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 American amateur historian Emma Campion’s historical novel, THE KING’S MISTRESS, the […]
Reed Nearing Deal to Extend Loans
Reed Elsevier is close to securing a “forward-start agreement” to extend about $2bn of loan debt by three years. The Financial Times reports that the deal, which is expected to close in the next few weeks, will see Reed pay up to 225 basis points more than the London interbank rate to lending banks including Barclays and the Royal Bank of Scotland. Reed has about $5bn of debt to refinance before 2012 and “must repay $2bn of ChoicePoint acquisition financing in March 2010 and $2.2bn a year later.” Reed’s $3bn committed back-up bank lines expire in May 2010. Meanwhile, the […]
Borders Deadline Extended Again
Borders Group is paying Pershing Square $750,000 for “reimbursement of expenses” and the extension of the “put” to require Pershing to buy their Paperchase subsidiary, as both the option and the expiration of Pershing’s $42.5 million loan are extended for a second time, until April 15. Borders will report earnings for the fourth quarter and full year on March 31.
Adobe Announces Broader Mobile Support
Following last week’s agreement with Lexcycle, Adobe announced today at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona that their new software development kit will support a full range of mobile smartphones and other devices. Companies already planning to integrate the new capability include Bookeen, iRex Technologies, Lexcycle, Plastic Logic, Polymer Vision, and Spring Design. As of today Sony Reader incorporate the new technology, which will “allow consumers to acquire eBooks from a variety of sources, including public libraries.” General manager of Adobe’s Acrobat products Kevin Lynch says in the announcement, “With Adobe Reader Mobile SDK, Adobe is expanding the reach […]
Announcements
Amazon plans another exclusive Kindle download, partnering with America’s Test Kitchen to offer The Cook’s Illustrated How-to-Cook Library: An illustrated step-by-step guide to Foolproof Cooking for free starting February 24. Thriller writer Andy McNab’s audiobook company GoSpoken struck a deal with Research in Motion to supply e-books to the Blackberry and other smartphones.Times (London)
The Librarian's Role in the Digital Age
Motoko Rich continues her series on “The Future of Reading” by looking at P.S. 225 librarian Stephanie Rosalia, part of “a growing cadre of 21st-century multimedia specialists who help guide students through the digital ocean of information that confronts them on a daily basis.” These new librarians believe that literacy includes books, but also exceeds them via Powerpoint presentations and social networking sites. “The days of just reshelving a book are over,” Ms. Rosalia said. “Now it is the information age, and that technology has brought out a whole new generation of practices.” Yet school librarians are often the first […]