Reader’s Digest Chapter 11 shows $3.6M debt to Quad/Graphics

This week Reader's Digest’s parent company RDA Holding Co. filed for bankruptcy for the second time in less than four years. By this measure the company plans to cut its $465 million, keep restructuring, and emerge from Chapter 11 within six months.  It publishes 75 publications around the world, including 49 editions of Reader’s Digest. 

RDA’s February-17^th bankruptcy petition lists Quad/Graphics Inc. as one of its largest creditors, saying it owes Quad $3.6 million for a trade claim.

In related news, Time Warner Inc. is in talks to divest most of its Time Inc. magazine group in a deal with Meredith Corp., publisher of titles including Better Homes and Gardens and Family Circle, whose readers are mainly women.  In the proposal being discussed, Time Warner would retain its flagship newsweekly Time, along with Sports Illustrated and Fortune, but would transfer most of its other titles, including People, InStyle, and Real Simple.

Given these recent scenarios, magazines printers might be well advised to review their terms of credit with magazine publishers undergoing transition.

http://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2013/02/19/readers-digest-chapter-11-shows-36m.htmlana=RSS&s=article_search&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+vertical_19+%28Marketing+Industry+News%29
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323495104578311271449630846.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/readers-digest-shores-up-canadian-operation/article8830217/

http://www.printaction.com/News/20130219-readers-digest-bankruptcy.html

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324616604578302400900039118.html

http://www.nasdaq.com/article/time-warner-in-talks-to-divest-most-magazines-to-meredith-20130213-01405

Borders chain files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection

Another new development regarding the future of the printed book:  major U.S. book retailer Borders Group has filed for Chapter 11 protection under the United States Bankruptcy Code. http://www.printaction.com/News/20110222-borders-chapter-11.html

More mixed signals on the future of printed books

Further to my 17-Nov-2010 posting, the last few weeks have been another roller coaster ride for anyone wondering about the future of printed books. 

Canada logged a major casualty in the filing for bankruptcy protection of H.B. Fenn, the country’s largest book distributor.  http://www.printaction.com/News/20110207-hb-fenn-bankruptcy.html

Additionally, Amazon has announced that its sales of Kindle e-books have exceeded not only its hardcover sales (which occurred last year), but now the number of paperbacks it sells as well.  http://www.printaction.com/News/20110201-kindle-paperback.html

Meanwhile, on the other side of the coin, the New York Times Sunday Book Review assures us that the number of printed books out there remains impressive.  It estimates that in 2010 (after returns), American publishers shipped an estimated 3.2 billion books—or about 10 printed volumes for every man, woman, and child in the U.S.A. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/30/books/review/InsideList-t.html

Not surprisingly, speculation and discussion from many quarters continues on a 3-month-old LinkedIn discussion group that asks the question “Do you think printed books will die? Are we all going digital?” at: http://www.linkedin.com/groupAnswers?viewQuestionAndAnswers=&discussionID=33459885&gid=145854&commentID=31079155&trk=view_disc.