May 16 2012 00:10 BST Children's publishers join forces onlinePublishers including Hachette, Penguin and Simon & Schuster are putting their children's books into a single online entertainment brand as they search for ways to profit from ebooks. The Magic Town platform is to be launched on Wednesday by Mindshapes, which was set up by two of the co-founders ofBy Maija Palmer, Technology Correspondent |
May 14 2012 00:08 BST Wise wordsPublishing companies' business education products traditionally have taken the form of the printed - or digital - word: journals, encyclopaedias, self-help books and training manuals aimed at employees looking for that next promotion or just to improve how they do their jobs. But publishers are expanding their range. Leveraging theirBy Rebecca Knight |
May 11 2012 18:37 BST HMH in new move to cut debt by $3bnEducational publishing and services company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt plans to eliminate another $3.1bn of debt in its second restructuring in a little over two years. The "pre-packaged" Chapter 11 court process will convert debt held by groups led by Paulson & Co, the hedge fund run by John Paulson, intoBy Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York |
Apr 30 2012 20:22 BST Microsoft muscles in on ebooksMicrosoft is challenging Amazon and Apple in the fast-growing ebook market with a $300m investment in a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary that will give the software group its own stake in a digital bookstore for tablets, smartphones and PCs. The deal will see Microsoft take a 17.6 per centBy Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson and Barney Jopson in New York and Richard Waters in San Francisco |
Apr 30 2012 05:47 BST Pru eyes Rudd in search for next chairmanSir Nigel Rudd, the veteran industrialist, has emerged as a leading candidate to head the board of Prudential, one of the highest-profile positions in the UK insurance sector. The chairman of airports operator BAA and engineering company Invensys has been approached to replace 60-year-old Harvey McGrath, who was heavily criticisedBy Alistair Gray, Insurance Correspondent |
Apr 27 2012 19:48 BST Pearson set to meet full-year forecastsPearson, the education and publishing group that owns the Financial Times, said it remained on track to meet previous growth forecasts for sales and operating profits this year, as it reported a 12 per cent headline increase in first-quarter revenues. The FTSE 100 constituent, whose profits are weighted towards theBy Mark Wembridge in London and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York |
Apr 27 2012 10:24 BST Pearson says first-half profits will dipPearson, the education and publishing group that owns the Financial Times, met analysts' trading expectations with a 12 per cent increase in first-quarter sales. The FTSE 100 company, whose profits are weighted towards the second half, said that investment, restructuring costs and last December's £450m sale of Pearson's 50 perBy Mark Wembridge |
Apr 18 2012 01:57 BST Amazon to publish James Bond novelsAmazon has turned to James Bond to boost the online retailer's move into publishing by acquiring the rights to the backlist of Ian Fleming's spy novels in North America. Amazon Publishing said on Tuesday it had acquired a 10-year license to publish Fleming's Bond novels in print and ebook formBy Barney Jopson in New York |
Apr 13 2012 19:53 BST Pricing of ebooks presents novel dilemmaIt was a script publishers should have been fighting each other to print. A 36-page lawsuit from the US Department of Justice this week told a tale of conspiracy, cooked up by the leaders of a high-profile industry over dinners in expensive New York restaurants such as Picholine and Alto.By Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson in New York |
Apr 12 2012 00:48 BST Booksellers claim ruling runs risk of monopolyAfter a 36-page Department of Justice lawsuit, filled with novelistic allegations of secret meetings in expensive restaurants and glimpses into the private correspondence between the Apple founder Steve Jobs and other company executives, Amazon.com had just one bland sentence to add to the thriller. "This is a big win forBy Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson, Barney Jopson and David Gelles in New York |
