Mike Luckwell buys struggling title from Jon Moulton's private equity company, Better Capital, with plan to target over-50sReader's Digest has been sold for just £1 to Mike Luckwell, whose previous major investments have included Bob the Builder creator HIT Entertainment and WPP.Jon Moulton's private equity company, Better Capital, has offloaded Reader's Digest UK – the waiting room staple that was once the biggest selling magazine in the world – after investing tens of millions of pounds into trying to rejuvenate the struggling business.Luckwell, the venture capitalist whose personal fortune is estimated at more than £135m, has acquired the title with the aim of targeting the "frisky over-50s" group that holiday and insurance company Saga has built a successful business on."Saga cleverly focused on holidays and the financial sector for the over-50s, but now has a finger in many pies," Luckwell said. "Today it has annual sales running into hundreds of millions – that merits a bit of competition."Luckwell said the acquisition will provide access to a database of more than 1.5 million names, of which only 9% have recently purchased a Reader's Digest product."There is significant potential to further develop and utilise those large databases," he said.Better Capital took the business out of administration in a £13m management buy-out in April 2010, and has since ploughed a further £23m into the company.The investment failed to fuel a turnaround at the title, which no longer... Continue reading at 'The Guardian'
[ The Guardian | 2014-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
News tagged with:
#late 1980s
#biggest shareholder
#early 1960s
#global circulation
Written By: Charlotte Williams Publication Date: Thu, 28/04/2011 - 08:00 A large proportion of iPad owners in the US have not used the device to read an ebook, a survey from media and publishing forecast firm Simba Information reveals. A report on the firm's "Trade E-Book Publishing 2011"... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#read ebooks
#book readers
#report finds
#survey respondents
#large proportion
#ipad owners
Barnes & Noble Inc. is stepping up their e-reader offering, upping the NOOK Color experience to rival those of tablet computers like the iPad and Motorola Xoom. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-04-26 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#barnes noble
#tablet computers
#motorola xoom
Written By: Caroline Horn Publication Date: Fri, 15/04/2011 - 08:56 An e-fiction venture aimed at tweens and teenagers is being launched by packager Discovery Books in May. Called Fiction Express, it will invite teenagers to buy books in instalments and to vote to decide the direction of the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#digital series
#buy books
#released weekly
Written By: Bookseller Staff Publication Date: Mon, 11/04/2011 - 16:10 A flurry of rights deals have been announced at this year's London Book Fair, with a Condoleeza Rice memoir and four Paullina Simons novels in the works. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-04-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#rights round-
#rights deals
Interest in ebooks has jumped since Borders and Angus & Robertson slipped into voluntary administration. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2011-03-28 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#borders collapse
#readers turn
Barnes & Noble, through its combination of physical bookstores and bn.com, remained the largest outlet for the sale of trade books in 2010. That was one of the first findings from Bowkers annual rollup of its monthly book consumer tracking program, PubTrack Consumer. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-03-21 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#trade books
#barnes noble
#physical bookstores
#largest outlet
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Tue, 08/03/2011 - 16:00 Online bookseller Book Club Associates (BCA) has been sold to a retail home entertainment supplier. The Webb Group, which supplies retail home entertainment products including games, DVDs, music and gifts, announced the... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#sells books
#webb group
#mail order
Written By: Philip Stone Publication Date: Tue, 08/03/2011 - 16:01 The latest crop of £1 World Book Day books, led by Cope & Davies' Spy Dog/The Great Pet Shop Panic (Puffin/S&S) take positions one-through-six in this week's Official UK Top 50, with sales totalling 247,235 copiesa... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-03-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this |
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 25/02/2011 - 08:38 The Big Green Bookshop is appealing to 1,000 of its loyal customers to help secure its future by buying one book each. Owners Simon Key and Tim West of the indie in Wood Green, North London, have also set up an online donation... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-25 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#loyal customers
#tim west
#wood green
#north london
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 24/02/2011 - 09:35 The price of ebook readers has been slashed again with wholesaler Makro advertising the Binatone ReadMe Classic for around £35. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#ebook readers
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Fri, 18/02/2011 - 16:30 Book wholesaler Gardners has begun consulting with independent booksellers over the direction of its consumer website, with one option revealing that booksellers could earn as much as 30% when books are sold at their full RRP.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#books sold
#independent booksellers
#begun consulting
#consumer website
Written By: Graeme Neill Publication Date: Thu, 17/02/2011 - 09:32 Adjusted operating profit at Reed Elsevier declined by 1% to £1.56bn in 2010 as the publisher spoke of "encouraging" prospects for the year ahead. Revenue was flat at £6.06bn across the whole company, although at Elsevier,... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#modest growth
#year ahead
#disposable income
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Thu, 17/02/2011 - 13:50 More people aged over 55 own e-readers than the younger generation, according to a new study on digital reading habits. Data released by research company OnePoll shows 6% of readers in the over-55 categoryequivalent to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#younger generation
#data released
#digital device
OverDrive Media Console--the iPhone app that lets users check out and read ebooks from their local libraries--has been upgraded to a universal app optimized for... Continue reading at PC World
[ PC World | 2011-02-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#iphone app
#read ebooks
Written By: Philip Jones Publication Date: Wed, 09/02/2011 - 14:28 The e-reader market doubled over Christmas, according to statistics given out by the Publishers Association at its annual digital seminar. read more Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-09 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#publishers association
Written By: Lisa Campbell Publication Date: Mon, 07/02/2011 - 16:12 ASDA has launched the UKs cheapest e-reader at £52. The View Quest Mediabox 5in Media Tablet went on sale today through its Asda Direct website. The Asda site does not sell ebooks with the supermarket chain instead... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2011-02-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#sale today
#sell ebooks
#supermarket chain
#encouraging readers
Apple has reportedly rejected Sony's reader app from the App store for selling content within the app and letting customers make purchases outside the App store (such as within the Sony Reader Store, according to The New York Times. Continue reading at Folio Magazine
[ Folio Magazine | 2011-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#reader app
#app store
#content sales
#selling content
One month before controversial portions of the USA Patriot Act are set to expire, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) last week reintroduced a reauthorization bill that would restore protections for reader privacy that were eliminated by the Act in 2001. Continue reading at Publishers Weekly
[ Publishers Weekly | 2011-02-01 00:00:00 UTC ]
More news stories like this | News stories tagged with:
#reader privacy