Mar 24 2009
Is Baker & Taylor Too Important to Fail?
According to this morning’s ShelfAwareness, Baker & Taylor is identified as a company at high risk of default or bankruptcy. Other than Ingram, B&T serves as the primary distributor of books in the U.S. and the world. B&T apparently has a high debt load.
As can be seen by the Anderson News fiasco, a distributing company that defaults or goes bankrupt in this climate can have very negative consequences on the publishing market. Assuming that B&T’s major creditors are the publishing houses, will the publishing houses have an incentive to prop up B&T until it can work its way out of its financial doldrums?
Send to Kindle
Mar 24, 2009 @ 10:31:36
Oh, @#$%.
Mar 24, 2009 @ 12:17:00
What Sherry said.
Mar 24, 2009 @ 13:25:10
Yeah, ditto what Sherri said. Un freaking real.
Mar 24, 2009 @ 17:36:11
No corporation is too big to fail. Interfering with corporate Darwinism will only prop up failures and prolong the pain.
Mar 24, 2009 @ 18:00:10
Missed this part initially:
So, they’re part of a “duopoly” and still couldn’t turn enough of a profit to operate without over-leveraging themselves?
Mar 25, 2009 @ 01:43:42
Went to take a look at the Shelfawareness site, but it appears to be out of action. If you have other links to this situation, I’d appreciate it.
Mar 25, 2009 @ 04:30:27
Okay… I’m now shaky and my heart is pounding. I WORK for Baker & Taylor, for their library services department. And this is the first I’m hearing of it. In fact, my family has worked for B&T since the 70′s, my cousin works here in IL with me, and my aunt is a supervisor in the GA service center. One would think that this is info that the company would share with their employees.
Mar 25, 2009 @ 07:25:55
@Corrine Here are the links to the situation referenced in Shelf Awareness:
http://www.alacrastore.com/storecontent/moodys/COP_807475426 (a tiny portion that is available suggest 165 million of debt).
This is the long list of companies Moody’s thinks is in trouble:
http://robwire.com/?p=1775
Mar 25, 2009 @ 10:27:34
Thanks, Jane.
We’re supposed to be receiving an internal response today.
Mar 25, 2009 @ 11:27:12
Well, poopie. The library system I work for almost exclusively uses B&T. If something were to happen to the company, it would fundamentally change the way we acquire books. I can’t imagine the impact on publishing as a whole.
Corrine, I hope you get good news!
Mar 26, 2009 @ 07:08:12
Mel, the way it sounds, if they do cut back parts of the distributions, library services (my dept.) won’t be touched, so hopefully you won’t be affected.
Mar 26, 2009 @ 11:56:52
That’s good news for me, but better news for you, Corrine. I’m keeping my fingers crossed for everybody over there.
Apr 01, 2009 @ 09:18:59
B&T also has record companies (cds) and major movie studios (dvd) as suppliers. they won’t be as welling to work with B&T, as entertainment companies sell most of the product directly to the big retailers. for the majors, B&T wouldn’ be missed!
Apr 03, 2009 @ 10:48:33
There are plenty of regional and independent book distributors still doing quite well including Big River Distribution based in St. Louis. I believe they handle books for the Middle of the Country States such as IL, AR, MO, KS, NB, IA, and OK that libraries can turn to.
May 18, 2009 @ 20:32:14
We are a small independent publisher who sells books through Baker & Taylor as well as through other wholesalers. B&T owes us about $7,000 and is tardy on paying about half of that amount for 60 days or more. We stopped shipping to Baker & Taylor today. My sense is that they haven’t paid because they are about to go bankrupt. If we are not paid in two weeks, I will post another message and let you know what is happening. -Dave Demers, Marquette Books
May 18, 2009 @ 22:20:36
@Dr. David Demers: That’s horrible news. It’s always the small companies that are hurt the most in these circumstances.
May 19, 2009 @ 00:26:08
Where will this leave brick and mortar stores? Is this news why Scribd has turned itself into a store? Or why Amazon is trying its damnedest to become a book-buying behemoth? My fingers tap against one another with interest in the coming months.
Jun 24, 2009 @ 18:51:53
I, too, work for a small, independent publisher. While B&T doesn’t owe us $7,000 like Marquette Books, they do have past due invoices from us that date back to 2008. Recently I contacted a Sr. VP at B&T and all he did was send me back to the same poor A/P employees who are unable to help! That’s not a good sign.
Jun 25, 2009 @ 08:25:15
This is a follow-up on a previous comment I posted to this site. At that time, Baker & Taylor was late in paying our company. After I sent them a notice that we were halting all shipments to B&T, I received a personal call from the B&T accounting department, and since then it has been paying its bills. -Dr. David Demers, Marquette Books
Oct 18, 2009 @ 19:42:53
Does anyone have any other recent news on B&T? Our bookstore is looking into an agreement with them and was just wondering if it’s as reasonable as it appears.
Dec 08, 2009 @ 08:11:59
Do You have an update on the financial status of Baker & Taylor Company?
Dec 08, 2009 @ 08:17:22
@James E. Neal: They must be doing okay. The recently acquired Blackwell Book Services North America (BNA) and Blackwell's Australia-based James Bennett bookseller.
As part of the deal, Blackwell U.K. will acquire Baker & Taylor's Lindsay and Croft business in the U.K.