As expected, Delaware Chancery Judge Leo Strine approved the settlement of the lawsuit brought by Barnes & Noble shareholders over the deal to purchase BN College from the Riggios. Judge Strine agreed in part with BN’s request to reduce the share of the proceeds going to the lawyers–originally set at $11 million of the $29 million settlement–though he reduced the award to $7 million rather than halving it as BN asked. The value of the remaining $22 million in settlement funds will be garnered by the bookseller’s own treasury, worth about 37 cents a share. (There is no award to […]
Legal
Kohn’s Final, Comic, Reply
Required by Judge Denise Cote to get his amicus brief down to 5 pages or less (from a proposed 25 pages or more), Bob Kohn has gone more than one step further and submitted his arguments as short “graphic novel” instead. The full panels follow. (Click to expand.) Perhaps the DOJ will reply via Pinterest:
BN College Shareholder Suit Settlement Goes Before Judge
This Tuesday a Delaware Court of Chancery holds a hearing on the proposed settlement of shareholders’ suits against Barnes & Noble over the handling of the purchase of BN College. The settlement calls for Len Riggio to forgo $22.75 million of the principal on a $150 million note that the company still owes him for the transaction, and he will sacrifice $6.3 million of the way-above-market interest that BN is paying on the note. (While borrowing costs are near record lows, the company is paying 10 percent interest.) BN has objected to the proposal that the attorneys get $11 million of […]
State eBook Settlement Will Actually Cost $78.9 Million
Complete documents for the proposed settlement between the states and Hachette, Harper and Simon & Schuster still have not appeared in the US Federal Court’s electronic docket, but the Connecticut Attorney General’s office provided us with some of the key filings. The total amount to be paid out by the publishers is actually $78.9 million. (In addition to the $69 million in consumer compensation, they are paying the states $7.625 million in legal fees–presumably split equally among the three since it isn’t specified–but also another $2.25 million not previously announced for “costs associated with administering the settlements.” The consumer compensation […]
Vague Update on EU Antitrust Case Says Apple And Four Publishers Closer To Settlement
The European Union’s antitrust investigation into ebook pricing has long been more opaque than the US case, but a single-source story from Reuters offers a vague update to a previous report of an impending settlement from early July. According to this story, Apple, along with S&S, Macmillan, Hachette, and HarperCollins, “will allow retailers such as Amazon to sell e-books at a discount for two years in a bid to end an EU antitrust investigation and stave off possible fines.” In other words, the EU seems to want nothing more or less than the DOJ and state attorneys general offered and […]
Pentagon Says Former SEAL Owen Is In “Material Breach” and May Sue
The Pentagon has threatened to take action against former Navy SEAL Mark Owen–and potentially everyone involved in the publication process–for publishing without gaining the required clearances from the government ahead of time. Defense Department general counsel Jeh Johnson said in a letter obtained by Reuters: “I write to formally advise you of your material breach and violation of your agreements, and to inform you that the department is considering pursuing against you, and all those acting in concert with you, all remedies legally available to us in light of this situation.” Johnson adds that “further public dissemination of your book […]