No sooner had The Bookseller’s Philip Jones written “It is no longer enough to have a conversation just about Amazon” on Tuesday, than the afternoon news from the US proved his point about the industry’s changing context.
Late in the day in New York, Michael Cader at Publishers Lunch posted his extensively prepared article: Perseus Imprints to be Sold to Hachette Book Group; Distribution Units to Ingram Content. By 5:30 p.m. ET, Cader could update the story to confirm that the deal had been officially announced. His highly detailed report was possible because he’d been given early information and confirmations by both sides.
And when industry analyst Brian O’Leary of Magellan Media Consulting Partners was reached by The Bookseller for comment during the evening, he was ready with a reminder of what China’s Chou en Lai is reported to have said when asked about the 1968 French uprisings, four years later: “It is too early to say.”
Hachette Book Group’s agreement to buy Perseus Books Group – and to then sell the distribution units of Perseus to Ingram Content Group – presents the industry with the latest example of how quickly its shape and contours can change through rapid consolidation.
This deal gets Hachette into the range of some $740 million in annual revenues, Cader writes, “closer in size to the third-largest US trade publisher,” Simon & Schuster.
By Porter Anderson | @Porter_Anderson
The FutureBook: What the Hachette-Perseus-Ingam pas de trois means: “Too early to say”
Read the full post at: The Bookseller’s The FutureBook