About 100 employees of the Doubleday Canada Book Club lost their jobs late last week when the company declared that the Canadian operation was bankrupt.
DB Media Distribution, which was a part of U.S. parent company Direct Brands Inc., had operated in Canada for more than 70 years and was one of the largest direct marketers of books in Canada. It also owned Columbia House Canada. Direct Brands is still operating in the U.S. CEO Deborah Fine has thus far not been available for comment, but she reportedly said in an email that U.S. operations are unaffected by this move.
Brenda Hefferon, a marketing specialist who worked for the company for 14 years, said the employees were told “the company wasn’t doing well, and we knew that.” Although she said the company had not put a lot of investment into books, she also seemed to have a sense that the closure was inevitable. “It was coming. I have an ereader.”
The Doubleday Canada Book Club was known as such because it was owned by Bertlesman AG many years ago, but there is no longer any link between the book club and Doubleday Canada Publishing Group or to Random House of Canada Limited. The book club sold books from multiple publishing houses.
To clear up any confusion caused by the similar names, Random House of Canada issued a statement on Friday making it clear that the two companies are entirely separate. “It is regrettable that the Doubleday Canada Book Club company, also known as Doubleday Canada, has announced bankruptcy. The Doubleday Canada Publishing Group, a division of Random House of Canada, remains very much in active business and is healthy and thriving.”
