The estate of financier and Perseus Books founder Frank Pearl, who died in May 2012, is being sued by Bank of America, TD Bank, Eagle Bank and even Perseus Funds for more than $50 million, according to the Washington Post, alleging he “sought to avoid payment to creditors by fraudulently moving $59 million in life insurance proceeds and other assets from his estate into Perseus Trust, which he had created for his wife” after being diagnosed with terminal cancer in November 2011. Bank of America seeks $22 million; TD Bank and Eagle Bank are asking for more than $16 million […]
University presses
University of Nebraska Press to Acquire Potomac Books; Digital Publisher Frederator Launches
University of Nebraska Press is purchasing substantially all the assets of Potomac Books for $1.2 million in a deal set to close by the end of March. The plan includes the acquisition of their inventory, publication rights, and the trade name of Potomac Books. The company specializes in military history and military affairs and “thus, UNP will publish and sell new works in this area, and will market and sell the existing inventory under the Potomac name.” According to the minutes from a meeting of the UN regents, the acquisition includes “a minimum of $700,000 in existing print inventory and another $100,000 for PBI’s […]
University of Missouri Will Keep Its Press After All
The University of Missouri Press, which had been set for closure this summer, with its assets to be transferred to a newly-imagined “teaching press,” will be preserved in more or less its current form. University of Missouri System president Tim Wolfe says in a statement, “I have been listening to the support and dedication the community and others have shown the Press, and make every assurance that university administration is working to create the kind of Press of which the academic community and those that it serves can be proud.” Responsibility for the press has been transferred from the UM […]
Briefs: Kodansha and Dai Nippon Buy Vertical; Syracuse University Press Pulls Fictionalized Memoir; and More
Kodansha and Dai Nippon Printing announced they are buying nearly equal stakes in smaller Japanese publisher Vertical, for an undisclosed sum. Kodansha will own 46.7% of the company, and Dai Nippon will hold a 46% stake. In addition, current COO Yoshinobu Noma will succeed Sawako Noma as Kodansha CEO in April.Anime News Network Syracuse University Press will no longer print copies of Montclair State University professor Fawzia Afzal-Khan’s fictionalized memoir Lahore With Love: Growing Up With Girlfriends Pakistani Style, published last year, after receiving legal threats from a woman in Pakistan who says that a character is based on her […]
People, Etc.
Nicole Dewey will join Little, Brown as executive director of publicity, starting November 15 and reporting to vp, marketing director Heather Fain. She has been executive director of publicity at Henry Holt. Director of the University of Texas Press since 1992 Joanna Hitchcock announced that she will retire at the end of February. She said, “I’ve been at the helm for almost a third of the Press’s 60-year existence and it is time for new leadership.” Erzsi Deà k is now scouting for both children’s imprints of La Martinière Groupe in France: Le Seuil Jeunesse and La Martinière Jeunesse. She works […]
People and Distribution
Kobo has announced the opening of their New York office, focused on publisher relations andUS content acquisition. Ami Greko joins the company as senior manager, vendor relations, books. She was director of business development for GetGlue after having managed digital marketing for Macmillan. Jan Ehrlich has been hired as director, newspapers and magazines. She was most recently director of business development for Texterity. Kobo notes in the announcement, “Publisher relationships are something we take very seriously at Kobo. Our work with US-based publishers is growing at a frantic pace as we continue to add new vendors, deepen our retail relationships, […]