Paper Co.s May Lose Black Liquor Tax Loophole

U.S. Paper Companies May Lose Son of Black Liquor Loophole: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus is trying to close the Son of Black Liquor tax loophole that has already provided U.S. paper makers with a windfall of more than $1 billion.

ALM Relaunches Better Buildings

ALM Relaunches Better Buildings Brand with a National Supplement: ALM is resurrecting its Better Buildings brand, a tri-state area building management magazine which debuted in 1981 and shuttered in the mid 1990s, with the launch of a national, quarterly supplement of the same name, to be distributed along with its Real Estate Forum magazine.

US Commercial Printing Shipments Fall in December & Q4

US Commercial Printing Shipments End 2011 on Sour Note (Economics & Research Center):
U.S. commercial printing shipments for December were $6.96 billion. This was down -$207 million compared to December 2010, a decrease of -2.9%.

Quad/Graphics, Transcontinental Deal Ready to Close

http://www.qg.com/news/quad_news_detail.asp?NewMessageID=38745

Quad/Graphics Inc. today announced that it has been authorized by Canada’s Competition Bureau to complete the sale of its Canadian operations to Transcontinental Inc. The company expects to close the transaction in the next several weeks.

Edwards Brothers and Malloy Merge

http://www.piworld.com/article/edwards-brothers-malloy-merge-form-nation-s-sixth-largest-book-printer/1

Edwards Brothers and Malloy Inc., two leading book manufacturers, announced that they would merge effective Feb. 6, 2012, forming a new company called Edwards Brothers Malloy. The new company will have combined sales of $115 million and will be the sixth-largest book manufacturing firm in the United States.

QuinStreet to Cut 84% Ziff Davis Jobs

http://www.btobonline.com/article/20120207/MEDIABUSINESS1501/302079997/quinstreet-to-cut-about-80-of-ziff-davis-enterprise-employees

QuinStreet Inc., an online vertical marketing company, plans to cut about 80% of Ziff Davis Enterprise employees in the wake of its acquisition of the tech media company, according to accounts by former ZDE employees. The total job cuts may approach 100 over the next several months.

AF&PA Comments on Renewable Tax Credits

http://www.afandpa.org/pressreleases.aspx?id=2416

American Forest & Paper Association President and CEO Donna Harman released a statement today in response to the proposed retroactive repeal of the renewable fuel tax credits.

Ziff Davis Enterprise Sold to Lead-Gen Company QuinStreet

Ziff Davis Enterprise Sold to Lead-Gen Company QuinStreet: Ziff Davis Enterprise, one-half of what remains of one of the most storied companies in the history of publishing, was sold Friday to QuinStreet, a publicly-traded lead-generation marketing company based in Foster City, California.

USPS Tops Postal Services Worldwide

USPS Tops Ranking of Postal Services Worldwide: A review of the performance of universal postal service providers ranks the U.S.P.S. as the best postal service within the world’s top 20 largest economies for access to services, resource efficiency and public trust.

Amazon & States Sales Tax Fight Continues

Amazon billed by Arizona for $53 million in sales taxes: Amazon claims that the state of Arizona has served the online company a tax bill for $53 million for uncollected sales tax.

http://www.postandcourier.com/news/2012/jan/28/amazon-tax-bills-come-due/

If you’ve been following the online sales tax saga then you probably know that Amazon has done all they  could to avoid collecting taxes. They’ve even gone so far as to cut off affiliates in CO, CT, IL.

Marubeni Reports Strong Third Quarter

 http://www.marubeni.com/ir/index.html

Marubeni Corp. has announced FY 2011 third quarter revenue of $12.7 billion, up 18% as compared to the same period last year.  Net income rose sharply, up 32% to $484 million and the operating profit jumped 26%.  The company is anticipating that net income for the whole of FY 2011, which ends on March 31, 2012, will increase by 25% over FY 2010.

Domtar Releases Q4 Financials

Domtar reports net quarterly earnings of $61 million:

Domtar Corporation has posted net earnings of $61 million in the fourth quarter of 2011.

For the 2011 fiscal year, Domtar’s net earnings amounted to $365 million compared to net earnings of $605 million in 2010.

NewPage Port Hawkesbury Workers Sue

NewPage Port Hawkesbury workers sue company for $168 million in unpaid severance, pensions, and benefits:

The workers of the idled NewPage Port Hawkesbury mill in Nova Scotia have filed a lawsuit for $168 million against the company. The employees, represented by the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (Local 972) are owed severance, pensions, and other benefits.

Fibrek Expects 3rd Party Bids

Fibrek expects to receive 3rd party proposals today:
Fibrek Inc. announced today that a proposal has emerged from its strategic alternatives review process, which was initiated by Fibrek’s Board following the unsolicited insider bid made by AbitibiBowater Inc. (carrying on business as Resolute Forest Products) on December 15, 2011.

Dow Jones & Co. Names CEO

http://www.btobonline.com/article/20120203/MEDIABUSINESS06/120209994/news-corp-taps-fenwick-as-ceo-of-dow-jones-co?utm_source=dailynewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=editorial&utm_campaign=dailyclickthroughs

News Corp. today named Lex Fenwick CEO of Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal. Fenwick joins Dow Jones from Bloomberg, where he spent 25 years, most recently as CEO of Bloomberg Ventures.

Time Names Europe Editor

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/time-names-new-europe-editor_b52549

Time has promoted Catherine Mayer to the role of Europe Editor. Mayer joined Time in 2004 and has been the magazine’s London Bureau Chief since 2006.

55 New Magazines Debut in January

http://launchmonitor.wordpress.com/2012/02/01/55-new-titles-debut-in-january-2012-the-mr-magazine-launch-monitor/

The Mr. Magazine™ Launch Monitor was able to identify (and buy) 55 new publications arriving on the market place for the first time during the month of January. Ten of the new magazines were published with an intention to appear at least 4 times a year (quarterly). Reality Weekly, as the name obviously shows, is published weekly.

Publishers Looking for Answers to USPS Plight

Publishers Seek Solutions as USPS Nears Brink: The United States Postal Service is teetering at the edge of collapse, and magazine publishers, for whom the health of the postal service is of critical importance, are looking for answers.

Xerox Global Graphic Communications Names President

Xerox and Presstek appoint new presidents: Presstek chief executive Jeff Jacobson will join Xerox later this month as president of its Global Graphics Communications division and be succeeded by Fujifilm's former US chief operating officer Stan Freimuth.

AlphaGraphics Names President

AlphaGraphics Names Art Coley as President: Blackstreet Capital Partners II, an affiliate of a Maryland-based private equity fund, has announced the promotion of AlphaGraphics Inc.’s Art Coley to president of the franchise organization with nearly 300 centers worldwide. This appointment is effective immediately and follows the departure of Kevin Cushing as CEO of the company.