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Timing

10 December 2001

Timing

Larry Kirschbaum, announcing that iPublish is to Close:

'Sadly, timing is everything in business, and sometimes being too early is as harmful as being too late. The market for e-books has simply not developed the way we hoped, and given the overall economic climate, we can't jeopardize our thriving print business by carrying a money-losing operation indefinitely into the future. I believe that the day for e-books is still ahead, and that is why we will continue to be aggressive publishers and marketers of our e-book reprints.'

'At some point reality sets in and one has to be realistic about how much of an uphill climb this is going to be. I have been wrong so far - I have been overoptimistic from the beginning, so at a certain point you have to question whether your logic is sound.'

Larry Kirschbaum, chairman of the books division of Time Warner Publishing, commenting to employees and to the New York Times about the closure of iPublish, the company's e-book publishing venture, with the loss of $13 million and 29 jobs.