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Baker &Taylor Forms New E-Commerce Company
Jim Milliot -- 5/8/00
As-yet-unnamed firm will house wholesaler's e-businesses
Looking to take advantage of business-to-business e-commerce opportunities, Baker & Taylor has created a new company that will incorporate all of the wholesaler's electronic businesses. To help launch the company, B&T has transferred Replica Books, Yankee Rights Management and all of its databases to the new operation. The move "will give greater clarity and focus to our Internet operations," B&T CEO Craig Richards told PW.
Richards will serve as CEO of both B&T and the new company, for which the wholesaler hopes to have a name before BookExpo America. Richards said he is searching for a name that "communicates what we do" and that would be a good URL. He confirmed that the name will end with ".com." Approximately 80 people are part of the e-commerce venture which is something of a virtual company in that Richards will head the company from B&T's Charlotte, N.C., headquarters while other employees, such as the Replica unit, will remain in their present locations.
The distribution of electronic content, expansion of its database operations and creation of Internet portals will be the new firm's three primary areas of focus. "We will become much more aggressive in acquiring content for electronic distribution," Richards vowed, adding that "we see a real opportunity here." The electronic content unit, which puts the new operation in competition with such companies as netLibrary, will deliver its content to e-retailers and will not go after the consumer market. Richards said the company's initial plans do not call for it to acquire original content.
Richards also hopes that by placing its databases in a separate company, competitors of B&T will be more inclined to license the group's various services, which include the Title Source and cataloguing databases.
The new company's most original project will be the creation of portals that will host fulfillment services for vendors. The first portal the company will establish will be for libraries, www.TheLibraryPlace.com. According to Richards, the portal will offer libraries access to everything they need at one location, including such items as furniture and computers. The portal will also provide a level of free services and information as well as paid premium services. Richards said he hopes to have the portal operational before the American Library Association's annual meeting. Additional portals are in the planning stages, although Richards declined to discuss details.
B&T is currently the sole owner of the new company, although Richards said that he will be seeking outside equity financing and strategic partnerships with third parties that will result in a reduction of B&T's ownership stake. A future IPO is a possibility, Richards acknowledged. Because of the resources needed to launch the new company as well as the volatility of the stock market, B&T has withdrawn its own IPO, which was filed last summer.
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