Friday, December 2, 2011

Latest Industry News

Don't know if you heard about this?  Three weeks ago, execs for Kobo inked a deal with Rakuten, a Japanese internet company, to take over the e-book seller.  Indigo Books and Music out of Canada holds the majority of stock, but now-defunct book giant Borders Group Inc. still has their shares tied up in bankruptcy court.

For now, it doesn't look like the judge or the trustee in the Borders case will sabotage the proceedings. The Borders crditors are only getting seven to ten cents on the dollar, so they need this sale to through. The sale should boost Kobo's stock price so the trustee can sell the Borders shares and get the creditors a few cents more.

It sounds like Rakuten plans to reach into the West, just like Amazon is shooting for the East.

And yes, another publisher is "restructuring." Houghton Mifflin Harcourt plans to eliminate the Emerging Markets division and close their D.C. offices. Remember, kids. Everytime a corporation uses the word 'restructure', people lose their jobs. Merry Christmas, ex-employees.

And if you read this blog, then you know why I support the Occupy Wall Street movement.

1 comment:

  1. This might be off topic, but I looked at the Kobo when Borders had it in the store. If that was a Kobo, and it sucked. What a horrible reader, it was. Maybe they are better now, but I don't care. I love our Nook.

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