Friday, January 23, 2015

With No Buyers, Egmont Will Simply Close US Publishing Division

Publishers Lunch

After putting Egmont USA up for sale last October, parent company Egmont Publishing announced that it "has decided to close the office, effective from January 31," since "attempts to sell" the unit "have not resulted in any final agreements." January 30 will be the last day of employment for Egmont USA staff.

But they will issue their spring 2015 list even without local staff, and their books will continue to be available through their distributor Random House. (Their spring 2015 catalog lists 10 titles for publication.) Six jobs will be eliminated when the US office closes. And recent PM deal reports have indicated at least a dozen or more titles that had been planned for fall 2015 and beyond.

Egmont Publishing International ceo Rob McMenemy said in Wednesday's statement, "The reason for closing the US business is that it does not fit with the strategic position of Egmont Publishing only to invest in countries where we can have a market leading position. MD and Publisher Andrea Cascardi and her team in Egmont USA have done a great job and we were hoping to succeed with selling the business, unfortunately this has turned out not to be possible."

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