets on Fiction Heading Into Frankfurt
The trends we noted in our recent analysis of third quarter deal reports — fewer overall reports, growing totals for adult fiction, but record numbers of “major” deals — come into concentrated relief as we narrow down into the traditional “pre-Frankfurt” dealmaking window in particular. Since 2021, the Frankfurt Book Fair has fallen a week later than usual, yet again our counts include one extra day of deal reports — but that makes for even comps to 2022 and 2021. For many years, FBF would come five weeks after Labor Day, so our count usually covers five weeks plus one […]