Beleaguered bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc. has a buyer. Elliott Management Corp. agreed to purchase the chain for $6.50 per share in an all-cash transaction valued about $476 million, plus the assumption of debt, the company said in a statement Friday. Barnes & Noble shares rose as much as 11 percent to $6.61 on Friday. They had surged 30 percent on Thursday on news that Elliott was close to a deal. Elliott, run by the billionaire Paul Singer, has experience in the book business. It acquired Waterstones, a U.K. book retailer, last year. James Daunt, chief executive officer of Waterstones, will also become CEO of Barnes & Noble. Elliott will keep the chains operating independently but the brands will “share a common CEO and benefit from the sharing of best practice between the companies.” Including debt, the deal is valued at $683 million, according to the companies. It’ll be funded by a $700 million asset-based revolving credit facility from Wells Fargo Bank and Bank of America, as well as a $125 million first-in, last-out credit facility backed by a Carlyle Group credit unit, a Pathlight Capital fund and Wells Fargo, according to regulatory filings. The deal also includes a $30 million breakup fee, the filings show. Barnes & Noble, with more than 600 stores, has tried strategies such as offering food and coffee and selling non-book merchandise, but has failed to stem the onslaught of Amazon.com Inc. Along the way, it’s weathered self-inflicted... Continue reading at 'Advertising Age'
[ Advertising Age | 2019-06-07 16:16:58 UTC ]
Walt Disney Co. is following Netflix’s lead in threatening to leave Georgia if a controversial anti-abortion law takes effect. Disney CEO Bob Iger told Reuters on Wednesday that it would be “very difficult” to keep film production in the state if the legislation becomes law next year. A... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-05-30 14:39:17 UTC ]
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Amazon.com Inc. is developing a voice-activated wearable device that can recognize human emotions. The wrist-worn gadget is described as a health and wellness product in internal documents reviewed by Bloomberg. It’s a collaboration between Lab126, the hardware development group behind Amazon’s... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-05-23 22:06:23 UTC ]
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ESPN President Jimmy Pitaro says the sports network is “all hands on deck” to attract more women and younger viewers, a crusade that includes a new streaming service launched last year. The Walt Disney Co.-owned cable giant introduced its ESPN+ online service a year ago, and it has drawn over 2... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-05-23 22:01:09 UTC ]
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Twitter co-founder Ev Williams said Wednesday that the social network might have been quicker to recognize and address the potential for abuse and harassment on its platform if the company’s leadership had been more diverse. When Twitter went public in 2013, it came under fire for having only... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-05-23 19:28:23 UTC ]
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Rihanna revealed her first Fenty collection in Paris on Wednesday evening. She arrived wearing a blazer as a dress—the white canvas number had exaggerated shoulders and was cinched in at the middle with a built-in corset—paired with strappy going-out heels in gold leather, all from her new... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-05-23 16:56:09 UTC ]
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Every 36 hours on average, American local news outlets deliver a new report on violence at a McDonald’s. A group of employees in Chicago say workers bear the brunt of such incidents—enough to constitute a pattern of regular on-the-job violence they want the company to address across the U.S. In... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-05-22 14:33:16 UTC ]
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McDonald’s Corp., in the face of criticism for its handling of harassment complaints, said it’s training workers to deal with the issue and is starting a hotline for victims. In a letter responding to an inquiry from U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth, Chief Executive Officer Steve Easterbrook said... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-05-21 15:09:47 UTC ]
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ESPN The Magazine is now the latest publication to abandon print. Regular editions of the monthly will cease after the September release of “The Body Issue” and the publication will go online-only, Walt Disney Co.’s ESPN said in a statement. “Consumer habits are evolving rapidly, and this... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-04-30 00:00:00 UTC ]
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American Media Inc. is selling the National Enquirer to Hudson News Deputy Chairman James Cohen, according to The Washington Post, letting the embattled publisher jettison the tabloid after being accused of trying to blackmail the world’s richest man. Cohen will pay $100 million for the... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-04-19 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Netflix is planning its first magazine, but you won’t find it on a newsstand. The world’s largest online TV network plans to publish a journal—with the working title Wide—to promote its programs and stars ahead of this year’s Emmys, the biggest awards gala in TV. The 100-plus page inaugural... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The National Enquirer, the tabloid that billionaire Jeff Bezos accused of extortion earlier this year, is on the block to be sold by parent company American Media Inc. American Media’s board conducted a review of its tabloid business, including the Globe and National Examiner brands, and... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2019-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Arts Council England report has set the internet ablaze – but are sales of literary fiction in decline because of snobbery, bad writing or Candy Crush?News: Literary fiction in crisis as sales drop dramaticallyArts Council England has sounded the alarm for literary fiction with a report... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2017-12-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The bookselling landscape throughout Europe is in a state of flux. A look at the performance of major book retailers on the continent in the summer of 2015 shows that consumer confidence in many countries has not yet recovered from the recent economic downturn. While there were no large- scale... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2015-09-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amid widening concerns that another startup bubble has formed, digital media remains a white-hot market among the private-investment community.Last year, venture capital poured at least $683 million into digital media companies worldwide -- more than twice the $277 million invested in 2013,... Continue reading at Advertising Age
[ Advertising Age | 2015-02-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Written By: Benedicte Page and Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Fri, 20/05/2011 - 12:00 Publishers, writers, agents and trade bodies have responded with relief to todays news of the acquisition of Waterstones by Alexander Mamuts A&NN Group, welcoming the surprise arrival of James... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-05-20 00:00:00 UTC ]
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