Bookspan Lays Off 280 as Part of Book Club Reorganization
DirectGroup Bertelsmann has laid off 280 employees from its newly combined BMG Columbia House and Bookspan unit. While the cuts affected workers across both businesses, the bulk came from Bookspan.
The downsizing follows DirectGroup Bertelsmann’s April acquisition from Time Inc of the 50% stake in Bookspan it did not already own. Bookspan was absorbed into BMG Columbia House’s operations.
The immediate impact on the BMG’s direct marketing activities was not known.
The layoffs came primarily from one Long Island and two Manhattan locations, with the deepest cuts coming from the Long Island office. A number of the remaining Manhattan-based employees will be moving to Long Island, although the Manhattan offices will remain open, according to company spokesperson Paula Batson.
BMG Columbia House will also phase out a number of its niche book clubs, including Equestrian Edge; the Nurses Book Society; the Conservative Book Club; Insight Out, a gay and lesbian interest club; the Behavioral Science Book Club; and the Primary Teachers Book Club, Batson said.
Other special interest clubs may be combined. Additionally, selected book offerings from the discontinued clubs may be offered through BMG’s core brands, which include Book-of-the-Month, Doubleday, Black Expressions, Crossings and The Literary Guild.
Members of book clubs that are being closed will be offered the opportunity to join other clubs, Batson said. Members of those that are being combined will likewise be offered the opportunity to continue their membership in the combined club, or to join another club. These changes are expected to be in place by the end of 2007.
Before the layoffs, BMG Columbia House operated 40 book clubs within the U.S. Batson did not say how many clubs would be left after the consolidation.
