Macmillan Publishing Pushes Office Return Back to July (publishersweekly.com)

"We are pleased to report another strong quarter of financial results. In fact, our operational execution led to year-over-year growth in Adjusted EBITDA and further improvement to our same store revenue trends. Same store revenue trends improved sequentially for the sixth consecutive quarter, and we remain on track and expect to hit the revenue growth inflection point as we exit 2024. Each of our digital revenue streams continued to grow over the prior year, and as a result, total digital revenues now account for 44% of total revenues." "As part of our strategy, we continued to further optimize our capital structure. During the second quarter, we repaid $24.3 million of debt, which combined with our Adjusted EBITDA growth, reduced our first lien net leverage below 2.0x. Equally important, our total net debt fell under $1.0 billion for the first time since the 2019 acquisition of legacy Gannett, and we continued to maintain a strong liquidity position with approximately $99 million in cash on the balance sheet."

Gannett Co., Inc. announced that the Board of Directors has decided to streamline the operating structure of the Company by eliminating the position of CEO of the operating company, Gannett Media Corp. Given this decision, the Board and Paul Bascobert have mutually agreed for Mr. Bascobert to terminate his employment with the Company. Mr. Bascobert’s departure is not the result of any inappropriate action by Mr. Bascobert, any violation of company policy, any accounting irregularity or any material deterioration in the business of the Company. Michael Reed, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Gannett, has assumed Mr. Bascobert’s responsibilities. While the Board does not intend to conduct a search to fill the role of Chief Executive Officer of Gannett Media, the Board does remain focused on attracting and retaining individuals whose skills and diversity will contribute to the Company’s digital transformation.“

Member companies of the Association of American Publishers (AAP) filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Internet Archive (“IA”) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. The suit asks the Court to enjoin IA’s mass scanning, public display, and distribution of entire literary works, which it offers to the public at large through global-facing businesses coined “Open Library” and “National Emergency Library,” accessible at both openlibrary.org and archive.org. IA has brazenly reproduced some 1.3 million bootleg scans of print books, including recent works, commercial fiction and non-fiction, thrillers, and children’s books. The plaintiffs—Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins Publishers, John Wiley & Sons and Penguin Random House—publish many of the world’s preeminent authors, including winners of the Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, Newbery Medal, Man Booker Prize, Caldecott Medal and Nobel Prize. Despite the self-serving library branding of its operations, IA’s conduct bears little resemblance to the trusted role that thousands of American libraries play within their communities and as participants in the lawful copyright marketplace. IA scans books from cover to cover, posts complete digital files to its website, and solicits users to access them for free by signing up for Internet Archive Accounts.