In its earnings call yesterday Pearson admitted it was “uncomfortable” with the Libyan Investment Authority being its fifth-largest shareholder. Today the company announced it will freeze the LIA’s stake, valued at 3 percent last June but now at approximately 3.27 percent, or 26,572,179 shares. Pearson states that, per legal advice, “under The Libya (Financial Sanctions) Order 2011 (SI 2011 No. 548), Pearson considers that the ordinary shares in the company which are held by or on behalf of the LIA are subject to the Order and are therefore effectively frozen.” They have since informed the LIA and its nominees that […]
Legal
Records Show Fox News Head Roger Ailes Asked Judith Regan To Lie to Investigators
The memory of Judith Regan’s inauspicious 2006 exit from HarperCollins – as well as the breach of contract lawsuit against News Corporation she settled for $10.7 million – had long faded into the background. But a New York Times front page story this morning brings those events to the forefront thanks to the apparent solution to one of the more explosive allegations Regan made at the time: that a prominent News Corp executive urged her to lie to investigators about her former lover Bernard Kerik, then a candidate to run the Department of Homeland Security and now in jail for […]
Briefs: Author Sues Former Agent Over Bacon Cookbook; Spring Design Phasing Out Alex E-Reader And More
Brooklyn author Lisa Skye is suing her former agent, Jayne Rockmill, for puportedly stealing the idea that became the cookbook “I Love Bacon”, published by Andrews McMeel in 2009. According to the lawsuit, filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court, Skye said she and Rockmill jointly put together a proposal for the book after meeting at a launch party in 2007 for an earlier, self-published cookbook. Skye claims she fired Rockmill in early 2009 after she “became disenchanted with Rockmill’s aggressive style”, and was “stunned” to find a copy of the book with Rockmill’s name on it in a San Francisco bookstore […]
Sheedy Sues Sterling Lord, Seeking Her Accounting Records and Payment Due from 2009
Last week the Charlotte Sheedy Literary Agency filed suit in New York State Supreme Court against Sterling Lord Literistic, which Sheedy’s agency had been affiliated with since 1995. The complaint charges SLL with multiple breaches of a contract between the two agencies from 2009, which was terminated on February 15, 2011. Among the most serious allegations are that SLL had agreed in that 2009 contract to pay Sheedy $128,000 and has “refused and failed to pay the entire sum” and “purported to grant itself numerous set-offs…in order to reduce the amount shown to be owed.” Sheedy also claims that SLL […]
Author of Historical Novel Featuring JRR Tolkien Files Pre-Emptive Complaint To Counter Estate Objections
The JRR Tolkien Estate’s perennial objections to the use and licensing of the author’s work and characters were back inn the spotlight last week after Stephen Hilliard, the Texas-based author of “Mirkwood, A Novel About J.R.R. Tolkien”, an historical novel featuring Tolkien as a character, filed a lawsuit in Texas District Court in an attempt to release the book, published through BookSurge. Hilliard told the Hollywood Reporter that on the eve of the novel’s release, the Tolkien Estate filed a cease-and-desist letter alleging “it had a property right to commercially exploit the name and likeness of J.R.R. Tolkien” and that […]
Who Else Benefits – Or Suffers – From Borders’ Bankruptcy?
In addition to the bankruptcy’s effect on book sales and publishers’ respective bottom lines, Borders’ Chapter 11 filing will have a domino effect on a number of related players, among them: LandlordsPublicly-traded Michigan-based Agree Realty was often cited as being in the most precarious position, because Borders stores made up approximately 20% of their total real estate portfolio (and was as high as 27%). Yesterday Agree released a statement indicating that 5 of the 14 Borders properties it owns (which includes company headquarters in Ann Arbor, up for sale, and two buildings not currently occupied by Borders) are slated for […]