Link to December 10 Poynter Online post, "Nielsen folds Editor & Publisher and Kirkus Reviews".Excerpt from "Dear Colleagues" letter from Greg Farrar, President, Nielsen Business Media: Today, we announced that Nielsen Business Media has reached an agreement with e5 Global Media Holdings, LLC, a new company formed jointly by Pluribus Capital Management and Guggenheim Partners, for the sale of eight brands in the Media and Entertainment Group, including Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek, The Clio Awards, Backstage, Billboard, Film Journal International and The Hollywood Reporter. e5 Global Media Holdings has also agreed to acquire our Film Expo business, which includes the ShoWest, ShowEast, Cinema Expo International and CineAsia trade shows.
In addition, we've made the decision to cease operations for Editor & Publisher and Kirkus Reviews.
This move will allow us to strengthen investment in our core businesses � those parts of our portfolio that have the greatest potential for growth � and ensure our long-term success. We remain committed to building our trade show group and affiliated brands. These assets continue to be a key part of The Nielsen Company's overall portfolio and we strongly believe they are positioned to grow as the economy recovers. In addition, we'll continue to assess the strategic fit of our remaining portfolio of publications.
For more reaction, see December 10 Galleycat post, "Kirkus Reviews Closes; Twittersphere Ponders Future of Book Reviews".
Excerpt: As news broke that Kirkus Reviews would close, the Twittersphere exploded with commentary from worried writers, readers, and publishers around the world--can the book review survive the loss of this magazine that has reviewed literature since 1933?
A sad day in the world of book reviews. I once worked on the Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, and admired Kirkus for their broad coverage and--at that time at least--consistent voice. But it was pretty pricey and I could never afford it am any of my libraries (and our system's rotating copy alway came too late!) I wonder how much easy "free" availability of reviews on Amazon or BWI has cut into the sale of print sources.
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