Penguin Realigns International
Penguin has realigned its international sales team, putting a major emphasis on Spanish-language territories. A new international sales team now reports to Barbara O'Shea, president of nontrade sales, and includes special markets. The company has hired Carlos Azula as v-p, international sales, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Mexico, and Erik Riesenberg as director of international sales for those same areas. Azula will be based in Palatka, Fla., and start July 1. Riesenberg will be based in New York and begin July 19. Both men worked for Random House.
Investor Group To Buy Alloy
Alloy Inc., whose products aimed at young adults and over include the Gossip Girl and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants book series, has agreed to be acquired by an investor group led by ZelnickMedia in a deal valued at $126.5 million. The company had sales of $205 million in the fiscal year ended January 31 and an operating loss of $2.4 million. Leslie Morgenstein will remain CEO of Alloy Entertainment, the unit that produced 35 new books for publishers last year.
Viacom Loses Google Copyright Suit
A New York court last week rejected Viacom's $1 billion copyright infringement suit against Google over its YouTube service, granting Google's motion for summary judgment. The court found that YouTube does qualify for protection from the potentially infringing acts of users under the safe harbor provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and the court actually praised Google for its handling of infringement complaints. Viacom sued Google/YouTube in March 2007, arguing that by hosting unauthorized content Google was engaged in massive copyright infringement.
Sterling Renews Hearst Pact
Hearst Magazines and Sterling Publishing have renewed their trademark licensing agreement granting Sterling the rights to create and publish books under the Hearst Books imprint. Under the deal, Sterling has produced lifestyle and cookbooks based on Hearst's magazines.
