Krause Publications sold yet again ...

Surprised I haven't heard of this through other channels,
but apparently Krause Publications was sold again last month:

Welcome to The E-Sylum: Volume 8, Number 27, July 3, 2005:
an electronic publication of the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.
Copyright (c) 2005, The Numismatic Bibliomania Society.


THE FORMER KRAUSE PUBLICATIONS SOLD AGAIN

Russ Rulau writes: "On Wednesday, June 22, it was
announced that Providence Equity Partners had resold KP
(formerly Krause Publications) for an undisclosed sum to
ABRY Partners LLC, like PEP, another private equity firm.

ABRY since 1989 has acquired 450 media properties,
supposedly making it the largest media-focused private
firm in North America.

Stephen Kent, president of F+W Communications, the
PEP subsidiary which has owned KP since 2002, was
terminated June 22 and Rick Groth, a KP publisher in Iola,
was cut on June 24. Neither were numismatists.

For those who may not be aware, Chet Krause won his
suit before the U.S. Trademark & Copyright Commission
and KP may not use the Krause name on anything. His
other suit for wrongful dismissal on Oct. 20, 2002 remains
in litigation. The KP logo is the property now of ABRY.

The effects on the numismatic division, already downsized
since 2002, are unknown at this time. I remain a freelance
author and writer for KP unless notified otherwise."

FYI, The E-Sylum is a free weekly email publication of
the Numismatic Bibliomania Society.

Those wishing to become new E-Sylum subscribers
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--
Ken Barr Numismatics
P. O. Box 32541 website: http://www.kenbarr.com
San Jose, CA 95152 (souvenir cards, MPC, Hickey Bros tokens)
408-272-3247 Next show: Santa Barbara 07/16 (tent., no table)
ADVANCED NOTICE: ANA World's Fair of Money, San Francisco, CA 7/27-31/2005

Who bought it?

I know that bids were being taken
several months ago but I never heard
whether it was actually sold or not.

Apparently the sale did not make any
of the financial newswires as I tried to
google the information several times and
came up empty.

Forget that previous post.

I have now found the information.

http://news.cincypost.com/apps/pbcs....506250323/1001

Too many buy outs is not good for the hobby industry. The deep ocket
men , usually know nothing of the basic tenents of collecting . For
them it is a business deal. When the original owner of a certain entity
is no longer associated with the company, the focus or driving force is
no longer there. Chet Krause sold it to F&W , now F&W is sold to
somebody else. Did I read that the new guy is a "direct marketing"
specialist? Well distributors of Krause Publications should start to
worry. This might turn out to be another "Scott Publication" disaster
for them. Scott did away with the middle men and started to sell to
everybody at discounted prices, thus prostituting the supply business.
MaybeKrause publications will be going the same way.

Krause/F&W hobby publications being sold at a deep discount at Walmart?
Could happen, if I was a coin/hobby shop owner I would not be happy
with that
arrangement.

I suspect the people working for Krause in Iola are somewhat concerned
although the new owner says things will remain the same I would not
necessarily take them at their word. I heard a rumor that Krause/F&W
sponsorship of hobby shows may be on the way out with the new owner.

Chet Krause was not completely happy with F&W over certain things, I
wouldn't be surprised if he is not thrilled with the buyout either.

On 9 Jul 2005 08:55:23 -0700, "stonej"
wrote:

Krause/F&W hobby publications being sold at a deep discount at Walmart?
Could happen, if I was a coin/hobby shop owner I would not be happy
with that
arrangement.

I suspect the people working for Krause in Iola are somewhat concerned
although the new owner says things will remain the same I would not
necessarily take them at their word.

Having been through four or five merger/buyouts, I'm almost certain
that the employees were told the same thing, and the first changes
were made before they got back to their desks.

take care,
Scott
...but at least I'm not cynical...

"prostituting"?

you object to consumers being able to purchase supplies at lower cost?

I would have to guess you must of been one of the very few who benefited
from higher prices.

"stampco" wrote in message
oups.com...
Too many buy outs is not good for the hobby industry. The deep ocket
men , usually know nothing of the basic tenents of collecting . For
them it is a business deal. When the original owner of a certain entity
is no longer associated with the company, the focus or driving force is
no longer there. Chet Krause sold it to F&W , now F&W is sold to
somebody else. Did I read that the new guy is a "direct marketing"
specialist? Well distributors of Krause Publications should start to
worry. This might turn out to be another "Scott Publication" disaster
for them. Scott did away with the middle men and started to sell to
everybody at discounted prices, thus prostituting the supply business.
MaybeKrause publications will be going the same way.

"Bob Peterson" wrote in message
news:ORUze.139827$x96.13050@attbi_s72...
"prostituting"?

you object to consumers being able to purchase supplies at lower cost?

I would have to guess you must of been one of the very few who benefited
from higher prices.


Unless it's been changed since I ran a retail shop in 2001, the mom & pop
coin and stamp
stores could carry the entire line of Krause magazines and supplies, knowing
that unsold
items could be returned for full credit. At one time the H.E. Harris, Scott
and Minkus lines
of supplies had the same policies.

Most of these companies now sell direct to the retailer, (Coin World has has
this policy for
many years.) The dealer CANNOT return unsold merchandise, so they are
reluctant to
carry the entire line, or much quantity. Old stock, rather than being
returned to the publisher
and destroyed, is dumped on the market at 80% or 90% off and shows up at the
book clearance
stores. Few will pay $50 or $75 for one of the "phone book size" world coin
or stamp
catalogs when they can buy a new copy of last year's catalog for $15 from
Book Stop or
Half Price Books.

So enough people do this, and the publisher no longer has enough orders to
justify
continuing publication.

I am not at all surprised that these companies no longer allow sales like
this. It is a crazy expensive way to sell due to the cost of returns. I
can't think of many wholesalers who would do this any more unless they are
really desperate.

"Frank Provasek" wrote in message
link.net...
"Bob Peterson" wrote in message
news:ORUze.139827$x96.13050@attbi_s72...
"prostituting"?

you object to consumers being able to purchase supplies at lower cost?

I would have to guess you must of been one of the very few who benefited
from higher prices.


Unless it's been changed since I ran a retail shop in 2001, the mom & pop
coin and stamp
stores could carry the entire line of Krause magazines and supplies,
knowing that unsold
items could be returned for full credit. At one time the H.E. Harris,
Scott and Minkus lines
of supplies had the same policies.

Most of these companies now sell direct to the retailer, (Coin World has
has this policy for
many years.) The dealer CANNOT return unsold merchandise, so they are
reluctant to
carry the entire line, or much quantity. Old stock, rather than being
returned to the publisher
and destroyed, is dumped on the market at 80% or 90% off and shows up at
the book clearance
stores. Few will pay $50 or $75 for one of the "phone book size" world
coin or stamp
catalogs when they can buy a new copy of last year's catalog for $15 from
Book Stop or
Half Price Books.

So enough people do this, and the publisher no longer has enough orders to
justify
continuing publication.

Bob Peterson wrote:
I am not at all surprised that these companies no longer allow sales like
this. It is a crazy expensive way to sell due to the cost of returns. I
can't think of many wholesalers who would do this any more unless they are
really desperate.



Try greeting cards even today and when we had our book store all books were that way(1985).


--
George D
Phoenix, AZ
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