A Resolute Forest Products woodyard update will take place
on about three acres of the property. The upgrades will make the mill more
economical and competitive. In June, the Canada-based company began building a
replacement woodyard at the Augusta facility on Doug Barnard Parkway. The
woodyard will likely be operational by September 2014, said Jay Backus, general
manager of the Augusta mill. “It just
makes us a much more economical, viable mill,” Backus said. “It improves our
competitiveness in the newsprint market. Newsprint is a difficult market right
now. We have to keep our costs down to survive.” The new facility will span
about 3 acres of the mill’s property and was precipitated by an outdated
pulping process. The Augusta mill produces about 400,000 tons of newsprint
annually. The company's biggest customers are The Washington Post,
Quad/Graphics and other Southeastern newspapers, including The Augusta
Chronicle.
Monday, July 29, 2013
G-P/Buckeye Proposed Merger- Firms Recommend Vote "FOR"
Buckeye Technologies Inc. today announced that
leading independent proxy advisory firms ISS Proxy Advisory Services and Egan
Jones Proxy Services have recommended that Buckeye stockholders vote
"FOR" adoption of the Agreement and Plan of Merger (the "Merger
Agreement"), dated April 23, 2013, by and among Buckeye, Georgia-Pacific
LLCand GP Cellulose Group, an indirect
wholly-owned subsidiary of Georgia-Pacific (the "Purchaser"). The
Merger Agreement provides for the merger of the Purchaser with and into
Buckeye, with Buckeye surviving the merger as an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary
of Georgia-Pacific. If the transactions contemplated by the Merger Agreement
are completed, Buckeye stockholders will be entitled to receive $37.50 in cash,
without interest and subject to any withholding of taxes required by applicable
law, for each share of Buckeye common stock. The Merger Agreement is being
submitted to a vote at a special meeting of Buckeye stockholders to be held on
August 15, 2013 at 9:00 a.m. Central Time, at Buckeye's headquarters, 1001
Tillman Street, Memphis Tennessee 38112.
How Forbes Has Stayed Ahead Of The Curve
Innovation is taking over the publishing industry, and big
names such as Forbes are at the helm of
the change. Over at BtoB Media Business,
President and CEO Mike Perlis discusses how Forbes has stayed current in the
publishing world for nearly 100 years.
By approaching each day as a “startup” company, the leading authority in
business media is able to apply innovation to everyday publishing. The symbiotic relationship that exists
between print and digital publishing can make or break a publication – and
Forbes thrives on that synergy.
Listen to Perlis discuss his strategyOpens in a new window.
Finch Paper Appoints National Sales Director
Finch Paper has
appointed Rob Ferragina, to National Sales Director. Ferragina reports to
Debabrata Mukherjee, President and CEO, Finch Paper. As National Sales Director, Ferragina leads a team of sales
executives who are reputed to deliver exceptional, responsive service in the
opaque, text and cover, and digital paper markets. Ferragina
has over fifteen years of industry experience in the Metro NY area, most
recently with Mohawk as Regional Sales Manager, Northeast, with responsibility
for sales from Maine to Virginia. Ferragina has also represented Fox River and
Fraser in his career.
Hearst Management Change Up
Hearst Corp.'s magazine with Dr. Mehmet Oz is slowly coming
together. Less than a month after naming Alison Brower editor in chief, Hearst
will today tap Kristine Welker as the health and lifestyle magazine's vice
president, publisher and chief revenue officer. Welker was the founding
publisher of CosmoGirl until 2007, a year before it folded. In 2010, she became
vice president, chief revenue officer of Hearst Magazines Digital Media, which
oversees the Web sites of the publisher's magazines, as well as some digital-only
sites, like realbeauty.com. The as yet untitled magazine from Hearst and Oz, the surgeon
and television personality, was confirmed to be in the works in June, after
weeks of press reports, and will hit newsstands as a pilot twice next year, in
the first and second quarters. The launch is similar to those of the Food
Network and HGTV magazines, which later expanded to 10 times a year.
Hearst Magazines has hired Todd Haskell away from The New
York Times, where he had been group VP-advertising since 2007, to become senior
VP and chief revenue officer of Hearst Magazines Digital Media, a new position. Mr. Haskell will oversee sales and marketing for Hearst's 24
websites, including both magazine and pure-play digital sites. "Hearst Magazines Digital Media is in growth mode, and
Todd's leadership and expertise in digital advertising, publishing and business
development will continue the forward momentum," said Michael Clinton,
president-marketing and publishing director at Hearst Magazines.
Bloomberg Taps The Atlantic's Smith To Run Media
Bloomberg LP has named Justin Smith CEO of Bloomberg Media
Group, the unit that comprises Bloomberg’s television, radio, magazine,
conferences and digital businesses, succeeding Andrew Lack, who becomes
chairman of the group. Smith joins from Atlantic Media, where he was president
and was the key architect of its transformation from a print-centric to a
digitally focused publisher. While at Atlantic Media, he oversaw the launch of
several new digital titles, including Quartz and Defense One.
Boston Herald To Launch Internet Radio
The countdown has begun for 6 a.m. next Monday, Aug. 5, when
Boston Herald Radio goes live.
Veteran talk show host Jeff Katz will launch a morning drive
news talk show that will lead into 12 hours of live broadcasting each weekday. There will be four shows in all, including “Live from the
Newsroom with Jeff Katz,” “Morning Meeting with Jaclyn Cashman and Hillary
Chabot,” “The Michael Graham Show” and “Sports Town with Jon
Meterparel
and Jen Royle.” Throughout the broadcast day, streamed at bostonherald.com,
the Herald’s news and sports apps and the TuneIn free app, listeners will be
news insiders with updates and breaking news reports straight from the Herald
newsroom. Herald editors, reporters, columnists and entertainment
critics will provide regular commentary and analysis. Boston Herald President and Publisher Patrick J. Purcell
said, “Internet radio is exploding and it makes sense that the Herald rounds
out our multimedia platform with talk radio programming. It’s perfect synergy. Listeners can call in, take part in ongoing live chats,
comment through a Twitter feed, take polls on important topics and react to
columns and blogs written by show hosts.
Advertisers will be able to reach Herald radio listeners as
well. “The Boston Herald is a very powerful brand in print and
online and the addition of Boston Herald Radio adds another platform to engage
new audiences,” said Herald Chief Operating Officer and CFO Jeff Magram.
F+W Media Introduces New Website
Interweave, an imprint of F+W Media, Inc., the nation’s
number one craft media company, enriches crafters worldwide with the launch of
a new website, CraftDaily.com. An experience unlike any before, the subscription video
website features more than 100 hours of full-length, high-quality, fully-vetted
instructional videos. CraftDaily.com
connects artists with the best instructors in the craft world. “We know how valuable the hands-on learning experience is, and our engaged editors, devoted instructors, and passionate crafters are excited to offer deeper content in an online educational format,” says Chad Phelps, Chief Digital Officer forF+W Media. “We have selected leaders in their specialties—already on staff—to teach viewers how to create hand-made products and how to perfect their techniques.”
connects artists with the best instructors in the craft world. “We know how valuable the hands-on learning experience is, and our engaged editors, devoted instructors, and passionate crafters are excited to offer deeper content in an online educational format,” says Chad Phelps, Chief Digital Officer forF+W Media. “We have selected leaders in their specialties—already on staff—to teach viewers how to create hand-made products and how to perfect their techniques.”
Omnicom/Publicis Megamerger
The $35.1 billion monster merger that
Omnicom Group and Publicis announced Sunday could send rumblings throughout the
digital-advertising landscape. While Google is the world's biggest digital-ad network, and
Facebook has shown encouraging gains in mobile advertising, based on its
financial results July 25, the specter of OmniPub, as some call it, could
eventually change all that. The combined company, expected to be called Publicis Omnicom
Groupe, will create an advertising megacorporation that would be the world's
biggest provider of advertising.
Publicis has been especially attentive to scooping up
digital-ad firms, such as Razorfish and Digitas, establishing it as a fledgling
player in that space. Omnicom, meanwhile, has preferred to work with technology
companies and build internal web capability. The deal can only cause consternation at Google, Facebook,
Yahoo, Apple and other tech titans fighting for a piece of the
multibillion-dollar online advertising pie. For many, success in online ad
selling is the Holy Grail for long-term success.
The merger of Publicis and Omnicom is yet another sign that
the traditional media and advertising business is being disrupted. When this
wave of consolidation is over, there will be just a few major holding companies
left. At that point there will be a holding company for each of the top two or
three brands in each category (auto, telecom, CPG, beauty, etc.), and then a
roiling, vibrant economy of emerging brands, independent agencies and new
technologies. The driving force behind holding company consolidation is
not the desire to align to the needs of mega-brand clients or to stop the
downward pressure on agency fees. If that were the case, holding company
shareholders would have demanded this merger years ago.
Publicis and Omnicom are merging because of us. Anyone who
has used Facebook, done a search on Google, or watched Netflix instead of
buying a local newspaper, using the phone book or watching broadcast television
has contributed to this merger. Omnicom CEO John Wren alluded to this when he
spoke to journalists yesterday: “We have many new competitors,” he said.
Meredith’s Quiet Collection of Agencies
In recent years, Meredith Corporation, which publishes the
magazines Family Circle, Better Homes and Gardens, and Fitness, among others,
has been aggressively snatching up agencies to create content for advertisers. In the past several months, however, with a shift in
executives and strategy, these agencies, each with its own area of focus, have
been brought under one roof called Meredith Xcelerated Marketing, or MXM.
Meredith is no longer just a magazine company; it’s a marketing company, too. “We retired all the brand names,” said Doug Rozen, MXM’s
chief innovation officer. “Over the last year, we created new a leadership team
to drive this forward, setting it up to be integrated as a single structure
versus eight different independent [agencies].” MXM’s emphasis on high-quality content and the effective
distribution of that content through social, digital and mobile. It works with
Fortune 500 brands, like Chrysler, NBC and Kraft Foods, to create custom
publications or websites, manage social feeds, or develop video for brands to
post online or in a store. MXM then distributes content wherever a brand feels
it’s best suited: print, Web, email, mobile, offline or social media.
The Magazine Industry In India; Outlook Shuts 3 Mags
The Outlook Group has pulled the plug on three of its
licensed international titles: People, Geo and Marie Claire, choosing not to
renew licenses that were up, BestMediaInfo reported on Friday. Marie Claire was
being published in partnership with French publisher Groupe Marie Claire,
People magazine was licensed from Time Inc., while Geo was licensed from Gruner
+ Jahr (G+J) International, a part of the Bertelsmann group. It’s worth noting
that, two years ago, G+J had acquired a majority stake in custom publisher
Maxposure, so it does have a magazine presence in India to relaunch Geo with. There appear to be contradictory statements on the reasons
for the closure of these magazines. Indranil Roy, President for the Outlook
Group told BestMediaInfo that “It has nothing to do with profitability. It’s
our business call not to continue with the titles”, while Vinod Mehta,
Editorial chairman of the group, told BusinessWorld that the three magazines
were losing money because of the huge licensing fees for these three “white
elephants” being paid to the foreign title holders.
New B&N Filings Have No Update On 'Strategic Review'
Barnes & Noble filed its proxy statement and 10-k report
with the Securities & Exchange Commission Monday morning, and in the
filings provided no update on whether or when Nook Media may be separated from
the retail trade group. Referring to the strategic review of a possible split,
the 10-K stated that “There can be no assurance that the review will result in
a strategic separation or the creation of a stand-alone public company, and
there is no timetable for this review.” In the 10-k, B&N repeated what it has said elsewhere in
terms of it plans for its physical stores—it will close more stores than it
opens. “Management generally believes that the Company’s retail stores are
located in attractive geographic markets, and generally does not have a
strategy to open retail stores in new geographic markets or to expand the total
number of retail stores, and expects to close more retail stores than it
opens,” the 10-K read. B&N closed fiscal 2013 with 675 stores. B&N has
said it plans to close 15 to 20 outlets this year and open as many as five. Finally, the company released a restatement of results from
earlier fiscal years that cuts its loss in fiscal 2012 by about $4 million.
USPS To Use Facebook Gimmick To Unveil Stamp
Linn’s Stamp News reports that the US Postal Service plans a
slightly gimmicky unveiling for its stamp honoring the 50th anniversary of the
1963 March on Washington. Instead of releasing the image well in advance, as it
used to do, the USPS will reveal the design “pixel by pixel” on its Facebook
page. Each time a Facebook member “participates” by allowing their profile
photo to be added to a “virtual March on Washington Stamp Mosaic” another pixel
of the stamp design will be revealed. The virtual “unveiling” is set to begin
next week, and conclude with the official ceremony marking the First Day of
Issue in Washington on August 23. Linn’s says that a portion of the artwork
(presumably more than just one pixel?!) will be withheld until the ceremony. All of which may explain why the USPS is apparently looking
to hire a social media specialist!
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