Barnes & Noble formally updated their tender offer documents to acknowledge the shareholder suit from Richard Scarantino, and a similar separate suit filed by David Shaev on July 17, also alleging the company did not disclose certain required information in their offer. BN notes, “The defendants believe that these complaints lack merit but cannot predict the outcome of these matters.”
Legal
Simon & Schuster Objects to Audible’s “Unauthorized and Brazen Infringement,” As Does AAP
Simon & Schuster spokesperson Adam Rothberg provided a response to Audible’s new initiative that shows listeners a computer-generated transcription of the text of an audiobook as they listen: “We have informed Audible that we consider its Captions program to be an unauthorized and brazen infringement of the rights of authors and publishers, and a clear violation of our terms of sale. We have therefore insisted that Audible not include in Captions any titles for which Simon & Schuster holds audio or text rights.” Separately, AAP president and ceo Maria Pallante issued a statement in which she called the new Audible […]
Shareholder Sues Over Barnes & Noble Sale; F+W UK Books Business Sold
Investor Richard Scarantino filed suit in a Delaware Federal Court against Barnes & Noble, seeking class action status on behalf of stockholders, arguing that the company’s tender offer solicitation “omits material information with respect to the Proposed Transaction, which renders the Solicitation Statement false and misleading.” From a Google search, filing lawsuits just like this one is the primary activity for which Scarantino is known. In particular, he charges that the statement left out “material information regarding the company’s financial projections” for the future. As well, he alleges it left out certain details about the financial analyses performed by financial […]
Publishers Respond to Audible’s Planned Infringement
The publishing community is responding with appropriate alarm to the preview of Audible Captions, a forthcoming feature that will show listeners a computer-generated transcription of the text of an audiobook as they listen. A USA Today piece mentioned just three particular in-copyright titles set to be captioned (though it says the feature “will be available on hundreds of thousands of audiobooks at launch”). Two of those are Penguin Random House titles: Michelle Obama’s BECOMING and the late Chester Himes’s A RAGE IN HARLEM (the latter is sold in audio as an Audible Studios production narrated by Samuel L. Jackson). A […]
Germany Wins Some Marketplace Terms Improvements from Amazon, As EU Investigates Bigger Issues
Germany’s Federal Cartel Office accepted a number of “concessions” from Amazon and closed the “abuse of dominance proceedings” they started last November, while the bigger and more volatile charges have been taken up by the European Commission “to assess whether Amazon’s use of sensitive data from independent retailers who sell on its marketplace is in breach of EU competition rules.” Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said they will “take a very close look at Amazon’s business practices and its dual role as marketplace and retailer.” So far, “Based on the Commission’s preliminary fact-finding, Amazon appears to use competitively sensitive information – about […]
Investor Sues Barnes & Noble Education Over Blocked Board Nominations, Rejected Buyout Offers
Barnes & Noble Education, which has worked hard to perform even more poorly than the Barnes & Noble retail operation since the two split apart almost 4 years ago, now finds itself the focus of its own strange potential sale. Bay Capital Finance, which appears to be focused on real estate development, says it has been trying trying to acquire the company outright since earlier this year. On Monday, they filed suit in Delaware’s Chancery Court, asking for their nominations of five independent directors to the BNED board to be put before shareholders at the annual meeting. Bay Capital says […]