We have been reporting the last few months about the failure of Borders, Redgroup, and Angus and Robertson in Australia. Recently the chain all went bankrupt the final stores closed down in the last few weeks. What does this mean for customers who bought e-readers and have no place to buy ebooks? Enter Pearson Publishing who just bought all of the websites.
Just who is Pearson? Well they are the owners of Penguin Publishing in Australia and purchased the websites for an undisclosed sum. Even though the web division of Redgroup who oversaw the Borders chains in Australia always saw the electronic niche as very profitable.
Currently Pearson will continue to run the websites under the old Borders and A&R banners until they come with an idea on how they are going to brand it. What we do know is that the websites will be branded differently then their other ventures in Australia. This is a good move because industry analysts have mentioned that Penguin books might receive preferential treatment for the digital versions.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
