Publishers Weekly - March 7, 2016

sale, many parties expressed interest
before Perseus began having serious
conversations with about seven com-
panies. Unlike the first attempted sale,
this time Perseus hired a financial
advisor, Greenhill & Co., to help oversee
the process. And unlike the earlier
negotiation, when HBG planned to buy
all of Perseus and then sell the distribu-
tion business to Ingram, the new process
involved two separate sales. HBG’s
acquisition was announced on March 1,
and Ingram’s March 3.

HBG and Ingram had been considered the most likely to get involved with the Perseus purchase this time for the same reason they tried to make a deal in 2014: the acquisition gives the companies more clout in their respective markets. HBG was looking to increase its presence in the nonfiction market when it first bid on Perseus, and it continued to look for ways to expand there following its failure to complete the 2014 deal.

Shortly after the Perseus deal collapsed, HBG bought about 1,000 adult nonfiction titles from Hyperion and picked up another 250 nonfiction books in the

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY ; MARCH 7, 2016

Hachette, Ingram Split Perseus’s Businesses

The Art of the Deal Eighteen months after the col- lapse of a complicated deal that would have delivered Perseus Books Group’s publishing business to Hachette Book Group and its distribution arm to Ingram Content Group, Perseus signed binding agreements last week to sell those same two businesses to those new owners.

David Steinberger, CEO of Perseus, said there were several factors that contributed to completing the deal this time around. For starters, he said, Perseus has had a solid financial performance since the original deal was called off in August 2014, which has continued to make the company an attractive acquisition target. Indeed, after Perseus announced last fall that it was once again considering a possible

SOURCE: NIELSEN BOOKSCAN AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY. NIELSEN BOOKSCAN’S U.S. CONSUMER MARKE T PANEL COVERS APPROXIMATELY 80% OF THE PRINT BOOK MARKET AND CONTINUES TO GROW. Unit sales of print books rose 5% in the week ended Feb. 28, 2016, over the similar week last year, at outlets that report to Nielsen BookScan. The adult nonfiction segment had the largest gain, with units up 15%. The growth in the category was led by two titles that made their debut in the top spots. Doctor Who Coloring Book landed at #1 in the segment, selling more than 39,000 copies in its first week, while Cravings by Chrissy Teigen was in second place, selling just under 32,000 copies. Another new title hit the adult nonfiction list in fourth place in its first week: Mark Hyman’s Eat Fat Get Thin, which sold more than 19,000 copies. Unit sales in juvenile nonfiction increased 10% in the week, helped by some Easter books moving up the bestsellers list. The Story of Easter by Patricia A. Pingry was #4 in juvenile nonfiction, selling almost 5,500 copies, and Pingry’s The Easter Story moved into the 11th spot, selling nearly 4,000 copies. Adult fiction unit sales fell 3% in the week, despite the release of a number of new mass market paperbacks that hit the top of the bestsellers list. The mass market edition of Country by Danielle Steel was #1 on the adult fiction list, selling almost 23,000 copies in its first week, followed by mass market paperback editions of Memory Man by David Baldacci, which sold approximately 21,000 copies, and Revenge by Lisa Jackson, which sold about 17,000 copies. Unit sales in the juvenile fiction category slipped 0.2% in the week. Dr. Seuss titles held the first five spots on the juvenile fiction bestsellers list, selling a total of more than 96,000 copies.

MAR. 11, FEB. 28, CHGE CHGE 2015 2016* WEEK YTD

Adult Non;ction 4,138 4,748 15% 12% Adult Fiction 2,502 2,424 - 3 -0.6 Juvenile Non;ction 899 989 10 13 Juvenile Fiction 3,126 3,121 -0.2 3

Unit Sales of Print Books by Format

MAR. 1, FEB. 28, CHGE CHGE
2015 2016* WEEK YTD
Hardcover 2,998 3,046 2% 6%
Trade Paperback 5,821 6,396 10 8
Mass Market Paperback 1,287 1,184 -8 - 6
Board Books 634 720 14 17
Audio 69 60 - 13 - 12
Unit Sales of Print Books by Channel
MAR. 1, FEB. 28, CHGE CHGE
2015 2016* WEEK YTD
Total 11,027 11,631 5% 6%
Mass Merch./Other 2,337 2,061 - 12 - 9
Retail & Club 8,690 9,570 10 10