Harlequin looks east as well as south
Harelquin’s recent financial slump — revenue fell almost 10% in the first nine months of 2004 — continues to draw the attention of the business press. A Globe and Mail story reports on the romance publisher’s recent move into Brazil with a new co-publishing partner there, and notes that Asia is next on the expansion agenda. The piece also quotes a York University marketing professor as saying that while rumours occasionally arise that parent company Torstar will sell the firm, “there is no obvious buyer … because Harlequin doesn’t appear to fit with traditional international publishers like Bertelsmann AG or Pearson PLC. That’s partly because Harlequin’s product ‘is not a book, it’s a packaged good’ that needs direct marketing support.”
Related links:
Click here for the Globe and Mail story on Harlequin and Torstar
