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Consolidation

OFT rubber-stamps Amazon acquisition

31 October 2011

Amazon has been much in the news this last week. After the announcement of its first big purchase for its new publishing arm at the Frankfurt Book FairWorld's largest trade fair for books; held annually mid-October at Frankfurt Trade Fair, Germany; First three days exclusively for trade visitors; general public can attend last two., which sent tremors through the publishing world, it is now consolidating its position on e-books. The deal in question may have garnered the book for Amazon because of the high ebook royalty offered.  Read more

Borders bust and Amazon in takeover mode

25 July 2011

There have been a series of events on the bookselling front which may mark a seismic shift. In the States, Borders have gone into liquidation after what seems like months - or even years - of teetering on the brink. And in the UK Amazon has swooped on its successful competitor, The Book Depository, buying out the competition.  Read more

Borders bites the dust

21 February 2011

Borders' filing for bankruptcy this week was the expected outcome of the long slow decline of the second-biggest US bookstore chain, as it gradually ran out of impetus and money.  Read more

Publishers' acquisitions slow to a trickle

21 June 2010

An article in a recent edition of the Bookseller has highlighted the ongoing pressure on acquisitions in publishing houses, which has now become acute.  Read more

Borders UK goes into administration

30 November 2009

The troubled British book chain Borders went into administration last week. The chain, which had been the subject of a management buyout in July, proved unable to trade its way through the recession. It was already in the process of closing down its Book Etc stores when the end came.   Read more

A torrid week in the book trade

8 December 2008

It's been a torrid week in the US and UK book trades, as destabilising staff cuts underline the poor situation in retail. In the most crucial two weeks of the trading year, the book trade is on tenterhooks about the outcome of Christmas. Will consumers spend their scarce resources on books?  Read more

The end of an era

4 August 2008

The closure of Publishing News on 25 July marked the end of an era in book trade journalism. MD Jo Henry and editor Liz Thomson thought they had a year to try to turn it round, but time was called after nine months, due to the relentlessly declining advertising revenues.  Read more

Amazon goes for broke (again)

26 May 2008

Amazon has dominated the headlines in the book trade press over the last few months, as it has taken a more aggressive approach to its plans for growth. Back in 1997 Jeff Bezos said he wanted the internet retailer to be one of only 'two or three leading players' Actually it's done much better than that.  Read more

The Friday Project crashes/Borders US for sale

7 April 2008

The collapse of The Friday Project with debts of £360,000 ($718,000) has startled the book world, especially since their turnover in the last year was only around half of their costs. Child of the Internet, it commanded the headlines and seemed to have a golden halo of success.  Read more

Amazon grabs Audible

25 February 2008

The recent news of the $300m (£153m) Amazon purchase of Audible, the digital audiobooks site, has made it the market leader. At a stroke this gives the Internet retailer a ready-made subscriber base and access to 80,000 spoken word titles which it can sell through all its channels, including its new Kindle e-book reader.  Read more

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