The Bookseller.com

4th July 2009

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The battle continues for PGW's clients

15.02.07 Kimberly Maul

National Book Network filed their finalized offer for Publishers Group West's clients by 5 p.m. yesterday, so the auction, between NBN and Perseus Books Group, is underway. Publishers Marketplace reports that NBN has agreements from approximately 42 percent of the publishers (excluding Avalon, which signed with Perseus before the official offers were announced). According to Shelf Awareness, Perseus has signed contracts from 85 to 90 percent of PGW publisher revenues. Many "signed up since the competing offer from NBN surfaced last week," said Perseus president and c.e.o. David Steinberger.

Both companies have sent letters to PGW clients, giving more details about the competing offers.

NBN will keep the PGW logo, offices in the Bay Area (the current corporate headquarters are in Berkeley) and New York, the Advanced Marketing Services warehouse in Indianapolis, and try to keep PGW's client services and sales teams in tact, SA reported.

Perseus will run PGW as "an independent member of the Perseus Books Group like Consortium, PublicAffairs, Basic Books, DaCapo Pres and Running Press," Steinberger said, according to SA. The company will keep an office in the Bay Area and will distribute books from a Jackson, Tenn. Warehouse.

Jed Lyons, the president and c.e.o. of NBN, told SA that he is "very confident" that the judge will choose NBN because its offer will take $7 million less from the AMS estate. Steinberger also seems confident, saying, according to in SA, many publishers "see the decision of picking the right distribution partner going forward to be more important than whether you received an extra 15 cents on the dollar."

Shelf Awareness

US PGW Perseus NBN