Delay In Pearson/Harcourt Deal The UK’s Office of Fair Trading is examining Pearson’s acquisition of parts of Harcourt Education to see if it could “result in a substantial lessening of competition” in the UK education market, in which case they would refer it to the Competition Commission for further examination. The combined companies should have about a 23 percent share of the primary and secondary school market. Pearson Education executive John Fallon says, “The OFT enquiry is a matter of course in that, as Harcourt is the market leader in the UK, we fully expected that the OFT would want […]

Pearlstine Blames Cooper and Others Former Time executive Norman Pearlstine reportedly uses his book (publishing today) OFF THE RECORD to clear himself of responsibility in the Valerie Plame/Matt Cooper case, while “naming names, mouthing off about his enemies, and firing back at those who criticized his cooperation with federal prosecutors,” Radar reports. Reporter Matt Cooper “was less than perfectly discreet after he got Karl Rove on the phone on Friday, July 11, 2003, to talk about Plame,” Pearlstine says. “More than two dozen Time Inc. employees… had had access to e-mails in which Matt had named Rove as his source.” […]

San Diego Paper Plans Changes The San Diego Union Tribune will be the latest newspaper to “adjust the way we’re presenting book coverage,” according to senior editor, special sections Chris Lavin. Those changes “will both improve and broaden our coverage of books,” Lavin insists, though agent Sandy Dijkstra has circulated an e-mail warning that the paper is turning its Sunday book review section into two pages within the entertainment section after June 24 ad will cut reviews by half. Lavin says that information “is not complete or accurate” and indicates the changes will be announced to readers within the paper. […]

Deal Reports Just e-mail to deals@PublishersMarketplace if you aren’t using the online form linked below. Report a deal using the online form The Key As usual, the handy key to our Lunch deal categories. While all reports are always welcome, those that include a category will generally receive a higher listing when it comes time to put them all together. “nice deal” $1 – $49,000 “very nice deal” $50,000 – $99,000 “good deal” $100,000 – $250,000 “significant deal” $251,000 – $499,000 “major deal” $500,000 and up FICTION Debut Gil Adamson’s THE OUTLANDER, in which a mysterious, desperate young woman flees […]

Personnel News Former AMS ceo Gary Rautenstrauch has been named ceo of SirsiDynix, which provides technology solutions to the library market, starting this weekend at ALA. Douglas Maughan joins him as the new cfo. Da Capo Press executive editor Marnie Cochran is joining Ballantine as an executive editor in late July, and will continue to work from Boston. With her switch, Perseus is making Marlowe & Company a part of Da Capo’s Lifelong Books imprint, with Matthew Lore, as vp and executive editor. Wendy Holt Francis, Katie McHugh, and Renée Sedliar have all been promoted to senior editor, reporting to […]

Please Note Lunch is downshifting this week, and invoking the “except when not” part of our motto. We’ll be skipping at least a couple of the next few days, but as always, news will be posted to the PublishersMarketplace home page as warranted, and all the other site functions (including deals, jobs and more) will continue with their usual vigor. Rushdie Knighthood Reignites Controversy Salman Rushdie is being knighted by the Queen of England, one of 21 just announced knights-to-be. The honor, which a British spokesperson called “richly deserved,” for “self-explanatory” reasons, drew immediate protests from the Islamic world, including […]