Testifying Friday in a Delaware courtroom in the case brought by Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa challenging Barnes & Noble’s poison pill, chairman Len Riggio said of the defense plan adopted by the board, “It’s about the company.” But in a videotaped deposition before the trial played in court, Riggio said “the pill was about me and my family.” At another point in the deposition, he said, “I have a strong preference for being the largest shareholder of Barnes & Noble, being its founder.” Riggio was vaguer on the point raised in the first day’s testimony by Barnes & Noble board member […]
Legal
Lively Testimony at BN Trial
Coverage of the first day of testimony in Ron Burkle’s lawsuit against Barnes & Noble in Delaware makes for fascinating, if not crystal clear, reading. Burkle indicated that he considered–but then rejected–a buyout bid for BN last year at $25 a share. (The stock now trades for under $13, its lowest point in years.) He accumulated stock last fall because he thought the company was historically cheap–“This was one of those things you would look back on and say ‘this could never happen again'”–but on that point he’s already been proven wrong by the market. Burkle is considering nominating his […]
Logic Prevails As Penguin Canada and Davidar Settle Rundle Lawsuit–And She’ll Return to Work
Former Penguin Canada president David Davidar’s lawyer Peter Downard has indicated in a brief statement that Lisa Rundle’s lawsuit alleging unlawful dismissal and sexual harrassment has been settled. He said in an e-mail, “we can now advise that all allegations have been addressed and all matters resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.” Downard added, “None of the parties will be commenting further to the media.” Penguin Canada spokesperson Yvonne Hunter also says “everything has been settled.” And in Wednesday’s announcement of Mike Bryan’s appointment as president of Penguin Canada, the company indicated that Rundle will return to work at […]
Barnes & Noble Has July 8 Court Date with Burkle
Barnes & Noble reveals in their annual report with the SEC that investor Ron Burkle’s lawsuit against the company filed in Delaware Chancery Court in early May is scheduled to go to trial July 8. Burkle’s Yucaipa American Alliance is seeking to overturn the poison poll BN adopted to keep him from acquiring more than 20 percent of the bookseller’s shares. Burkle has even more reason to be agitated now than when he filed the suit, with Barnes & Noble shares down over 30 percent from two months ago. In the standard risk factors enumerated in the bookseller’s SEC filing, […]
Suits: AVT Claims Libel By Randall Lane; Jude Law Wants to Block Ex-Wife’s Book
The company AVT (previously called Automated Vending Technologies) says they have filed a $100 million libel suit in California’s Orange County against author Randall Lane for his just-released book The Zeroes: My Misadventures in the Decade Wall Street Went Insane.” The book alleges that AVT hired former baseball star-turned-investor Lenny Dykstra to promote the company’s stock on TheStreet.com, and claims that he his brother-in-law was given stock in the company as compensation for the publicity.Lawsuit press release In the UK, actor Jude Law asked a court to block publication of his ex-wife Sadie Frost’s forthcoming memoir CRAZY DAYS. John Blake […]
eDeals: Symtio Sold to Libre Digital; Overdrive Adds Disney and Partners with Internet Archive, As IA Invents Their Own Rules for Lending Older Titles As eBooks
Zondervan has sold the technology and infrastructure behind their Symtio business to LibreDigital (in which Zondervan parent HarperCollins is also an investor). The sale covers “the Symtio e-commerce technology, existing e-commerce contracts and applications, and key e-commerce staff,” but not Symtio’s retail card business, which the release says ” Zondervan is in negotiations to sell separately.” It’s a curious bifurcation, since Symtio has always promoted their “digital product cards” as the heart of the business that lets physical retailers sell and activate cards that allow the downloading of digital media. LibreDigital ceo Russell Reeder says in the announcement they will […]