Friday, January 27, 2006

From a Reliable Source

There's possible good news for Simon and Schuster/Pocket Books writers who spent last year wondering who'd end up owning the publisher if and when global media giant Viacom found a buyer. CEO Les Moonves (yes, the same guy who's Letterman's boss) sounds as if he intends to keep S&S as part of the newly formed CBS family. Calling the publisher a "world class leader in its sector," Moonves states S&S has "an opportunity for growth in the near term and an interesting bunch of opportunities going forward."

Another thing in S&S's favor is Moonves' feeling about the role of books in the digital future. "With everything else in our society going digital, how can books fail to benefit?," he said. "And when that happens, what's a backlist of 17,000 great titles going to be worth? Remains to be seen, but I'm optimistic."

No comments: