Penguin Random House’s pending $2.175 billion deal to acquire Simon & Schuster drew headlines Monday following an announcement from the UK’s Competition & Markets Authority that it launched a merger inquiry last Friday. Of potentially greater significance, however, and reported here exclusively, is that the acquisition is now facing a more detailed level of scrutiny from regulators in the US. Within the last week or so, employees report, the Department of Justice extended its review with a “second request” for more detailed information. Second requests require a far more extensive, and expensive, production of documents and information from the deal […]
Legal
Skyhorse Claims Use of Woody’s Memoir in New HBO Series is Infringement
Skyhorse Publishing asserts that the use of clips from the audiobook version of Woody Allen’s 2020 memoir Apropos of Nothing in HBO’s new Woody Allen docuseries, Allen v. Farrow infringes the copyrights in the work. The company told Deadline, “We believe that its unauthorized use of the audiobook is clear, willful infringement under existing legal precedent, and that the other episodes will infringe, too, if they appropriate the audiobook in a similar manner.” They add, “We will take the legal action we deem necessary to redress our and Woody Allen’s rights in his intellectual property.” A representative for directors Amy […]
People, Etc.
At Knopf, Daniel Halpern will join as executive editor, starting July 1. He founded Ecco in 1971 and led the line until last September, when he was “immediately…transition[ed]” to editor-at-large and then left at the end of 2020. Diana Tejerina Miller has been promoted to executive editor and Andrew Miller moves up to vice president, executive editor. Charles Linsmeier has been promoted to evp, general manager of Macmillan Learning. Josalyn Moran has joined Welbeck Publishing Group as director of business development for children’s books, North America. She was most recently senior director for children’s books at Barnes and Noble. Katie […]
McGuigan and Gendell Report “Significant Progress” On Managing Client Funds
On Tuesday, an attorney for literary agent Yfat Reiss Gendell wrote to the judge overseeing former partner Peter McGuigan’s motion asking for a court appointed receiver for the bank accounts of their former agency, Foundry Literary, requesting an adjournment until mid-March. “The parties have made significant progress,” the attorney reports. “They have identified an independent accountant to potentially assist the parties in managing Foundry Media, and have tentatively selected a new bank for the company’s accounts.” Filed with the consent of the plaintiffs, “The parties seek additional time to formalize these arrangements.” Judge Joel Cohen quickly consented, and rescheduled the […]
Briefs: DOJ Drops Wolkoff Lawsuit; SLJ Apologizes; More on Bookshop
The Justice Department dropped its unusual lawsuit against Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, author of Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady. The lawsuit, filed during the final months of Donald Trump’s administration in October 2020, claimed the book violated the author’s White House nondisclosure agreement. A Justice Department official told the Washington Post, “The Department evaluated the case and concluded that dismissal without prejudice was in the best interests of the United States based on the facts and the law.” Bookselling The Boston Globe ran a profile on Bookshop.org and founder Andy Hunter, celebrating […]
Facing Closure of Bank Accounts, McGuigan Asks Court to Expedite Appointment of Receiver
In updated court documents, Peter McGuigan filed an order to show cause motion, seeking an immediate court order transferring the client funds and operating accounts of his former literary agency Foundry to a temporary receiver. The urgency comes because McGuigan says in an affadavit that Foundry’s bank issued a notice that they will close the accounts on February 26. The documents note, “The Plaintiffs are extremely concerned that the bank’s decision may cause the Defendants, or their accomplices to become in possession of all, or a portion of funds presently on account, which will be unequivocally detrimental to the security […]