After Informa rejected a reduced bid of 1.9 billion pounds (down from an original bid of 2.2 billion pounds), the consortium of private equity groups hoping to buy out the company “has decided to withdraw its proposal.” The group, led by Providence Equity Partners, reportedly had trouble raising financing for the deal. But the group “said they reserved the right to make or participate in an offer for Informa within six months subject to certain conditions.” In today’s markets, Informa shares are trading over 20 percent below that reduced offer (the group bid 450p a share; the price is now […]
Big City Bookstore Dreams
Jessica Stockton Bagnulo’s efforts to grow a bookstore in Brooklyn are Timesworthy, as the paper’s metro section looks at the party thrown by the Fort Greene Indie Bookstore Initiative. “Given everything else going on in the world, [it] felt like a pocket of irrational exuberance, even extravagance — a through-the-looking-glass scene in which an independent bookstore, of all things, was the cause for great optimism and celebration. “Halfway through the event, Ms. Stockton Bagnulo announced with glee that she had a business partner — Rebecca Fitting, a 34-year-old sales representative for Random House who decided a few weeks earlier to […]
Novelist Rhodes' "Comeback"
David Rhodes, 61, has been getting attention for his novel DRIFTLESS, published by Milkweed in 6,000-copy first printing–his first book since 1975’s Rock Island Line. The WSJ says “the re-emergence of Mr. Rhodes is noteworthy because he was once considered among the most promising writers of his generation. John Gardner, in his influential meditation about writing, On Becoming a Novelist, proclaimed that Mr. Rhodes possessed ‘one of the best eyes in recent fiction.'” They add: “Like many literary efforts, Mr. Rhodes’s novels barely caused a ripple in terms of sales. His books, which were issued in small numbers and only […]
Rise of the Bigger eReaders
Holland’s iRex Technologies will officially announce a new, larger version of their pricey iRex ereader on Monday. Forbes reports: “The iRex Reader 1000 offers a 10.2-inch diagonal E-Inkscreen, far larger than Kindle’s 6-inch screen or even iRex’s own 8.1-inch diagonal iLiad, its last e-book model. That stretched display is designed to work with any file format, be it an e-book, a full-sized PDF, a Word document or HTML. Like earlier iRex devices, it sports a stylus and touch screen for taking notes and marking documents.” It will cost between $650 and $850.Forbes
People and Other Announcements
Perhaps recognizing the confusion between their company’s two operating names, Newsstand is officially changing its name to the moniker better-known within our business, LibreDigital. They say the change is “to reflect its expanding set of product solutions to a broader set of publishers.” And they have hired Russell Reeder as president and ceo. He was president and coo of video-on-demand player NxTV. At Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Amanda Cook has been promoted to executive editor. In addition to her own list of acquisitions, she edits the Best American Science and Nature Writing series. David Ouimet is returning to PGW as director […]
Plus: Waiting for Brisingr; Prosecuting Bush in Vermont; No Bratz for Scholastic
* Booksellers and fans are gearing up for the just-past-midnight launch of Christopher Paolini’s BRISINGR. In the UK, Waterstone’s children’s buyer Claudia Mody tells the Telegraph, “It’s our biggest pre-order campaign for anything since the final Harry Potter novel. Bigger than Sebastian Faulk’s James Bond novel, Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight or Delia Smith’s How to Cheat at Cooking. It’s going to be huge.” * The WSJ dubs books like Reading the OED and works of AJ Jacobs as “grit lit,” calling them “the geek equivalent of extreme sports.” Joanne Kaufman adds: “The popularity of such books makes perfect sense. After all, […]