Time sells out of book clubs

Posted Apr 10th 2007 8:32AM by Jon Ogg
Filed under: Deals, Time Warner (TWX)

Bertelsmann AG, via its DirectGroup, is buying the other 50% stake of Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) Bookspan. Bookspan owns roughly 40 book clubs, including the "Book of the Month Club." Financial terms were not disclosed.

Time Warner and Bertelsmann formed the partnership in 2000. This also includes the Doubleday Book Club and Literary Guild. Bertelsmann will reel in Bookspan into its BMG Columbia House.

BMG will now be the clear leader, with no real competitors in book, music and DVD mail order clubs in North America. This is all part of Time Warner's strategic changes after it closed Life and sold off 18 magazines earlier. It appears that even if an industry is shrinking, there at least may be some perceived value in being a virtual sole-supplier.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St., LLC; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Tags: bertelsmann, book club, book clubs, BookClubs, books, buying clubs, BuyingClubs, clubs, direct mail, direct sales, DirectMail, DirectSales, life, magazine, twx

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

5-18-2007 @ 6:07PM

Lori said...

I had no idea that Book Span owned so much! That kinda shocked me!

Since you appear to love books as much as I do, you may want to check out my site:

BookWise - A Book Club That Pays