SEATTLE & TARRYTOWN, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 6, 2011--
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Marshall Cavendish, one of the
world’s leading educational and consumer book publishers and classroom
digital solutions providers, today announced that Amazon has signed a
deal to acquire over 450 titles of its US Children’s trade books
business, Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books (MCCB).
The list from Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books has been nominated for
more than 150 industry awards and includes a diverse range of titles
including “The Night Before Christmas” illustrated by Gennady Spirin,
“Three Little Tamales” by Eric A. Kimmel, “Chalk” by Bill Thomson and
“Yellow Star” by Jennifer Roy, as well as the National Book Award
finalist “My Name is Not Easy” by Debby Dahl Edwardson. The acquisition
creates the foundation for Amazon Publishing to further expand into
picture books, chapter books and Young Adult novels.
“We’re excited to acquire the Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books titles
and expand our publishing business in this area,” said Jeff Belle, Vice
President, Amazon Publishing. “We believe the children’s book market
segment presents a unique opportunity to innovate in both print and
digital formats. And since many of these titles are not readily
available as eBooks, we see a chance to connect a terrific group of
authors and illustrators with more readers. We also see the potential
for similar deals across other categories in the future.”
“Under the guidance of Margery Cuyler, the Marshall Cavendish Children’s
Books team has done an incredible job of building a contemporary and
beautifully presented list of books,” said Laurence Kirshbaum, Vice
President and Publisher, Amazon Publishing, East Coast Group. “We look
forward to working with these respected authors and illustrators. We
will continue to publish these books in their handsome print editions
and we think customers will love reading these books — most of them
never available before digitally — with their families, using the
brilliant color touchscreen on the Kindle Fire.”
Lee Fei Chen, Group Publisher & Head of Publishing Group at Marshall
Cavendish Corporation said, “We would like to thank all the MCCB authors
and illustrators for their contributions over the years; many of them
have worked with us since the commencement of this business in 2003. The
numerous awards and recognition that the list has garnered is a standing
testament to the creativity and capabilities of the team.” She further
added, “Our sale will allow Marshall Cavendish to continue to focus on
our core K-12 textbook and assessment books business in the United
States, and growing our school education publishing businesses
worldwide.”
Until the deal is closed, all orders from retailers and libraries should
continue to go to the existing MCCB sales teams. Amazon will publish the
acquired titles under an imprint of Amazon’s New York publishing unit.
Marshall Cavendish was advised by Robin Warner, Atwood Capital Partners,
a globally-focused investment bank active in the information, media,
technology and communications industries.
Amazon Publishing is the publishing arm of Amazon, and is made up of six
imprints: AmazonEncore, AmazonCrossing, Powered by Amazon, Montlake
Romance, Thomas & Mercer, 47North, as well as the New York-based
division under which MCCB will be housed. For more information about
imprints of Amazon Publishing, visit www.amazon.com/amazonpublishing.
Amazon Publishing is a brand used by Amazon Content Services LLC.
About Marshall Cavendish
Marshall Cavendish is a leading education publisher. In the United
States, Marshall Cavendish’s highly successful Singapore-based K-5 Math
Program, Math in Focus: The Singapore Approach is distributed by
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The Company has educational publishing
operations in the US, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore and sells its
education solutions to Ministries of Education worldwide in more than 50
countries. Marshall Cavendish is a member of Times Publishing Limited.
For more information please visit: www.marshallcavendish.com
About Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN), a Fortune 500 company based in Seattle,
opened on the World Wide Web in July 1995 and today offers Earth’s
Biggest Selection. Amazon.com, Inc. seeks to be Earth’s most
customer-centric company, where customers can find and discover anything
they might want to buy online, and endeavors to offer its customers the
lowest possible prices. Amazon.com and other sellers offer millions of
unique new, refurbished and used items in categories such as Books;
Movies, Music & Games; Digital Downloads; Electronics & Computers; Home
& Garden; Toys, Kids & Baby; Grocery; Apparel, Shoes & Jewelry; Health &
Beauty; Sports & Outdoors; and Tools, Auto & Industrial. Amazon Web
Services provides Amazon’s developer customers with access to
in-the-cloud infrastructure services based on Amazon’s own back-end
technology platform, which developers can use to enable virtually any
type of business. The new latest generation Kindle is the lightest, most
compact Kindle ever and features the same 6-inch, most advanced
electronic ink display that reads like real paper even in bright
sunlight. Kindle Touch is a new addition to the Kindle family with an
easy-to-use touch screen that makes it easier than ever to turn pages,
search, shop, and take notes — still with all the benefits of the most
advanced electronic ink display. Kindle Touch 3G is the top of the line
e-reader and offers the same new design and features of Kindle Touch,
with the unparalleled added convenience of free 3G. Kindle Fire is the
Kindle for movies, TV shows, music, books, magazines, apps, games and
web browsing with all the content, free storage in the Amazon Cloud,
Whispersync, Amazon Silk (Amazon’s new revolutionary cloud-accelerated
web browser), vibrant color touch screen, and powerful dual-core
processor.
Amazon and its affiliates operate websites, including www.amazon.com,
www.amazon.co.uk,
www.amazon.de,
www.amazon.co.jp,
www.amazon.fr,
www.amazon.ca,
www.amazon.cn,
www.amazon.it,
and www.amazon.es.
As used herein, “Amazon.com,” “we,” “our” and similar terms include
Amazon.com, Inc., and its subsidiaries, unless the context indicates
otherwise.
Forward-Looking Statements
This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning
of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ significantly
from management's expectations. These forward-looking statements involve
risks and uncertainties that include, among others, risks related to
competition, management of growth, new products, services and
technologies, potential fluctuations in operating results, international
expansion, outcomes of legal proceedings and claims, fulfillment center
optimization, seasonality, commercial agreements, acquisitions and
strategic transactions, foreign exchange rates, system interruption,
inventory, government regulation and taxation, payments and fraud. More
information about factors that potentially could affect Amazon.com's
financial results is included in Amazon.com's
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its most
recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and subsequent filings.
Source: Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon.com, Inc.
Media Hotline, 206-266-7180
www.amazon.com/pr
