NYSE Boots AMS The latest installment in the sad slide of Advanced Marketing Services (AMS) is that the company’s stock will be de-listed from the New York Stock Exchange before the opening on the market on April 19. The move is due to the company’s failure to file its annual 10-K report with the SEC. The company expects to continue trading on the OTC Pink Sheets, though warns “there can be no assurance” that this will happen. We asked a hedge fund friend for a quick interpretation: “Being de-listed is reflective more than indicative of the company’s issues. Generally the […]

Executive Changes: Marcus to Leave Scholastic, and Whalen Exits Running Press Scholastic president of children’s book publishing and company evp Barbara Marcus has “decided to leave the company” following this summer’s publication of the next Harry Potter book, after 22 years at Scholastic. Disney Children’s Books publisher Lisa Holton will take over for Marcus. Marcus says in a statement, “I have had a truly extraordinary experience and opportunity at Scholastic,” said Ms. Marcus. “The authors, illustrators and especially my colleagues have made my years here a most special time. I feel now is the right time to leave, having accomplished […]

Tomorrow I’ll be at the BISG conference all morning, so Lunch will likely be served after lunch instead. After All That: Weinstein Weisbach Hiring Announced It’s officially official, as in actually finalized and announced. Despite the many mangled speculative reports that preceded it, the news is relatively straight-forward: Rob Weisbach will serve as president and CEO of both the current Miramax Books and The Weinstein Company’s new book venture (known around here as Max Mira until a more official name comes along), starting April 11. In both jobs, he’ll report to Bob and Harvey Weinstein. Miramax Books itself remains part […]

Pulitzers As you have likely seen elsewhere already: Fiction Marilynne Robinson, GILEAD [Finalists: “War Trash” by Ha Jin and “An Unfinished Season” by Ward Just] Nonfiction Steve Coll, GHOST WARS: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 [Finalists: Suketu Mehta, “Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found” and Luis Alberto Urrea, “The Devil’s Highway: A True Story”] Biography Mark Stevens and Annalyn Swan, DE KOONING: An American Master [Finalists: “Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare” by Stephen Greenblatt, and “Under a Wild Sky: John James Audubon and the […]

Perseus Closes CDS Purchase After lengthy negotiations, Perseus has closed their acquisition of Client Distribution Services. With over $200 million in annual sales volume on behalf of client publishers (including Harvard Business School Press, Taschen, Abbeville, and Tokyopop), the privately-held CDS quickly rose to become the largest independent distributor, though the company has faced increasing challenges as start-up units from Ingram and Random House have added to the intensely competitive distribution environment. (The alliance follows the recently-announced departure of large CDS client O’Reilly to Ingram.) CDS was majority-owned by private equity firm Olympus Partners, which financed the purchase of what […]

Lunch Returns For those who didn’t remember (or notice in the first place) that we indicated last week Lunch was taking a vacation break, we’re back, and now you know why you haven’t gotten e-mails for a little while. Bookselling Doldrums: AMS Suffers Further; Softness at Hastings and Ottakar’s; Ailing Australian Chain Will be Sold (and Borders Is a Potential Buyer) Every time Advanced Marketing Services issues a bulletin it appears to contain bad news. Though the company remains long behind in filing formal earnings reports with the federal government, they indicated in a statement earlier this week that they […]