Veteran book buyer Carla Bayha will assume responsibility for Borders’ magazine category on May 19th, as part of a re-shuffling of merchandising responsibilities announced earlier this month by Joanna Goldstein, director of merchandising - newsstand, calendars & games. Dawn Stymiest, who presently magages newsstand at BGI, is moving to a planning role within the retailer’s Children’s group. [...]
New York City Transit has started putting ads on the exterior of subway cars. The intention is to compliment the existing “brand cars” which already have the interior of subway cars wrapped in brand advertisements. Test runs have already begun on the 42nd Street Shuttle. Exterior advertising has helped ad revenue nearly triple in the [...]
Ziff Davis has worked out agreements with more than 80 percent of its creditors that could allow it to emerge from bankruptcy as early as June. The company plans to convert $428 million in debt into new company stock and a loan note of no more than $57 million. Reuters (Apr. 30, 2008)
A report published yesterday afternoon on the WSJ website revealed that the special committee established to oversee the WSJ’s editorial integrity was upset by the handling of managing editor Marcus Brauchli’s departure. The committee felt that its members should have been notified earlier about the pressure Brauchli felt to resign. Committee members expressed the view [...]
With Spring around the corner and Earth Day’s recent passing, there is a proliferation of “Green” issues, each making their case for all things environmental. However, each year, the magazine industry destroys an area the size of Rocky Mountain National Park–at an average of one tree per second–to print its 12 billion magazines, and very [...]
Ziff Davis has reached an agreement on their bankruptcy proceedings. The consensual plan of reorganization substantially de-leverages Ziff Davis; converting over $428 million to common stock of a reorganized Ziff Davis and a new note that will not exceed $57.5 million. This will entitle Ziff Davis enough cash to pay its way out of Bankruptcy and fund [...]
ShopText technology enables readers to buy products, request samples, enter sweepstakes and conduct other transactions by texting keywords on the pages of printed magazines. Mediaweek (Apr. 29, 2008)
Macrovision’s takeover of Gemstar-TV Guide for approximately $2.3 billion in cash and stock is expected to close Friday. Associated Press (Apr. 29, 2008)
Germany-based Aldi plans to open up 28 new stores in Tennessee in the next few years, while Supervalu-owned Save-A-Lot reported a 30% increase in net earnings for the 4th quarter. Consumers are turning to these and other limited assortment stores in the face of sky-high food prices, which have increased across the board by 4% [...]
For years, Kraft Foods leaned heavily on the extension of existing brands as an engine for growth, but last week when Bob Becker, svp-new products for Kraft Foods North America, previewed some 80 new products, he didn’t use the word “extension” once. Brandweek (Apr. 29, 2008)