Publishing News: January 25th
Mirror Group For Sale
Hirschberg Goes to McGraw Hill
Reader's Digest in Talks with Time Warner
Franklin Also to Sell Rocket ebook Content On Its Website
WH Smith’s Web Efforts
International Thomson Publishing Announces Marketing Venture with VarsityBooks.Com
Pearson Hangs Out the For Sale Signs
Mirror Group For Sale
Mirror Group Newspapers confirmed on Monday that they had received a 200 p per share all cash offer for the company from Regional Independent Media which is backed by venture cap firm Candover. The deal values Mirror Group at STL900MM ($1.4Billion) and Mirror spokesmen confirmed that it would be presented to the board for approval. The current bid exceeds a prior bid by Trinity Media which was to be funded by equity. Things are expected to hot up this week as some of the Mirror Group board of directors have expressed doubts as to the independence of Mirror Group CEO David Montgomery. Some board members believe he is predisposed to bids where he can retain executive management.
Source: Financial Times
Hirschberg Goes to McGraw Hill
The McGraw-Hill Companies today named Henry Hirschberg group president, Higher Education,
Professional and International Publishing, where he will help lead the publishing group's growth agenda. Hirschberg brings more than 25 years of editorial and international publishing experience to his
position. Most recently, he was president of the Higher Education Group for Pearson plc's education
division. Prior to Pearson's recent acquisition of Simon & Schuster, Hirschberg held various positions
at Simon & Schuster, including senior vice president, president of the Higher Education group, and
president of the International Publishing Group. Formerly, he was managing director of Prentice Hall's
U.K. operations and executive editor, where he managed editorial responsibility for computer and
business books. Hirschberg began his career as a sales representative at Prentice Hall in Europe in
1972.
Source: Businesswire Jan. 14, 1999--
Reader's Digest in Talks with Time Warner
Sources close to the companies tell Business Week that Reader's Digest and Time Warner Inc. are discussing a deal to combine Reader's Digest with several Time Inc. publications and direct-marketing businesses. Under the structure being contemplated, Time Warner would become an equal partner with the foundations that now control 72% of the publisher's voting shares. Public shareholders would own a yet-to-be-determined stake. Reader's Digest CEO Thomas O. Ryder, who joined the company last May, would continue as the company's CEO with Time Inc. CEO Don Logan as chairman, the magazine reports. Time Warner, Ryder, and the foundations won't comment on the talks.
Source: Businesswire, Jan. 14, 1999
Franklin Also to Sell Rocket ebook Content On Its Website
Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc. (NYSE: FEP) and NuvoMedia, Inc. announced an agreement by which Franklin will distribute the Rocket eBook to consumer electronics retailers. The Rocket eBook is the world's first handheld electronic reader capable of downloading digital books from online bookstores. With the NuvoMedia strategic alliance, Franklin becomes one of the first full-service eBook retailers operating on the Internet. Under terms of the agreement, Franklin will also publish and sell content in the RocketEdition(TM) format on its own website -- http://www.franklin.com. RocketEditions are encrypted titles that readers can purchase and download onto their PC for transfer to the Rocket eBook. The Franklin Rocket eBook will be available in spring 1999 with a retail price under $500, and will be sold through leading consumer electronics stores, computer chains and office superstores. Prices for RocketEditions will be comparable to discounted prices for printed books. Franklin will offer RocketEditions on its website beginning in mid-1999. Participating publishers include Addison Wesley Longman, HarperCollins, Harvard Business School Press, Henry Holt and Company, Inc., Macmillan Computer Publishing USA, McGraw-Hill Publishing, Penguin Putnam Inc., Random House, Inc., Simon & Schuster, and St. Martin's. Many of these publishers, including HarperCollins, McGraw-Hill, and Macmillan, already license their works to Franklin for its handheld electronic products
Source: RNewswire 1/3/99
WH Smith’s Web Efforts
Shares in Britain's biggest bookseller, WH Smith Group Plc, hit a record high on Friday, fuelled by hopes for its nascent Internet division. The high street chain, viewed in the past as an unexciting investment, was lifted by news of its 5.6 million pound ($9.28 million) acquisition of Helicon Publishing Plc, a small loss-making provider of reference material. The deal may have been tiny but the market latched on to it as evidence that WH Smith could be a new British Web star and the stock soared to a peak of 675 pence before easing back to end six percent higher at 626-1/2p. Last July the firm bought the Internet Bookshop for 8.8 million pounds to launch its Internet strategy and Chief Executive Richard Handover said the latest purchase highlighted the group's focus on growing its online business.
Source: Reuters 1/15/99
International Thomson Publishing Announces Marketing Venture with VarsityBooks.Com
International Thomson Publishing (ITP), one of the world's largest educational publishers, has entered into a strategic marketing partnership with VarsityBooks.com (www.varsitybooks.com), the leading online college textbook seller. The goal of both businesses is to increase student awareness of how affordable and convenient it is to purchase their course books online. The agreement consists of joint marketing efforts between the ITP sales force and VarsityBooks.com to educate professors and students on the new, more affordable way to buy new textbooks through the VarsityBooks.com Web site. In return, ITP expects additional sales of new textbooks through the Internet. VarsityBooks.com offers customers a selection of 400,000 titles at discounts up to 40 percent, as well as flat-rate shipping at $4.95, no matter how large the order. Students can use the site's powerful search engine to locate textbooks, then use its state-of-the-art encryption system for secure transactions. Presently, VarsityBooks.com offers comprehensive booklists for more than 50 of the largest colleges and universities across the country. This featured list of universities is growing rapidly and is expected to triple in upcoming semesters. The VarsityBooks.com Web site also includes a "mega" search engine, to allow anyone access to the large discounts while purchasing their books.
Source: PRNewswire 1/19
Pearson Hangs Out the For Sale Signs
Pearson plc the international media group, is to put a number of its reference and business & professional publishing operations up for sale. The businesses are Jossey-Bass; the General and Library Reference businesses of Macmillan publishing; Master Data Center; Prentice Hall Direct; Appleton & Lange; and the Bureau of Business Practice. In 1997, these businesses made, in total, sales of some $250 million. They were acquired by Pearson last November as part of its $4.6 billion dollar acquisition of the Simon & Schuster education, reference and business & professional operations. Pearson has merged the Simon & Schuster education businesses with Addison Wesley Longman to create Pearson Education, the world's leading educational publishing business. Macmillan Computer Publishing and Macmillan Digital Publishing also form part of the new Pearson Education business.
Source: PRNewswire 1/25/98
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