Book on Twin Towers suddenly a best seller
The author of scholarly book on the World Trade Center suddenly finds himself a best-selling writer because of tragedy. "It's a very conflicted situation," said Angus Kress Gillespie, author of "Twin Towers," a scholarly history of the World Trade Center that topped the Hot 100 list on Amazon.com.

Online Book Retailers Merge
Augsburg-based Booxtra GmbH is taking over competitor Mediantis AG (formerly Buecher.de) for up to DM7 million, creating a new online book retailer that could one day emerge as a rival to current market leader Amazon.de.

British book retailer buys Whitcoulls
Following months of negotiations Blue Star Group has sold Whitcoulls, New Zealand's biggest book and stationary chain, to British book retailer W H Smith.

AMAZON.COM: FTC: Bookseller likely was deceptive
Bookseller Amazon.com Inc. and its Alexa Internet subsidiary probably deceived consumers when their Internet software secretly passed on personal information to the company, the Federal Trade Commission said.

Childrens book profiles Amazon.com CEO Bezos March 3, 2001
Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos' star power has sputtered, but he's still famous enough to be portrayed as a hero to America's youth in a new book.

Books Were Us (March 2, 2001)
It was a new kind of bookshop - and it seduced Britain into a new love affair with books. But when the browser's paradise ballooned into an empire, it all started to go horribly wrong. Stephen Moss on the rise and fall of Waterstone's

Borders Group Revamps Superstore Management
"Borders Group Inc. is in the middle of a process that will result in a major change in the way its superstores are managed. Tami Heim, president of Borders, said the goal of the restructuring is to streamline in-store management and to have store personnel become more responsive to customer needs."

Independent Booksellers Join Early E-Book Efforts
BookSite and Lightning Source Inc. today announced a strategic alliance that will provide Lightning's e-book fulfillment service to BookSite's network of independent bookstores.

Barnes & Noble Cutting Workforce (February 8, 2001)
Barnes & Noble.com reported a wider-than-expected operating loss for the fourth quarter and said it would cut 350 jobs, or about 16% of its work force.

Trilogy Takes Control of Bookseller Chapters (February 2, 2001)
Trilogy Retail Enterprises turned the page on one of Canada's most acrimonious takeover fights on Friday, gaining control of Chapters Inc., the country's No. 1 book chain, and creating a near monopoly in the bookselling business.

Amazon.com to trim unprofitable products (February 2, 2001)
Amazon.com will stop selling unprofitable items in order to make good on its promise to climb out of the red this year.

Amazon to Lay Off 1,300 (February 1, 2001)
Amazon.com (AMZN) released fourth-quarter results Tuesday and announced that it would cut 15% of its workforce in an effort to cut costs and streamline operations.

Major Book Outlets Report Disappointing Holiday (January 15, 2001)
While overall sales were up at some companies, comparable store results were weak.

These Little Stores Went to Market--Together (January 15, 2001)
Christian indies find marketing groups the way to stand up to the competition.

Is the Sun Setting on eBookstores? (January 11, 2001)
"There is an interesting paradox developing in the online bookstore industry. Fourth quarter revenues (including holiday sales) are up, and books continue to be the top-selling product category on the Net, but virtually across the board, book e-tailers are falling short of analyst earnings estimates. The result: a flurry of e-bookseller stock downgrades. "

Bertelsmann Online Books Adds China, Italy (January 3, 2001)
BOL, Bertelsmann's online bookshop, added Italy and China to its roster last month, bringing the number of countries where BOL does business to 16.

Slow Sales Add Pressure to Cut Prices of Books (January 1, 2001)
"What do you do with the thousands of surplus copies of a big book that bombs? That question is on the minds of many publishers this week as they survey the results of the holiday season amid signs that books may not be immune to the sluggish sales at other retail stores. "

Authors criticize Amazon's used book sales (December 27, 2000)
"When Amazon.com added a feature that allows people to shop for used books, the online retail giant thought it was giving its millions of customers a chance to save money. But the feature has come under fire from writers and publishers groups, which say it is an "aggressive" tactic that threatens to eat into sales of new books and take royalty money out of the pockets of their members."

Book Sales Slump (December 26, 2000)
"Even before the election mess created a massive national distraction, the year had been shaping up to be tough for publishers. "

Chapters expected to buy back online division (December 8, 2000)
Chapters Inc. is expected to announce on Friday that it will buy back stock of its floundering on-line and book wholesale businesses, a move seen as an effort to fend off a hostile takeover bid, a Canadian newspaper report said.

What if Amazon Looked like Wal-Mart? (December 6, 2000)
Speculation on the worst case scenario "if you were to do a little speculating on the Jeff Bezos Red-Ink Express."

Virtual Bookstore (December 3, 2000)
A Washington Post article discussing the changes in book retailing from the 1950s (when Bennett Cerf, the founder of Random House could say there were more blacksmith shops in America than bookstores) to the 21st century when a book superstore is one click away.

CGC rejects Trilogy purchase offer for Chapters (November 30, 2000)
Chapters Inc's biggest shareholder, Canadian General Capital Ltd. said on Thursday a C$63.7 million ($41.4 million) takeover offer by Trilogy Retail to buy the Canadian book retailer was inadequate.

Barnes & Noble, Gemstar: No Merger (November 30, 2000)
B&N and Gemstar said they have no current plans for a merger, acquisition, or business combination, squelching speculation begun last week by The Wall Street Journal.

B&N posts 3Q loss (November 16, 2000)
Bookseller's results dragged down by Babbage's unit, online investments

Amazon.com Draws Fire On Secondhand Books (November 14, 2000)
In its quest to be a universal marketplace, Amazon.com is running afoul of two of its core constituencies - the people who write as well as publish the books it sells.

Reading a Book is Not a Crime (November 2, 2000)
Denver's Tattered Cover Book Store has decided to appeal a court order requiring it to turn customer information over to police.

Audio book company struggles to be heard online (October 30, 2000)
Audible.com and other companies selling downloadable audiobooks are struggling. "Ruthless investor skepticism over unprofitable Internet businesses has helped drive Audible's stock as low as a remaindered book title."

Barnes & Noble to offer in-store access to Web site (October 26, 2000)
The New York-based bookseller said Thursday that it will install Internet service counters at its superstores so that customers can get online to order books or other products through its Web arm, Barnesandnoble.com. Shoppers will be able to pay by cash, check or credit card at the Net counters and may choose to pick up their orders at the stores or have them delivered.

Amazon's Bezos Talks 3Q and Book Biz (October 25, 2000)
Wall Street Journal reporter Steve Frank interviews Jeff Bezos about the company's quarterly results and what consumers are buying at Amazon.com.

Books Worm to the Net (October 23, 2000)
More than 57 million books were sold on the Internet in 1999, triple the number sold online in 1998. Find out what influences online book buyers.

Book Discount Era Has Come To An End (October 9, 2000)
"With none of the fanfare surrounding new markdowns, the dominant bookstore chains, Barnes & Noble and Borders, have quietly raised their prices."

Anxiety in Book Business Over Barnes & Noble Snag (October 6, 2000)
Problems at the Barnes & Noble distribution center set off a wave of anxiety in the book business this week.

Barnes/Noble vice chairman to sell 100,000 shares (October 2, 2000)
Vice Chairman Stephen Riggio has filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell 100,000 common shares, valued at $2 million, of the book seller's stock.

Amazon.com Apologizes for Random Price Test (September 27, 2000)
"Amazon.com Inc. Wednesday apologized to customers for running a price test and said it had refunded money to 6,896 online customers who paid more for DVDs than the lowest price offered on its Web site."

Tracking online booksellers (September 24, 2000)
A brief look at Amazon and B&N stock prices following the announcement of the Yahoo! deal shuffle.

Amazon.com's Price-Testing Problems (September 24, 2000)
Recently some Amazon.com customers and consumer protection experts have criticized Amazon for its price-testing practices. During price testing, some buyers were offered products at their suggested retail prices while others were offered the same products for significantly less. As a result of the complaints, Amazon has changed its price-testing policy.

Yahoo to Drop Amazon in Favor of B&N (September 19, 2000)
Yahoo Inc., which will make Barnes&Noble.com a featured merchant on its site now that its three-year agreement with Amazon.com has expired.

B&N to Buy Fatbrain.com (September 14, 2000)
Barnes&Noble.com announced plans to acquire Fatbrain.com for approximately $64 million, giving B&N a strong B2B presence, as well as a further lead in the ebook market.

Gaffe at Amazon leaves email addresses exposed (September 6, 2000)
Just days after Amazon.com tightened its privacy policy, a bug in one of its Web pages exposed numerous email addresses of the site's Affiliate members.

Questioning Amazon (September 6, 2000)
Amazon.com has created a great brand and a loyal customer base. No company is better positioned to lead online commerce, which, despite media reports, is not dead. A transcript of a discussion the Rule Breaker Portfolio managers from The Motley Fool.

German Online Bookseller Challenges Amazon, BOL (September 1, 2000)
Amazon and BOL, Bertelsmann's online bookshop, may be getting a third competitor in their battle for European dominance in the Web book business -- buecher.de, a fast-moving German shop with Pan-European ambitions.

Amazon.com To Launch French Store (August 29, 2000)
Amazon.fr is Third European Site, Serves Global French-Speaking Market

BISG Projects 5% Gain In Book Sales in 2000 (August 26, 2000)
'Total book sales are projected to increase 5.2% in 2000 to an estimated $24.71 billion, according to forecasts in Book Industry Study Group Trends 2000. If revenue growth hits the forecast target, it will better the 4.3% growth rate posted in 1999.'

Barnes & Noble shares fall (August 21, 2000)
'Barnes & Noble, the biggest US book retailer, on Thursday reported a second quarter loss of 13 cents a share, far below Wall Street's expectations of 4 cents a share, primarily on weakness in the video games division and losses on internet investments. '

Bertelsmann backs book service (August 16, 2000)
Publishing giant Bertelsmann is backing a start-up that will allow users to buy customised books online.

Chapters deals with departures by hiring Microsoft consultant (August 16, 2000)
Chapters Online Inc., the Internet arm of Canada' biggest bookseller, has recruited a Microsoft Canada executive to help it chart the course of its e-commerce operations.

Barnes & Noble.com Enters Textbook Wars (August 15, 2000)
Barnes & Noble is launching a new Textbook Store that it says features "the largest selection of new and used textbooks available anywhere online."

Barnesandnoble, Microsoft in e-bookstore deal (August 8, 2000)
Online bookseller Barnesandnoble.com Inc. is teaming up with Microsoft Corp. to open the first major Internet store selling digital books, a Barnesandnoble.com spokesman said Monday.

College Bookseller Settles Suit (August 7, 2000)
The National Association of College Stores has settled a lawsuit against retailer VarsityBooks.com after the online textbook seller agreed to adhere to association guidelines for advertising discounts on books.

German Publishers Square Off to Keep Online Book Discounters at Bay (August 5, 2000)
'The latest chapter in the clash of cultures in Germany's ongoing book battles pits publishers trying to preserve an old system of price-fixing against a new generation of wily discounters hawking cheap books over the Internet.'

Barnes & Noble and New England Booksellers Association Resolve Trademark Issues (August 3, 2000)
Barnes and Noble and and the New England Booksellers Association (NEBA) today announced that they have amicably resolved the potential trademark issues surrounding the word 'discover.'

Liquidation move for Chinese-language bookseller (August 2, 2000)
Chinese Books Cyberstore (CBC), the online retailer billed as Hong Kong's answer to Amazon.com, is going into voluntary liquidation.

Amazon.com hit with pricing glitch (August 2, 2000)
Shoppers took advantage of a pricing glitch at Amazon.com and ordered toys at far lower prices, but the online retailer later informed the customers that they could pay the correct prices or cancel their orders.

HarperCollins resumes shipping to Chapters (July 30, 2000)
HarperCollins Canada Ltd., one of the country's leading publishing houses, will resume shipping books to Chapters Inc. today after reaching agreement with the book chain, which was in arrears on millions of dollars in unpaid bills.

HarperCollins Stops Shipping To Chapters (July 29, 2000)
One of Canada's biggest publishing houses, HarperCollins Canada, says it has stopped shipping books to Canada's largest chain of bookstores.

Book about intimacy for Mormons is surprise best seller (July 29, 2000)
"Between Husband & Wife: Gospel Perspectives on Marital Intimacy," published in March by Covenant Books, has been a surprise best seller and is flying off the shelves in Mormon bookstores across the West.

Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Others Endorse New International Standard (July 27, 2000)
The Book Industry Study Group (BISG) today announced the availability of an international standard for the exchange of bibliographic data by publishers, distributors and booksellers.

Audible, Inc. Announces Second Quarter Results (July 26, 2000)
55% Increase In Content and Services Revenue Over First Quarter 2000 and 430% Over Second Quarter 1999

Audible to Unveil AudibleListener First-Ever Flat Rate Price Structure for Purchase of Internet Delivered Spoken Audio Titles (July 25 ,2000)
New Monthly Payment Plans Linked to Personal Listening Styles Will Provide Significant Customer Convenience And Value.

Chapters responds to Strategic Analysis Corporation report (July 20, 2000)
Strategic Analysis claims that Chapters is carrying excessively high levels of inventory. In fact, Chapters has been consistently reducing its inventory levels.

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