Who Should Use Every Door Direct Mail (EDDM) in 2024? (piworld.com)

Judge Alan D. Albright of the US District Court for the Western District of Texas, Austin Division, issued a written order granting a Preliminary Injunction barring the implementation of a vast and burdensome book ratings regime known as the “Reader Act,” ruling “that this law violates the Free Speech Clause of the First Amendment.” The law would have required independent bookstores, national chain bookstores, large online book retailers, book publishers and other vendors to review and rate millions of books and other library materials according to sexual content if those books are sold to school libraries, and to do so according to vague labels dictated by the state without any process for judicial review.

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. announced that it has filed a draft asset purchase agreement, which tracks the terms of the previously announced letter of intent, to sell JCPenney. All parties are working to conclude negotiations and intend to utilize the ongoing mediation process to help achieve that goal. Key terms of the draft APA are as follows: *Brookfield Asset Management, Inc (“Brookfield”) and Simon Property Group (“Simon”) will acquire substantially all of JCPenney’s retail and operating assets (“OpCo”) through a combination of cash and new term loan debt. *The formation of separate property holding companies (“PropCos”), comprising 160 of the Company’s real estate assets and all of its owned distribution centers, which will be owned by the Company’s Debtor-in-Possession and First Lien Lenders. *The OpCo and PropCos will enter into a master lease with respect to the properties and distribution centers moved into the PropCos.

By any measure, the first half of 2021 was a good period for trade book publishing. Revenue at the companies that report trade sales to the Association of American Publishers’ StatShot program rose 17.6% over the first six months of 2020; NPD BookScan reported that unit sales increased 18.5% in the period; and bookstore sales jumped 30% over what was a miserable first six months of 2020. So it comes as no surprise that the four publicly traded major publishers also posted strong increases in the period. Of particular note is the fact that while sales were strong, profits were even better, with operating margins showing healthy gains. In general, the publishers cited higher sales of both backlist books and digital content, especially digital audiobooks, for the improved margins. Though supply chain issues and the uncertainty over the delta variant are causing some concerns about how the rest of the year will unfold, publishers are hoping that the increased interest in reading will carry over through the 2021 holiday season and beyond.