Simon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy sent out her year-end letter to staff Thursday, writing that the company is “projected to deliver strong full-year financial results” with two weeks to go in 2012.” Though the retail marketplace “was more complex than ever,” Reidy said S&S “adeptly navigated these complexities while managing to pursue every possible opportunity to maximize sales.” Reidy said recent reorganizations of sales & marketing and editorial imprints helped put “greater emphasis and increased resources, at both the imprint and company-wide level, on digital sales and our efforts to reach consumers via digital means,” and produced a “sharpened […]
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Overseas Regulatory Filing Reveals New Details on Proposed Penguin Random House Merger
The proposed Penguin Random House merger is subject to review and approval by regulatory agencies in several countries — including the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and China — which is one which is why the deal is not expected to close at least until the second half of 2013. Papers were filed with New Zealand’s Commerce Commission on December 19 and made public (with some redactions), providing a few more tidbits of interest. Should the deal be approved, Penguin Random House would actually “operate through two entities” rather than just one: a Delaware corporation “that will own Bertelsmann […]
Simon & Schuster Also Offers Relief to Libraries and Retailers Damaged by the Storm
Following Scholastic’s million-book donation announcement Monday morning, Simon & Schuster ceo Carolyn Reidy informed her employees of S&S’s relief efforts in a memo. They are offering “any public or school library damaged by Hurricane Sandy a donation of 500 ‘best of’ titles in order to help in the restoration of their collections.” So far they are working on concert with the Teachers College Reading, Writing Project’s Literacy Lifeboats initiative, and the New Jersey Library Association to reach libraries in need. The company is working with other relief organizations to provide free books to both children and adults displaced by the […]
CIA Director Petraeus Resigns After Affair With Biographer Broadwell Disclosed
As you may have already noted, publishing has been featured in the fallout from CIA director David Petraeus’ resignation Friday afternoon,when he disclosed an extramarital affair with a woman later revealed to be Paula Broadwell, author (with Vernon Loeb) of the authorized biography ALL IN: The Education of General David Petraeus. Published by Penguin Press in January with modest results (it was No. 13 on the NYT nonfiction bestseller list for a week in February and fell off the list two weeks later), book sales rose online over the weekend, and the paperback is due for release next month. Penguin […]
Storm Updates: Downtown Houses (Mostly) Operational; National Book Awards Events Still On Track
The restoration of the bulk of New York City’s subway service and some commuter rails means much of the book trade in New York has resumed regular operations (though PATH service remains suspended, continuing the disruption in New Jersey). Macmillan, which closed all of last week while power was out in lower Manhattan, is now open, with systems, email, phone lines, and distribution centers back up. In a note to staff, ceo John Sargent said “[we] ask you all to work diligently to catch up. We will have some infrastructure problems, some systems problems, and some transportation problems. Please be […]
Hackers Steal Credit Card Information From 63 Barnes & Noble Stores
Barnes & Noble revealed Wednesday (after multiple outlets reported the news the previous evening) that hackers gained access to customer credit cards used at 63 store locations in nine states, including at least nine stores in the New York City area. The company said the hackers “planted bugs in tampered PIN pad devices, allowing for the capture of credit card and PIN numbers” in these stores, and the PIN pads have since been removed and will not be reinstalled. Purchases at BN College stores and online through BN.com or the various Nook platforms were not affected. BN learned of the […]