The bad week for Barnes & Noble’s stock continued yesterday, with another drop of almost 4 percent on heavy volume, to close below $10 a share for the first time. The continuing fall was sufficient to finally attract the notice of the WSJ’s Heard on the Street column. They’d still like to see BN close more stores, and blame Len Riggio at least in part for taking more cash in the 2009 merger of BN College than the entire combined company is worth in today’s market. (The company has a current market cap of approximately $550 million.) The stock opened […]
Pop: AAP eBook Sales Comprise 23.5 Percent of All January Trade, Outpacing Hardcover and Mass Market Books for First Time
The much-anticipated January 2011 AAP ebook sales report shows the spike that many expected: among the 14 publishers who contribute data, wholesale ebook sales jumped to a new all-time high of $69.9 million. As a result, ebooks comprised 23.5 percent of all trade book sales for the month. (In December, ebook sales of $49.5 million comprised just under 8 percent of trade sales.) That big increase is consistent with the surge of new ereading devices and a traditionally slow month for new print book shipments–and is in step with reports from Sourcebooks that digital sales hit 35 percent in January, […]
‘The Murder Room’ Author Capuzzo and Penguin Sued for Libel
Journalist Michael Capuzzo’s true crime book The Murder Room, about the inner workings of the Vidocq Society and published last August, is now under scrutiny in New Jersey District Court. Joan Crescenz quietly filed a libel lawsuit in January against Capuzzo and his publisher, Penguin imprint Gotham. At issue is the way in which Capuzzo characterized the relationship between one of his main subjects, the forensic sculptor Frank Bender, and Crescenz, his secretary for more than two decades. The book claims the relationship was sexual, and uses her name twelve times in the process of discussing the purported affair. Crescenz, […]
REDGroup Cuts HQ Jobs, May Close More Stores; Borders Lease Rejections; and More
REDGroup Retail has laid off 26 staffers at its Melbourne headquarters as part of its bankruptcy proceedings. Administrators Ferrier Hodgson said in a statement that the company could not rule out additional layoffs and store closings in the coming weeks, on top of the 38 Borders and Angus & Robertson stores already closed and 321 layoffs. Earlier this week Australian bankruptcy court granted Ferrier Hodgson’s request for more time to consider its options and come up with a restructuring plan. The administrators now have until September 18. A court hearing on the same matter is pending in New Zealand, which […]
People: Atlantic UK Cuts Five, and More
Atlantic UK has laid off five people as part of an internal restructuring. Commercial director Daniel Scott is leaving in June, while editorial director Sarah Castleton will exit in mid-April. Three additional jobs are being eliminated in the finance department. At McGraw-Hill, Brian Kibby has been appointed president of the Higher Education group, replacing Ed Stanford. Previously Kibby was SVP sales, marketing and business development for Pearson. Les Editions Albert René is now fully owned by Hachette Livre, which bought Sylvie Uderzo’s remaining 40% stake in the company. At Eerdmans, Franklin Goldberg has been promoted to director of sales. Katie Dunneback […]
Borders Gets Extra Time to Renegotiate Leases
In Tuesday morning’s Omnibus hearing, Manhattan bankruptcy court judge Martin Glenn granted the bulk of Borders’ motions, including an extension of the deadline to renegotiate existing leases by an additional 90 days to September 14. The court also gave final approval on the $505 million credit facility pending several changes are made, including a provision giving the unsecured creditors committee $125,000, up from $50,000, to fund investigations of claims of secured lenders. Judge Glenn empathized with part of the creditors’ objection, noting that “when I look at the incremental cost of new money coming in, it’s pretty steep,” but he […]