B&N Adopts Poison Pill
Following the disclosure that investor Ron Burkle's investment firm had upped its stake in Barnes & Noble to about 17%, the bookseller adopted a shareholder rights plan that will make it extremely difficult for any outsider to get control of the retailer. The rights plan will kick in if “a person or group,” without board approval, acquires 20% or more of B&N's stock or announces a tender offer that would give that party at least a 20% stake. The plan will also go into effect if a person or group already owning 20% or more of B&N stock acquires additional shares without board approval.
Graphic Arts Files for Chapter 7
Graphic Arts Center Publishing has filed for Chapter 7 liquidation, listing liabilities of $11.7 million and assets of $7.2 million. A trustee is expected to be appointed soon to begin selling off Graphic Arts' assets, which include about 350 active backlist titles. While that process unfolds, Ingram Publisher Services is continuing to distribute the company's titles as well as accepting returns. Ingram and the Silicon Valley Bank are Graphic Arts' two largest creditors.
MacAdam/Cage Gets Cash Infusion
After more than a year of layoffs and complaints of nonpayment from creditors, including authors, MacAdam/Cage publisher David Poin-dexter said he has secured a new investor who has agreed to provide an immediate six-figure loan to stabilize the finances of the cash-strapped publishing house; Poin-dexter also announced an agreement to sell up to 30% of the company to the same investor for about $1 million. The publishing house, down to three people, will use the funds to pay its debts and rebuild the publishing program.
Kindle Enters Canada
Amazon began selling the Kindle in Canada last week. Priced at $259, the e-reader will have access to 300,000 titles, Amazon said, although many Canadian publishers have only started to make their titles available for the device. Several Canadian newspapers will also be available to download.
September Store Sales Rise
Bookstore sales jumped 7.0% in September, to $1.58 billion, the U.S. Census Bureau reported. The increase was most likely due to gains at college stores and the release of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. Despite the September increase and an upward revision in the August numbers, bookstore sales through the first nine months of the year were down 0.7%, to $12.52 billion. For the entire retail market, sales were down 6.5% for September and 9.7% for the year to date.
Exec Shifts at Borders
Borders has appointed Bill Dandy senior v-p, marketing. With Dandy's appointment, Art Keeney—who has served as senior v-p for marketing since June—will move to senior v-p, store operations, and Larry Norton will move from his current role as senior v-p, merchandising and distribution, to senior v-p, merchandising for Adult Trade and Children's Books. Dandy most recently served for three years as executive v-p, marketing, for Mattress Firm Inc.
Mixed Hastings Quarter
At Hastings, total revenue slipped 1.7% in the period ended October 31, to $112.3 million, despite a 6.9% increase in the number of units sold in the quarter. The discrepancy, Hastings said, was due to the continued shift by consumers to buying low-priced items. That trend was reflected in the book segment, where comp sales inched ahead 0.2% due to higher sales of used and value-priced books, which offset lower sales of new hardcovers and trade paperbacks. The retailer was able to cut its net loss in the quarter slightly, from $3.7 million in last year's third quarter to $3.4 million in the most recent period.
Writers' Groups Oppose Harlequin Self-Pub Deal
Three writers' groups—Romance Writers of America, Mystery Writers of America and Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America—contacted Harlequin last week to register their opposition to the publisher's deal with the self -publishing company Author Solutions to create Harlequin Horizons. The imprint would serve as a self-publishing arm of Harlequin. The groups are concerned that Harlequin's involvement would mislead aspiring writers to believe they would be professionally published. Harlequin said they would remove their name from the imprint, but at press time the issue had not been completely resolved.
Obituary: Waldo Hunt
Waldo (Wally) Hunt, considered by many to be the father of the modern pop-up book industry, died on November 6, three weeks shy of his 89th birthday. Through his three companies—Graphics International, Intervisual Communications and Intervisual Books—Hunt pioneered the creating, producing, and marketing of pop-up interactive books, and Hunt's companies dominated the pop-up book business from the 1960s until the late 1990s.
A wake is planned for December 5 in Springville, Calif. Donations can be made in the name of Wally's wife, Patricia Hunt, to the Roger S. Good Cancer Treatment Center, 465 West Putnam, Porterville, Calif. 93257.
