Barnes & Noble reported fourth quarter sales for the period ending January 31 of $1.439 billion, down 7.3 percent on a same-store basis and down 4.8 percent overall, as BN.com sales of $157 million were down 10.4 percent for the quarter. Net earnings for the quarter were $81.2 million, or $1.46, in line with the previously-reduced guidance. CEO Steve Riggio says in the release, “As we look to 2009, we expect the challenging environment to continue. Sales forecasts have been planned accordingly and expenses have been cut. The strength of our balance sheet remains a top priority. And, while we […]
Google to Supply 500k Public Domain Books for Sony Reader
Yesterday Google and Sony reached a deal to distribute half a million titles, all published before 1923 and in the public domain, through the Sony Reader at no cost. “We have focused our efforts on offering an open platform and making it easy to find as much content as possible – from our store or others – whether that content is purchased, borrowed or free,” said Steve Haber, president of the Digital Reading Business Division at Sony Electronics, in the accompanying release. “Working with Google, we can offer book lovers another avenue for free books while still providing a seamless […]
George W. Bush to Write About 'Decision Points' for Crown
Former president George W. Bush is writing a book about decisions, reports the Associated Press. Robert Barnett negotiated world rights with Random House evp and publisher-at-large Steve Rubin, who will publish the tentatively titled DECISION POINTS with Crown in 2010. Instead of telling his life story, Bush “will concentrate on about a dozen personal and presidential choices” such as his choice of Dick Cheney as VP and sending troops to Iraq, his religious faith and his highly criticized response to Hurricane Katrina. “I want people to understand the environment in which I was making decisions. I want people to get […]
People
Jenny Bent has left Trident Media Group to form The Bent Agency. (Her 15 years in publishing included a stint at Cader Books.) Daniel Ehrenhaft joins Sourcebooks as a middle grade and YA acquisitions editor in their New York offices. Previously he was with Alloy Entertainment.
Major Publishers Partner with Scribd
Random House, Simon & Schuster, Thomas Nelson and Workman are among those publishers partnering with social publishing company Scribd to offer some of their content free of charge, including teaser excerpts and full-length works. “These partnerships help cement Scribd’s position as the online destination for readers while giving publishers a completely fresh platform to reach and market to a potential new audience of millions,” said Trip Adler, CEO and co-founder of Scribd, in today’s release. TechCrunch reports that Scribd “has actually been posting both full text and excerpts of books from some of these publishers for a few months now” […]
Analyst Hopeful on B&N Stock
In advance of tomorrow’s fiscal fourth quarter earnings report, the consensus poll of analysts expects Barnes & Noble to earn $1.48 per share for the quarter on revenue of $1.74 billion. Those earnings would be in line with the company’s reduced guidance in early January, forecasting a range of $1.30 to $1.60 a share, though the sales forecast could be high given the retailer’s weak holiday report. (BN has been weak in the two prior fourth quarters, with sales of $1.69 billion a year ago.) As reported in this piece, William Armstrong with CL King and Associates has a “buy” […]