In line with lengthy preparations, academic publisher Springer Nature formally announced plans to list shares on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, looking to raise approximately €1.2 billion in proceeds. Timing was not announced, but in Germany shares usually start trading four weeks after an IPO is announced. Holtzbrinck, currently a 53 percent owner, will retain all of their shares. Minority partner BC Partners, which owns 47 percent of the company, may “include a secondary placement” to sell some of their shares in the IPO, “depending on the market environment.” The proceeds from the offering will be used “to strengthen Springer Nature’s financial profile” — […]
People, Etc.
Lori Burke will move over to Clarkson Potter as executive director, licensing & strategic publishing partnerships, reporting to Doris Cooper. She was executive director, license acquisitions and media at Penguin Children’s. At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: Liz Anderson has been promoted to senior marketing manager, Lisa McAuliffe moves up to marketing associate, and Alia Almeida is now marketing manager at HMH Children’s. Diana Ventimiglia has joined Sounds True as acquisitions editor. Previously she was editor at North Star Way. MJ Johnston has been promoted to assistant editor of Sourcebooks and Sourcebooks Landmark. Matt Carlini has joined Javelin as a literary agent/foreign rights […]
Briefs: Prince’s Memoir, Comey’s Launch, and More
Forthcoming In a podcast with Variety, Esther Newberg at ICM confirmed that Prince‘s memoir, sold to Chris Jackson at One World shortly before the performer’s death in 2016, will indeed be published. She suggests the title will be ready soon, “hopefully at next Christmas” (meaning 2019, apparently). The publisher tells us that a publication date has not been confirmed yet. Written by Dan Piepenbring (starting with the 50 pages of manuscript that Prince had written before his death), Newberg calls it “a wonderful testament to a great songwriter and performer.” (Update: the book is staying with Spiegel & Grau rather […]
People, Etc.
Michelle Howry will join Putnam as executive editor on May 7, reporting to Sally Kim. Previously she was executive editor at Hachette Books. Juliana Horbachevsky has joined Little, Brown as publicity manager. Most recently she was with Crown Publishing Group. Nicole Angeloro, editor at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, will take on the additional role of editorial manager of Mariner Books. Angeloro will continue to oversee The Best American publishing program. Allison Sundstrom has been promoted to senior designer at Sourcebooks. Following her promotion to ceo of Penguin Random House US, Madeline McIntosh will now also join Bertelsmann’s group management committee, which “advises and […]
LBF: Nonfiction Tops Dealmaking
Consistent with our deal stats preview from Friday, the most notable trend from this London Book Fair dealmaking season is the surge of big deals — and “major” deals in particular — for nonfiction. And that’s without counting Hachette’s pickup of Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein’s next book, or other just-announced nonfiction from today including books from Ash Carter, Yotam Ottolenghi, and Senator Doug Jones. (Our LBF count covers the five weeks leading up to the show, from Monday, March 5 to Monday, April 9.) The 11 major nonfiction deals are the most we have ever reported in an LBF lead-up: Overall […]
Forthcoming: Silva, Tolkien, and More
The London Book Fair kicks off with a few publication announcements of high profile books due shortly (and available for pre-orders) trying to be called recent signings. HarperCollins will publish six more books by Daniel Silva for publication around the world, starting with THE OTHER WOMAN in July. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt will publish the third in its J.R.R. Tolkien trilogy, THE FALL OF GONDOLIN, edited again by Christopher Tolkien and illustrated by Alan Lee, on August 30. And St. Martin’s has announced Jocko Willink and Leif Babin‘s THE DICHOTOMY OF LEADERSHIP: Balancing the Challenges of Extreme Ownership to Lead and Win for […]