Telefonica has just sold their Nubico ebook service to Nextory, a Swedish company. The platform was originally developed in 2013 and currently offers an unlimited platform, with a library of 50,000 books and 80 magazines for €8.99 per month. Nextory will continue to offer the standalone service in Spain, and populate it with hundreds of thousands of audiobooks and ebooks, while … [Read more...] about Nubico ebook platform has been sold to Nextory
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Naver completes their acquisition of Wattpad
The South Korean company Naver, has just completed their acquisition of Toronto based Wattpad. The $600 million dollar price tag gives Naver, a competitive advantage against the Amazon Kindle Vella and Kakao. If you have not heard of Naver before, they are the company behind Webtoon, a digital comics platform.Wattpad’s co-founders Allen Lau and Ivan Yuen will continue their … [Read more...] about Naver completes their acquisition of Wattpad
Major Publishers are selling a ton of ebooks in 2021
Harpercollins, Hachette, Simon and Schuster and Penguin Random House are four of the world's most prolific book publishers. In the first three months of 2021, they have experienced very strong audiobook and ebook sales. This trend should continue for the rest of the year, primarily due to COVID and more people shopping online, instead of visiting bookstores.Harpercollins … [Read more...] about Major Publishers are selling a ton of ebooks in 2021
Amazon’s plans to offload unsold goods via discount stores held up by the pandemic
Amazon is known to have contemplated launching discount stores or similar outlets where it would be selling the millions of unsold goods that end up getting accumulated in its warehouses every year. Those could be either permanent stores operating round the year or pop-up outlets set up in busy locations only during the shopping season.However, it will only be smaller items … [Read more...] about Amazon’s plans to offload unsold goods via discount stores held up by the pandemic
HarperCollins has purchased Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harpercollins has agreed to purchase the consumer publishing arm of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for $349 million. This would give them access to high-profile novels from authors such as George Orwell, Philip Roth and J.R.R. Tolkien. The sale would allow Boston-based Houghton to pay down debt and focus on its digital-first strategy in education.The acquisition will include the … [Read more...] about HarperCollins has purchased Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Chapters Indigo had a great holiday season, despite store closures
Indigo Books and Music, the largest bookstore chain in Canada, has a tremendous holiday season. Over the course of the last three months of 2020, the time of year where books sell like crazy, Indigo net profit grew nearly 19% and generated $30.7 million in profit. This was primarily attributed to their e-commerce revenue growing by over 92%, as Indigo enhanced so-called … [Read more...] about Chapters Indigo had a great holiday season, despite store closures
Audiobooks and ebooks are 18% of HarperCollins Revenue
Harpercollins Revenues generated $504 million dollars, which was a 23% increase, in the last three months of 2020. Revenues basically soared due to the Christmas season and everyone buying them as gifts. The bulk of the sales were placed online, at retailers such as Amazon, Barnes and Noble and thousands of other bookstores all over the world.The revenue growth was … [Read more...] about Audiobooks and ebooks are 18% of HarperCollins Revenue
Jeff Bezos is stepping down as CEO of Amazon
Jeff Bezos founded Amazon over 27 years ago when he was working out of our garage. Initially Amazon just sold books, and is still a large part of their business. Amazon said Tuesday that Jeff Bezos is stepping down as CEO later this year and transition to the role of executive chair. He will be replaced by Andy Jassy.Bezos has been Amazon's CEO since its founding in 1995. … [Read more...] about Jeff Bezos is stepping down as CEO of Amazon
Wattpad is being sold to the Korean company NAVER
Toronto-based online storytelling company Wattpad has confirmed with Good e-Reader that they are being sold to NAVER, for $600 million in cash. The South Korean company is best known for their digital comics platform, Webtoons. Webtoon is behind some of the biggest names in webcomics, including Lore Olympus, and has worked with the Jim Henson Company and producers behind hit … [Read more...] about Wattpad is being sold to the Korean company NAVER
Amazon buys planes for the first time ever to expand its air cargo operations
Amazon announced it is buying 11 used Boeing 767-300 planes, providing a major fillip to its air cargo operations. This also marks a change of strategy for the online retail giant since this is the first time it has actually purchased planes. So far, Amazon relied on leased aircraft for its air cargo use.Seven of the planes are being bought from Delta Air Lines, while the … [Read more...] about Amazon buys planes for the first time ever to expand its air cargo operations
Amazon set to become a serious player in podcast space after Wondery acquisition
Amazon announced it has acquired the podcast start-up Wondery, a move that will add more depth to its non-musical offering available via the Amazon Music app. Wondery already has to its credit some popular podcasts such as Dirty John, Dr. Death, Business Wars, and The Shrink Next Door and reaches out to 20 million unique visitors every month. Post the deal, expect to catch up … [Read more...] about Amazon set to become a serious player in podcast space after Wondery acquisition
