Golden Books' prolonged sale of its adult publishing division to St. Martin's Press was finally completed last week. Reports of the sale had been circulating for months, and the bankruptcy court had approved the deal in March. According to papers filed with the court, St. Martin's paid $11 million to acquire the division, which has about 170 titles and estimated sales of approximately $10 million.
As part of the transaction, St. Martin's acquired the Golden Field Guides and the Whitman Coin Guides, in addition to general trade titles in the parenting and family categories. The unit's backlist includes Stephen R. Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families and The Parents Magazine. Answer Book by the editors of Parents Magazine. The publisher has a current children's bestseller in Maria Shriver's What's Heaven. Cassie Jones, a Golden editor, and associate editor Lara Asher will join St. Martin's.
Sally Richardson, president and publisher of St. Martin's trade division, said the "acquisition fits perfectly with our plans to strengthen the St. Martin's backlist publishing program and offers us some exciting frontlist titles as well." Prior to the deal, St. Martin's had been the distributor for Golden's adult group.
Golden Predicts Better Results
In a filing made in association with its reorganization plan, Golden Books projected that sales in 1999 will fall to about $187 million from $193 million in 1998, but that its net loss will be slashed to $37.2 million, compared to $128 million last year. While Golden forecasts net losses for the next three years ($27 million in 2000 and $16 million in 2001), it anticipates that it will generate positive EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) of nearly $4 million in 2000 and $16 million in 2001. Total revenues are expected to hit $206 million in 2000 and $231 million in 2001.
