It's been three bumpy years for iLeón, the Web-based distributor of Spanish- and English-language books to institutional markets, culminating with the company closing on November 21. Despite iLeón's recent expansion, which included the opening of a Buenos Aires office last spring and the launch of a newly designed Web site (www.ileon.com) a few weeks ago, a key investor pulled out of the project.
Since it began in November 2000, iLeón underwent several changes at the executive level. CEO Reuben Katz abruptly left the company a year after he founded it and cofounder Larry Bennett replaced him, only to be substituted by the former international director, Xavier Xargay, last March. Amid these changes, iLeón established itself as an online one-stop—shopping source for librarians looking for Spanish-language materials, handling everything from research and collection assistance to fulfillment.
Unlike traditional distributors, iLeón did not carry an inventory and did not have warehouse facilities. Rather, library customers selected titles and the company's staff in Barcelona, Bogotá, Mexico City, Buenos Aires and the U.S. searched for the books, consolidated them through OCLC at the central facility in Ohio, and shipped them to the libraries. However, not enough library customers embraced this distribution model, and iLeón never managed to become a self-sufficient venture. "It's a shame to shut down iLeón," said CEO Xargay.
