Bertelsmann still trying to figure out what to do with it's book club business
Published: Friday, September 07, 2007
-SDH We are kinda late on this one, but we have an excuse, we were down for a while trying to figure out if we still wanted to do this shit. However after many emails from ticked off readers who demanded we resume publishing here we are.Anyway, as if folding it's Bookspan book marketing business into it's DVD/Video marketing business resulting in massive layoffs wasn't enough, German media giant Bertelsmann is now throwing the recently combined companies into the Random House box. We don't know if this is some kind of attempt to find another reason to roll heads or reduce divisions, but the businesses do go well together. Hey it's all in preparation for the coming of Hart Ostrowski in approximately 16 weeks. BERTELSMANN'S CLUBS GO TO RANDOM HOUSE [NYP] Labels: BERTELSMANN, BOOKS, Bookspan, POOR_BASTARDS, SHOMARIHINES |
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post a commentHere are my thoughts and opinions on this.
All three divisions (BMG, CH and Bookspan) are in a slow decline with no hope of recovering.
This is the reason why CH was sold to BMG, why Newbridge sold to Bookspan, why BOMC merged with Doubleday to form Bookspan, why they combined BMG/CH with bookspan and why Time Warner sold out their share of bookspan to Bertelsmann. (By the way, this six headed monster is now called Direct Group North America). This is not to mention a whole host of other clubs that have either declined or gone out of business. If you want, I can list them all out.
In this business, size matters! This helps to keep unit costs low and allows them to secure product rights they need. Well, this has been on a steady decline since 2000. It is not getting better. Costs are going up and responses to their recruitment efforts have been on the decline. They are getting squeezed badly. There was a time when they were all advertising in many magazines, sending direct mail and putting inserts into other packages and calling. You just don't see this level of activity anymore.
In my opinion, Bertelsmann does not have a solution for this. Instead it appears that they are trying to buy time while they squeeze every last dollar out of this business. Most of their efforts are directed at cutting costs and contracting their business, while they keep profits and cash flow up. It is a rac against time.
Ask yourself this question. Why did Bertelsmann buy out Time Warner's half ownership of Bookspan? They have stated many times over that they expect every divison to return a minimum return on sales. Did they really see a future in selling CD's, books and DVD's with clubs via direct mail? With ad rates and postal costs increasing, and membership declining, did they really see a future as they said? With sales declining, I think not.
Also why did they combine this business wiih Random House? On the surface, if you really believed in this combined monster, this makes absolutley no sense to me. In my opinion, Random House did not ask for this unless they saw this as good for their business in some way. I think they were told to do this. They do not have the expertise to run this business. Time will tell if I am right or wrong.
Well, what do you other folks out there think? Are CD's the future? Are DVD's by mail the future? Is the market place flocking to clubs? Are book sales increasing at significant rates? Are traditional media such as magazines and network TV still in the main stream? Is direct mail the future given ever rising costs?
These are my humble thoughts and opinions. Lets hear from others on this.
J.
"We are kinda late on this one, but we have an excuse, we were down for a while trying to figure out if we still wanted to do this shit."
So what did you decide?
Huh?
Is there anybody left out there, or has the dust finally settled and the carcass been picked clean ?
Is there anybody still left from Bookspan still working for DGNA or whatever they are called this week?
It's funny to see plenty of the old jobs that were 'terminated' showing up on Monster recently !
Anybody out there ... anybody ??
I am still here. I made it thru the first 2 phases unscathed. But am I safe for long? I doubt it. With the coming of Hart Ostrowski at the beginning of 2008 there is rumor that there will be many more changes on the way...heads might roll again in 14 weeks. The work volume is still low...the lowest I have ever seen it in 10 years...you know what they say; when times are lean you gotta tighten the belt. We had a few upper management positions "restructured" or more like eliminated last week and I know for a fact that shit rolls downhill. Is it over? Not even close...it's just begun.
The management of this company is so unstable nobody is "safe". Look at how many layoffs or "restructuring" has occurred over the years. The company is the joke of the day in the industry. The lucky ones are those who got out back in May with a severance pkg. The jobs showing up on Monster in part reflect the "safe" people quitting to go to more stable and healthy work environments. The job postings should carry a warning: Join us at your own risk. In general we change names, management and physical locations at will and we expect you to kiss our ass every step of the way.
How are sales holdingh up?
How are sales holding up?
Sales are booming.
The mass layoffs and restructuring really turned the company around, and profits for the last quarter are at an all time high.
Membership in every club has more than doubled over the past six months, with little or no additional marketing efforts.
The club web-sites have all been nominated for a host of Internet awards for being truly unique and market leading.
In addition, half day Fridays will soon be returning, as will the company Christmas party, which this year will be held in Stuart Goldfarbs kitchen, where Marcus Wilhelm and Georg Richter will be handing out cocktails and hors douvres and reminiscing about the 'good times'.
The general outlook for the entire company is very encouraging.
Then again ... maybe not ...
Bad news - I am a Wave 1 person. Not much fun there.
Good news - I just got another job. YEAH!
I can now get my life together again.
My mind now can now turn back to my former coworkers. How are you guys doing?
Hopefully all is looking up as the previous blog indicates.
Please write.
YEAH FOR YOU!
congrats on your new job but please tell me you didnt take that last post seriously.
WOW...I can't believe it!
The club web-sites have all been nominated for a host of Internet awards for being truly unique and market leading?
It must have been the launch of Zooba NM. Way to go!
The boost is sales has actually been attributed to the new marketing strategy of offering 12 books for a dollar with no further commitment. However in return, members must be prepared to assist with some minor copyrighting, book placement and soft proofing of future marketing campaigns. Members are also now required to drive to Garden City in order to receive their order. Apparently there is ample parking!
Word is that this years Halloween party has also now been planned for the new offices at Penn Plaza, where all employees have been invited to dress like the CEO.
However, employees in costume have been warned not to linger for too long outside the confines of the office, as the NYC police don't take to kindly to people hanging around who look like homeless bums.
The new web platform is almost complete, and the web-sites are about to undergo yet another change. In fact, staff have been informed that the web-sites will be that up-to-date that they will now be featuring books that haven't even been written yet!
Then again ... maybe not ...
Another successful Bertelsmann IT project.
It is years and millions over budget and it has not even been completed! Congratulations to all Bertelsmann people who helped in this mess.
Stuart: Sometimes getting what you wished for may not be the best thing in the end. In this case what you swallowed is bigger than your ass! ENJOY!
To all the Bertelsmann idiots who brought this mess on, I say HA HA!. You deserve to wallow in your own dung.
J.
Does anyone know what our new official name is now? It changes weekly, even our Senior V.P. here wasn't sure when asked at a recent meeting. Oh how I yearn to just be known as good ole' Doubleday again. We had some major upper management eliminations here in the past 2 weeks, mostly people with 35 years of service or more. Sorry bastards...that was their 1st mistake devoting that much of their life at this shithole in the 1st place.
As a wave 1 employee, who was let go?
I pray it was the asshole i worked for.
Last week I got a letter from stuart the monkey which had ch bmg on the letter head.
What do you think our name is?
The reason that you got the letter with the CH / BMG letterhead is because nobody here knows exactly what the new company is going to be called. Any new letterheads would have to be reprinted weekly with the latest change of name!
Latest news from the trenches is that the 'brains' behind Crossings has upped and left! Good for her!
Will the last person out please close off all the lights.
More leavers to follow.....
Don't be the last person out.
On the name, it seems silly to me that they sent the CH BMG letterhead out. It is confusing to me and speaks volumes about the problems and direction they are taking as well.
And why is the building sandbagged? Is it to keep people in or is it to keep angry members out?
My prediction is that Peter Olson and Stuart his sidekick are planning to take the place apart and assimilate it in a way that benefits Random House. They do not care about Bookspan and anybody there. That is why Eigenwald left the company. His empire is being torn a part.
Worse days to come.......
Don't be the last one out the door.
BMG/CH takeover of Bookspan should have been the other way around.
That is how bad they are.
Time to bail out!
Time to bail out?
It's a bit too late I'm afraid my friend ... all of the life jackets were taken approximately five months ago, and the previous SMG made sure there was not enough life boats to save everybody!
You are destined to go down with the sinking ship ....
Gurgle!
Gurgle!
Gurgle1
This place sucks. Why does anybody want to stay? They just want to suck this place dry and leave us to sink.
Interesting comment about the SMG.
Yes, they sucked as a crew. They were not on the same page and lacked any direction. They did as Markus said!
They certainly were not leaders.
Bye Denise,
Sorry to see that you left this rat hole.
J.
This place sucks.
I can't believe it is true, again, but are more people really scheduled to be laid off in the near future?
Check the numbers and you decide!
More layoffs ... more poor numbers?
Any links for us ex-spanners to read and laugh at?
Nope.
But there were more people ley go.
More people were let go?
How many, which departments, which location?
Is there anybody left?
Most departments.
Things are not going well for the new administration. They are just like the old!
Does that include Stuart the Stupid and peter the Cunt?
See the Bertelsmann link.
So the returns, print shop, and a few other people are gone now in Mechanicsburg; and rumor has it that we aren't getting our holiday "bonuses" (a crappy $15 go-buy-a-turkey gift card) OR a Holiday party.
The party part kinda ticks me off -profits from the employee store are supposed to fund that; and if they aren't doing it then just where is that money going?
New benefits package sucks. No more service awards or attendance awards. Adoption assistance, gone. Tuition assistance; reduced to 75% and no longer includes books.
Oh, and they sold the building. Lets see how much of it we are "allowed" to keep using.
Talk about tightening the belts.
To the above comment... what building is sold? Who bought it?
Mechanicsburg facility - don't know who bought it. But we are getting squeezed into only a portion of the building.
Anyone remember when peter was in charge of the book clubs back when bertie bought doubleday?
And markus was the 'kid'.
-- good ole days
SOLD!!!! to Najafi Companies for "X" amount. Hell Bertelsmann probably paid najafi to take it of their hands
so are we safe now are will we still have our job whats left of it