2023 was the year of “finally” in mergers and acquisitions, as two long-in-the-making deals involving some of the largest trade publishers finally closed. Simon & Schuster was sold to KKR three-and-a-half years after their parent company started the sale process. And Lagardere (parent of Hachette Book Group and the rest of Lagardere Publishing) is finally controlled by Vivendi, two years after the latter launched their tender offer to acquire Lagardere, and three-and-a-half years after first buying a stake in Lagardere. In order to take control of Lagardere, Vivendi finally had to divest of Editis — after trying other options — […]
HBG Reports on Sustainability Initiatives
Hachette Book Group shared their environmental progress report for 2022-2023. “HBG’s environmental initiatives span many different areas, including paper sourcing, office recycling, energy usage, product transportation, and packaging,” they write. The company notes that in the past two years, all of their paper came from Forest Stewardship Certified and Sustainable Forestry Initiative fiber. In 2022 8.6 percent of their paper was recycled fiber, with 5.2 percent in 2023. (The company notes that there was a decline in the availability of recycled paper this year.) They also avoid using paper from endangered forests. “We remain committed to purchasing recycled papers when they […]
People 12/19
Merry Sun will join Norton Trade as senior editor in January. She was most recently editor at Portfolio.
AAP International Freedom to Publish Award
Association of American Publishers awarded its 2023 International Freedom to Publish Award to "all publishing houses in multiple countries and regions of the world that continued to publish in the face of increased government pressure, harassment, and threats."
The Year In Legal News: Part 1
This year, publishing’s biggest legal battles centered on a few topics: AI, book banning, and the long-running suit filed by major publishers against the Internet Archive. Copyright was at the center of many of our stories–and will continue to be as lawsuits stretch into the new year. Due to the complexity of several ongoing cases, we’ve split our annual roundup into two parts, with the first focused on the Internet Archive suit and the many class action suits brought by authors and publishers against OpenAI and Meta for copyright infringement. Internet Archive In March, a suit brought by the AAP […]
Lerner Acquires Gecko Press
Lerner Publishing Group has acquired New Zealand children’s book publisher Gecko Press, for an undisclosed sum. Gecko has been distributed by Lerner in the US for the past 13 years, and will operate as an international imprint. Starting January 1, Lerner will handle fulfillment, customer service, and general publishing and business management for Gecko worldwide. The company will continue to acquire from New Zealand, and it will keep its distribution partnerships with Bounce in the UK and Walker Books in ANZ. Under the new organization, Gecko plans to launch 18-20 new titles in 2024. Gecko associate publisher Rachel Lawson will “oversee […]