“The single hardest thing to do in business is to make a deal, whether you’re buying or selling.” Former SouthComm, Inc. COO Blair Johnson knew the magnitude of the task before him when, in November 2017, the company’s equity backer Solidus ousted CEO Chris Ferrell and indicated its desire to exit the publishing business within eight months. “At that time, Solidus had decided they wanted to liquidate their position and get out of SouthComm,” Johnson tells Folio:. “[Managing partner] Vic Gatto and the board made a decision that we needed to do it, and do it quickly, and that Chris was probably not the right person to do it. He likes to buy and build, and it’s a different strategy when you have to liquidate.” And so Solidus handed the company reins to Johnson—who took over as CEO—and CFO Bob Mahoney, and the pair immediately began the process of selling off a company that comprised alt-weeklies serving five different cities, a robust b2b media business, and hundreds of employees, among other assets. In a b2b-media space characterized by frequent mergers and acquisitions, the circumstances may have felt a bit like déjà vu all over again for Johnson, who had arrived at SouthComm from Cygnus Business Media in 2015 after four years helping transition that company from bankruptcy to breakup. “We essentially had eight different entities that we had to find a new home for,” Johnson continues. “Clearly, the biggest of these was the b2b assets from legacy Cygnus.” The relative... Continue reading at 'Folio Magazine'
[ Folio Magazine | 2018-08-03 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The new imprint of the online bookseller has already released works by authors including William Lashner and Rebecca Adams Wright. Continue reading at The Christian Science Monitor
[ The Christian Science Monitor | 2013-12-10 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Simon & Schuster has launched a new social media community, The Hot Bed, to promote the "New Adult" genre complete with a "chili chart" to gauge hotness. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-12-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Mark Shenton says he was accused of bringing the paper into disrepute after bosses found pictures of him on a gay websiteMark Shenton, the chief theatre critic of the Sunday Express, has claimed he was fired after executives discovered naked pictures of him on a gay website.In the daily blog he... Continue reading at The Guardian
[ The Guardian | 2013-12-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Amazon Publishing has launched a new digital short story imprint in the US called StoryFront.... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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As a member of Hollywood royalty, a fashion icon and an Academy Award-winning actress, Anjelica Huston has led a full life -- so much so that she's taking two books to tell her story.As a member of Hollywood royalty, a fashion icon and an Academy Award-winning actress, Anjelica Huston has led a... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-12-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Hunger Games books and films come to fill a psychic void left by the Twilight series. For whatever reason, it seems our culture right now needs a mega-selling YA franchise built around a beautiful, stubborn teen heroine who waffles endlessly between two inexplicably patient lovers as she... Continue reading at Slate
[ Slate | 2013-11-22 00:00:00 UTC ]
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With both models of the new Kindle Fire HDX tablets now out in the wild, Amazon can concentrate on tweaking the system to add features and fix bugs. The device, while considered to be a competitor to the Nexus 7, is really more about media, specifically that from the retail giant's ecosystem.... Continue reading at Betanews
[ Betanews | 2013-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Today marks the debut of two features we've been waiting for since Amazon first announced its new Kindle Fire line lo so many weeks ago. Goodreads and Second Screen integration will be rolling out to Fire HD and HDX owners over-the-air in the next couple of weeks - or you can just go to Amazon's... Continue reading at Engadget
[ Engadget | 2013-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Aurum Press has signed a book on cyclist Dieter Wiedermann, an East German sports star who... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-11-18 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The Waterstones branch in Tenterden, Kent, is likely to be closed “for some time”... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-11-06 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Most startups will never see anything close to the amount of money Twitter plans on raising during its IPO this week (a reported $1.6 billion) and in fact, three out of four tech businesses fail. Entrepreneurs in training looking to create a successful company, then, might want to know what... Continue reading at Fast Company
[ Fast Company | 2013-11-04 00:00:00 UTC ]
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An exhibition on New York's graffiti traces the history of the art form in the city, a Parisian museum shows how immigrants helped shape comic books worldwide - and other stories from the world of arts. Continue reading at BBC World
[ BBC World | 2013-10-24 00:00:00 UTC ]
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By nixing DRM and selling in the MOBI format, Poland’s ebook players are making strides forward, but the market is still fragmented. Continue reading at Publishing Perspectives
[ Publishing Perspectives | 2013-10-17 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Researchers from the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) spoke with online editors and community managers at 104 news organizations from 63 countries to help assemble a report written by Emma Goodman about what works and wh ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-10-15 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Profile is to republish a short story by Alice Munro, winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, to... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-14 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The first Canadian winner, Alice Munro has published nothing but short stories in a 50-year career. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2013-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The first Canadian winner, Alice Munro has published nothing but short stories in a 50-year career. Continue reading at The Sydney Morning Herald
[ The Sydney Morning Herald | 2013-10-11 00:00:00 UTC ]
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Sarah Hall has won the £15,000 BBC National Short Story Award with her story "Mrs Fox... Continue reading at The Bookseller
[ The Bookseller | 2013-10-08 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart dominated headlines a decade ago. Now 25, Smart tells of her experiences in "My Story," a memoir published this week by St. Martin's.The disappearance of 14-year-old Elizabeth Smart dominated headlines a decade ago. Now 25, Smart tells of her... Continue reading at Los Angeles Times
[ Los Angeles Times | 2013-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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The editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer, William K. Marimow, was fired on Monday, according to a brief e-mail sent to staff members by the newspaper’s publisher. A Pulitzer Prize winner and former investigative jou ... Continue reading at Editor & Publisher
[ Editor & Publisher | 2013-10-07 00:00:00 UTC ]
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