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Bertelsmann Prepares to Pick New CEO Bertelsmann is expected to select its new CEO at a meeting later this week. The favorite, the NYT reports, is Hartmut Ostrowski, 48, who runs the company’s powerhouse Arvato division and guides employees to candor with such maxims as, “Put your fish on the table.” One rival is Ewald Walgenbach, 47, who has led the attempted recussitation of the troubled Direct Group. “In a well-timed leak last week, Handelsblatt, the German newspaper, cited anonymous company sources as saying that Mr. Walgenbach’s book club had reaped its first profit before taxes in eight years. But […]

Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut Daniel Serrano’s GUNMETAL BLACK, following a recently paroled gangster who returns to […]

Deal News Among the many new ones: Steve Martin’s memoir to Scribner; a YA version of Al Gore’s book co-published by Rodale and Viking children’s; Jack Todd’s sweeping family novel to Touchstone; Ralph Eubanks’ latest; and still more. All the deals Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Latest at PGW In a conference call yesterday, PGW clients were explained the details of the offer being formulated by Perseus Books Group. According to people familiar with the call, the rough outline of the Perseus […]

PGW and Avalon: Picking Up the Pieces The Perseus Books Group’s intended acquistion of Avalon will play a large role in shaping the fate of PGW and its other clients, though purchase discussions began in earnest last fall and “when the bankruptcy occurred we basically accelerated it,” Perseus CEO David Steinberger says. As we suggested yesterday before the announcement, PGW without its biggest client is a different proposition to prospective buyers and the Avalon sale potentially puts Perseus in the driver’s seat in shaping the fate of PGW’s clients. Will they have helped kill PGW, save it, or some combination […]

News Briefs William Boyd won the Costa Award (formerly the Whitbread) for best novel for RESTLESS, while Stef Penney took the first novel prize for THE TENDERNESS OF WOLVES. Now they compete with winners in poetry, biography, and children’s for the overall Costa. Guardian The National Library of Barcelona, the largest library in Catalonia, and four affiliate libraries, are the latest to join Google’s Library program. Google announcement Maureen Regan has been sued in small claims court by Paula Conway, her co-author on THE BEAUTY BUYBLE, who appears to have decided after the fact that Regan shouldn’t get an agency […]

Holidays Down at Borders, Too Borders was the last big chain to report sales for the nine weeks ending December 30 but the news is similar to what we’ve already heard. Same-store sales at the superstores fell 1.9 percent, registering $709 million, blamed on “a decline in store traffic.” Management had projected a better stretch, hoping that their Borders Rewards promotion would bring in more customers. Same-store sales at their ever-ailing Waldenbooks fell 6.3 percent, to $228 million. But the company’s UK-focused international segment outperformed competitors there, with same-store sales rising one percent and the strong pound making sales worth […]