In the wake of yesterday’s news that Lonely Planet would shift most of its web operations to the UK and lay off approximately 70 employees, CEO Matt Goldberg went into more detail about the reorganization in a memo to staff. In addition to reiterating the reorganization causes – losing $13 million on foreign currency due to a strong Australian dollar and reducing costs by 18 percent – Goldberg indicated the company’s digital revenues climbed to 21 percent from from 9 percent over the past four years, “which indicates our digital business has momentum.” Borders CEO Mike Edwards is taking his […]
People, Etc.
SVP and chief accounting officer for Scholastic John Giraldo will leave the company on June 1 for a new position, according to an SEC filing Thursday afternoon. Current evp and cfo Maureen O’Connell will take on Giraldo’s duties until a replacement is found. Bloomsbury associate publisher Sabrina Farber will leave the company at the end of this month. She has worked there since 2003. Longtime ABA staff member Mark Nichols‘ title has changed from industry relations officer to Development Officer. “The change was made to better reflect Nichols’ role in the association.” The ABA and On Demand Books have entered […]
Donnelley Will Provide POD and Frontlist Fulfillment for HarperCollins In Broad Supply Chain Agreement
HarperCollins has become the latest large publisher to address the shift in business from print to digital with a revised inventory model that outsources more services and reduces their fixed-cost warehouse network. Starting in November, the publisher will expand their longtime relationship with their printer RR Donnelley. All of Harper’s new releases will be fulfilled directly from Donnelley’s Harrisonburg, VA facility rather than Harper’s own network of warehouses. Donnelley will also provide global print-on-demand services to Harper, and as of July 2012, they will take over fulfillment of all titles from the Zondervan division, both frontlist and backlist. As a […]
Lonely Planet to Move Web Operations to UK, Cut 70 Jobs
Lonely Planet announced to Melbourne staff Thursday that it will shift the bulk of its web operations to the company’s UK offices and slash costs by 18 percent, cutting 70 jobs in the process. The company said the move was due to a strengthening Australian dollar and declining sales. “Despite the fact that we’ve delivered on everything we set out to achieve this past year, the devastating impact of foreign currency exchange shaved over $13 million off our 2010/11 revenues. And at the moment, we have more than 80 per cent of our revenues coming from outside of Australia & New […]
Bertelsmann’s Up Down Quarter
Depending upon which headline you check, you will have read today that Bertelsmann’s profits rose or fell in this first quarter, and both are true. In a brief trading statement, the company said sales rose from â¬3.56 billion to â¬3.63 billion. Operating EBIT, generally their preferred measure of income, fell 16 percent from last year’s record quarter at â¬245 million, and regular EBIT was down 18 percent. But total “group profit” more than doubled, to 94 million, due in part to lower interest payments. No division breakdowns are provided in the quarterly report.
Audible Looks to Jump-Start Audiobook Production with Entrepreneurial ACX
After a series of industry previews, Audible.com has gone live today with an ambitious new platform designed to both significantly expand the number of published books available in audio and to give rightsholders and audiobook talent a bigger stake in process. Called ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange), the site is a marketplace for matching the vast pool of books not yet adapted for audio with acting talent and producers, in an entrepreneurial model that lets participants on both sides of the equation work at fixed-rate buyouts or a 50/50 share of back-end proceeds with no upfront costs. Royalties escalate from 50 […]