As a former English teacher, I can't count the times that I had to listen to a student complain about the "relevance" of this book or that book. I usually tried to explain how literature affects culture and books change the world. I only wish that I'd thought to check out Scholastic Corporation's finances.
On Thursday, citing a tough economy, Scholastic Corporation stated that its expectations for the forthcoming year were somewhat dark. This, combined with a considerable quarterly loss, led to a 13.5% drop in its stock value, leaving it at $30.69 per share. Today, it dropped slightly more, and is currently at $30.25.
I have fond memories of reading Scholastic's books when I was a kid, and I certainly don't like to see the company in pain. However, as an author, I have to admit a certain amount of wondrous amazement at the situation currently unfolding. You see, Scholastic's dire predictions for 2008 center around the fact that it will not have a "Harry Potter" book to give its sales a shot of adrenalin.
Borders Group, Inc. (NYSE: BGP), the arch-rival of bookseller Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), is struggling mightily. It may not go away, but it seems that there's a good chance that it will continue its business imperatives under new owners. According to a press release issued by the company, as well as this AP article, the company appears to want to sell itself at this point because, to be blunt, management appears to have failed at its job of preserving and growing shareholder value; it also has failed against online entities such as Amazon.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: AMZN) and other retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT). Why, as I write this, the stock is down 39%, and it is below $5 per stub. Yikes! I've been feeling pain with some of my financial stocks lately, but I feel bad for Borders shareholders, that's one torturous drop in value.
The retailer just isn't doing well; in fact, it decided to drop its dividend payout because it no longer can afford it. I'm sure shareholders were expecting such a move, but when it happens, it's always such a slap in the face. Borders is having cash issues, management doesn't seem to be confident in its current business structure, it missed earnings estimates, revenues are down, etc. Funny thing is, I actually prefer the shopping atmosphere of my local Borders store over my local Barnes & Noble outlet. Can't always go by personal experience, I guess.
Well, if one wants to speculate, one could buy some lottery tickets -- I mean, shares -- in Borders Group. I won't. Yes, catalysts could come down the line for the company, but for now, the market seems to be telling investors that this is one to stay away from.
Disclosure: I don't own any of the companies mentioned here; positions can change at any time.
Why does it cost more money to transfer funds electronically than to send a check? Why don't school buses have seat belts? Why would a company give employees "free cars" instead of a cash bonus?
If you've ever wondered about questions like these -- or haven't but are now finding yourself curious about the answers -- Robert H. Frank's The Economic Naturalist is the book for you. It's a lot like Freakonomics -- and indeed was probably inspired by that book's success -- but has one key advantage: the explanations are shorter, which makes the book a quicker read, and allows space for answers to dozens of enigmas.
Here's my favorite: Why do women's clothes always button from the left while mens clothes always button from the right? According to Frank, it's because when buttons first appeared in the 1600s, only wealthy people could afford them. Back then, wealthy women were dressed by servants so it was easy for right-handed maid to button the lady's jacket from the left. Men dressed themselves and thus, for the average right-handed man, it was easier for garments to button from the right.
What does this have to do with economics? At its core, Frank argues, economics isn't about charts, graphs, monetary policy, or even business necessarily. It's about looking at the world in the context of cost-benefit analysis to try to understand why people do what they do.
If you hated high school or college economics -- and you have good reason, as these classes are generally incomprehensible and/or boring -- this book may just be the thing to turn you back on to a fascinating topic.
To be honest, I'm not a big fan of chain bookstores. First off, my cousins own a large independent bookstore in Massachusetts, and, as long as business is good for them, my big "family discount" is safe. However, beyond my personal connections, I don't really like the way that chain bookstores control access to titles, artificially control the bestseller lists, and squeeze out independent booksellers. Frankly, it just creeps me out.
That having been said, I kind of like Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS). They tend to have a good selection of bargain books, usually offer patrons some nice spaces to sit and read, and generally have a pretty broad selection. Because of this, I was a little alarmed as I watched their stock take a little tumble this week. Based on its own predictions that this year's profits will fall well short of forecasts, B&N experienced a 5% drop in value to $26.95. As of this writing, it's currently trading at $26.26.
Part of this isn't Barnes and Noble's fault. First off, without a new Harry Potter book coming out this year, every bookseller is going to have massively diminished revenues. Additionally, I imagine that book revenues will drop as many readers, facing diminished money for luxury expenditures, will rediscover the wonders of their local libraries.
When I first read this article in the New York Times, I thought it sounded ridiculous: "In an attempt to increase book sales, HarperCollins Publishers will begin offering free electronic editions of some of its books on its Web site, including a novel by Paulo Coelho and a cookbook by the Food Network star Robert Irvine."
But the more I think about, it makes sense: readers won't be able to print the books or download them to a Kindle or similar device. Will some pennypinchers sit there and read the entire book online? Of course. But this method of allowing us to browse books on the internet should generate buzz for the titles involved and increase sales. I'm skeptical about whether this would work on a broader scale but I think it's a smart move for the authors/publishers involved.
It's also evidence, I think, of another step toward bookstores becoming irrelevant. The "Search Inside!" feature on Amazon.com allows for easy browsing of books before buying and further developments like this will continue to erode the one advantage that traditional bookstores still have over the internet: You can browse before you buy.
HarperCollins will also begin offering as much as 20% of some books two weeks before publication -- I myself an looking to the preview of the new book from Peter Robinson, one of the best and most underrated mystery/suspense writers going today.
With shares of leading book retailers Borders (NYSE: BGP) and Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) having tanked in recent months, some prominent investors are starting to wonder if there's value to be unlocked.
Pershing Square Capital Management, a very good activist hedge fund run by William Ackman, secured a spot on the Borders board of directors last week, and may seek to make changes.
But with sites like Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) and discounters like Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) offering books at a much better value than Borders can, the activists' traditional bag of tricks -- cost-cutting, buybacks, dividends, putting the company up for sale, etc -- may not be enough. For Borders, cost-cutting is the opposite of the solution. In order to remain relevant, the brick and mortar stores will have to provide a value-added experience to the consumer, and make it worth paying 30% more than you would on Amazon. Creating an environment like that costs money.
Running a small independent bookstore is a labor of love characterized by poor margins and cutthroat competition. The Wall Street Journal recently looked at one of the ways struggling retailers are looking to stay open (subscription required) -- essentially getting book-lovers to "invest" in the stores to keep them open, with the understanding that the investment is risk and has very little upside. Now that my friends is angel investing.
In the end, I think Ackman may be barking up the wrong tree. As Oren Teicher, the chief operating officer of the American Booksellers Association, told the Journal, "The margins are small, the competition is fierce, and you're selling a product that is the same no matter where you buy it."
Borders is already bleeding red ink and won't be able to differentiate itself without spending tons of money, probably exacerbating the problem. But in its current form, the company just can't make any money.
In the months and years to come, dozens of books will chronicle the subprime lending boom and bust that resulted in record numbers of foreclosures and massive losses at some of America's most prominent banks (as well as the dismissal of Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O'Neal and his 9-figure parting gift, but that's another story).
But for now, there are only really a handful, and Pittsburgh reporter Richard Lord's American Nightmare: Predatory Lending and the Foreclosure of the American Dream is one of the best. Based on interviews with dozens of ripped-off subprime borrowers, contractors, mortgage brokers, and bankers, Lord presents a disturbing tale of the wild west of the housing market: Usurious interest rates are charged to borrowers who could have qualified for lower interest conforming loans, terms are changed at closing, and predatory balloon payment and prepayment penalties are imposed on consumers who lack the sophistication to know what they're doing.
Lord also discusses the collateralized debt obligations that the loans were bundled into, and how the securitization of mortgages left brokers with little incentive to give people loans that they could, for instance, afford to pay off. Lord doesn't quite predict the subprime meltdown that would result in huge writedowns at nearly all the big banks (This book was published in 2005), but he comes close.
If you want to understand the darkest side of the subprime lending industry, Lord's book is definitely worth a look until better, more updated stuff comes out.
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, Stockerblog has released its list of 100 investment books -- the site adds that these are just the last 100 books the site has mentioned in the past couple of years, but if they're good enough to discuss, that's probably an endorsement of some kind. The list contains some classics and a lot of books you've probably never heard of.
Rather than rehash all the classics that every investor worth his or her salt has read, I'm going to give a list of a few of my favorite investment books that are either new but not bestsellers or long and forgotten. Click on the title for my review:
R. Foster Winans' Trading Secrets: This is a richly-written morality tale of sorts about the insider trading scandal that ruined Winans' career.
This week, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) unveiled its new e-book reader, the Kindle. As Beth Gaston Moon reported in her preview, the 10.3 ounce hand-held reader will retail for $399.
I had great hopes for this device, not the first to market but certainly the best. The type appears crisp, promising to be as readable as paper print. The home run here for Amazon is the content delivery system. Through an arrangement with Sprint, Amazon will deliver content to the Kindle on demand anywhere within Sprint cell network coverage, without the need to be a Sprint customer.
Other positives for marketing the device include the availability of newspaper and blog feeds via the same network, as well as free access to Wikipedia and a built-in dictionary. A high-capacity battery and the ability to expand memory via an SD card are also good selling points.
FT.com reports that last Thursday my brother William D. Cohan's The Last Tycoons beat out Alan Greenspan's TheAge of Turbulence to win the 2007 Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year Award.
Reportedly Greenspan had his public relations firm arrange for him to fly to London on a private jet and to have a limousine at his disposal. At the last minute Greenspan canceled his trip to London but not without preparing a video of his acceptance speech. Alas poor Alan -- his video was for naught.
While Rachel Lomax, deputy governor of the Bank of England and one of the judges, said Greenspan's book was "source material for future historians as well as an entertaining read," The Last Tycoons was judged to have provided "the most compelling and enjoyable insight into modern business issues," in line with the official aim of the award.
The best and certainly most enjoyable way to learn about business is through stories. Harvard Business School realizes this, which is why it relies on its famous case studies for its MBA classes. But for the rest of us, there are memoirs offering a glimpse into the worlds of writers who played roles, however small, in American finance.
Money has its list of the top six financial memoirs, all of which are quite good. I would strongly urge you to pick up all of those at your local library (with the possible exception of Ben Franklin's which, alas, is rather unreadable). Here are two more you may want to check out:
Jim Cramer's Confessions of a Street Addict. This is Cramer's memoir of his days as a hedge fund manager -- screaming orders, throwing phones, and generally acting even more insane than he does on his TV show. It's an incredibly engaging book, and you may be surprised at what a terrifically talented journalist Jim Cramer is. Had he chosen journalism as a career over the financial markets, he probably would have become equally famous in that field. Regardless of what you think of his stock picks, Jim Cramer is a brilliant man and this is a brilliant book.
Andrew Tobias' The Funny Money Game. Before he was famous for his book The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need, Tobias was a vice president at a high-flying momentum stock called National Student Marketing, debating what island to retire to when his rich options package vested. Unfortunately, NSM collapsed in scandal, leaving Tobias' options worthless, but he still leaves us with this hilarious memoir about the life of a young executive at a chaotic young company embarking on almost-weekly acquisitions.
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) has a new best-seller perched at the top of the book list. And it has nothing to do with magic. Or wait, maybe it does.
Although only on sale since Monday, the former Federal Reserve chief Alan Greenspan's personal memoir, The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World, has sat at the top of the best seller list at the world's largest online bookseller. This suggests that quite a few folks are looking for answers from the often much-admired former fed chief.
And an explanation, perhaps, for all the dark alchemy currently churning the markets.
With yesterday's larger-than-expected rate cut, what is going on in the minds of bankers, corporate spenders and avid citizen economists? Everyone, even, apparently, the man on the street, wants to read -- in easy translation -- what Greenspan really thought during his generation-long tenure at the Fed. Indeed, even the book's ominous title hints that things may never be the same again.
It's ironic that the memoirs of a man who is notorious for being oblique is now a best-seller.
According to The New York Times, disgraced author James Frey is coming back with a new book: this one, Bright Shiny Morning, will be clearly labeled a work of fiction.
Frey's first book, A Million Little Pieces, was a bestseller featured on Oprah that garnered further attention when it was revealed that the book, billed as a memoir, contained numerous fabrications. Our own Beth Gaston Moon called Frey the "Milli Vanilli of modern American literature." Random House agreed to pay up to $2.35 million to readers who claimed they were defrauded.
His new book will be with Harper Collins, and it remains to be seen whether he'll be able to have a hit.
Did Frey make a mistake? Yes, of course. Was anyone hurt by it? I seriously doubt it. On the other hand, the advice doled out in Roberty Kiyosaki's Rich Dad, Poor Dad is often terrible and, according to some, completely made up. Given that Kiyosaki literally advises readers to change their lives, I would argue that this should be a much, much larger scandal than James Frey.
Frey made a mistake and he apologized. Hopefully readers will give his new work of fiction a fair chance.
Ya know those books from Playboy that are so good you can't put them down until you finish?
Great Business Disasters: Swindlers, Bunglers and Frauds in American Industry, edited by Isadore Barmash and published by the Playboy Press, is just that kind of book. I would actually say that it's the most interesting book of business history I've ever encountered. And it's out of print.
Great Business Disasters is an anthology of some of the best financial journalism of the era, with a special focus on longer pieces covering frauds and mess-ups. We get a piece by John Brooks (author of the also-excellent Once in Golconda) on the infamous Ford Edsel and a fascinating piece by a very young Andrew Tobias on the National Student Marketing fiasco, who worked as a marketing director for the company.
There are a total of 15 accounts of some of the greatest and most infamous mess-ups in business history. Some of these are more obscure but still fascinating, and you're unlikely to find out about them outside of this book.
Reading Great Business Disasters, I couldn't help but lament the fact that this sort of long-form journalism is dying. Only a few great writers -- Gary Weiss and Herb Greenberg come to mind -- are carrying on this art. With Rupert Murdoch having complained that he finds The Wall Street Journal's feature stories too long, this situation seems likely to get worse.
Someone really needs to get the rights to this book and put it back in print -- It could be updated with some of The Wall Street Journal's accounts of the Enron blow-up and, of course, my coverage of Usana Health Sciences (Kidding...). Fortunately, the book is still available. Here are some places to get it used:
As Doug McIntyre recently pointed out on BloggingStocks, there's really no reason to assume that the success Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ: WFMI) had in consummating its acquisition of Wild Oats will have any effect on other deals.
If so, there is only one category that such a merger could be classified under: Two drunken sailors trying to hold each other up. As for anti-trust concerns, how could consumers be effected by the merger of two companies that sell overpriced -- compared to Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) -- books at stores people don't go to anymore?
The Whole Foods deal was about a rapidly growing enterprise trying to expand its empire, and that one made it through the courts. It's hard to imagine regulators stopping the merger of two struggling companies in a contracting industry, even if they wanted to.
Whether such a deal would do anything to help shareholders of the combined entity remains to be seen, if such a deal does indeed come to pass.
Why does it cost more money to transfer funds electronically than to send a check? Why don't school buses have seat belts? Why would a company give employees "free cars" instead of a cash bonus?
In the months and years to come, dozens of books will chronicle the subprime lending boom and bust that resulted in record numbers of foreclosures and massive losses at some of America's most prominent banks (as well as the dismissal of Merrill Lynch CEO Stan O'Neal and his 9-figure parting gift, but that's another story).
Is this the death of paper books?
Move over, Harry. Make way for Alan.
As 
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