Nonstopdrivel
15 years ago

Next threat to Amazon's $9.99 books? Rupert Murdoch 

By Paul Thomasch Tue Feb 2, 7:18 pm ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) Enjoy $9.99 electronic books while you can -- for they soon may be a thing of the past.

News Corp Chief Rupert Murdoch, who oversees a media empire than includes HarperCollins books, home to authors like Michael Crichton and Janet Evanovich, made clear on Tuesday his displeasure with the low price Amazon.com Inc has set for electronic books.

In order to raise prices, Murdoch wants to renegotiate the current deal with Amazon, and said the world's largest retailer appears "ready to sit down with us again" to talk about new terms.

"We don't like the Amazon model of selling everything at $9.99," Murdoch said when asked about electronic books during a conference call with analysts on Tuesday.

"They pay us the wholesale price of $14 or whatever we charge," he said. "But I think it really devalues books and it hurts all the retailers of the hard cover books."

Amazon did not immediately respond to request for comment.

If Murdoch's HarperCollins manages to work out a new deal, it would deal a major, and perhaps final, blow to Amazon's current pricing. Just days ago, the world's largest online retailer bowed to pressure from another major publisher, Macmillan, which insisted on charging $12.99 to $14.99 for its books.

Book pricing has been key to pushing growth of Kindle e-reader since its launch in 2007, since cheap e-books help consumers justify the cost of purchasing the device. It has also put Amazon at odds with publishers, however, who say that the low prices will cannibalize sales of higher-priced hardback copies.

Fresh competition from Apple Inc -- which is rolling out the iPad -- has only cast more attention on pricing. Publishers are more anxious than ever to protect their profit margins, and now have some leverage in negotiating against Amazon.

Murdoch, while keeping mum on the exact deal with Apple, suggested the terms of are more favorable to HarperCollins than Amazon's.

"Apple, in its agreement with us, which is not been disclosed in detail, does allow for a variety of slightly higher prices," he said.

(Reporting by Paul Thomasch, editing by Leslie Gevirtz)


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Zero2Cool (3h) : Packers. 🤦
Zero2Cool (3h) : One team.
Zero2Cool (3h) : One team petition NFL to ban Brotherly Shove.
beast (23-Feb) : Seems like he was just pissed because he was no longer the starter
beast (23-Feb) : Campbell is right, he's rich and he doesn't have to explain sh!t... but that attitude gives teams reasons to never sign him again.
dfosterf (22-Feb) : I have some doubt about all that
dfosterf (22-Feb) : I read De'Vondre Campbell's tweet this morning (via the New York Post) Florio says that if he invested his earnings wisely, he will be good
beast (20-Feb) : I haven't followed, but I believe he's good when healthy, just hasn't been able to stay healthy.
dfosterf (20-Feb) : Hasn"t Bosa missed more games than he has played in the last 3 years?
Mucky Tundra (19-Feb) : He hasn't been too bad when healthy but I don't feel like I ever heard much about when he is
Zero2Cool (19-Feb) : Felt like he was more interested in his body, than football. He flashed more than I expected
Zero2Cool (19-Feb) : When he was coming out, I thought he'd be flash in pan.
Mucky Tundra (19-Feb) : Joey seems so forgettable compared to his brother for some reason
Zero2Cool (19-Feb) : NFL informed teams today that the 2025 salary cap will be roughly $277.5M-$281.5M
Zero2Cool (19-Feb) : Los Angeles Chargers are likely to release DE Joey Bosa this off-season as a cap casualty, per league source.
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Zero2Cool (18-Feb) : Yep. You can do that with holding down ENTER on a command in Console of browser
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Zero2Cool (18-Feb) : They got 118 slapped in there.
Mucky Tundra (18-Feb) : that's why it confused the hell out of me
Zero2Cool (18-Feb) : Yeah, but this is taking a headline and slapping it into the Packers Talk
Mucky Tundra (18-Feb) : Wasnt there a time guests could post in the help forum?
Zero2Cool (18-Feb) : lol good question, kind of impressed!
Mucky Tundra (18-Feb) : So how is a guest posting?
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Zero2Cool (18-Feb) : Working. Meetings.
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Mucky Tundra (18-Feb) : I thought Guests couldnt post?
Zero2Cool (18-Feb) : And gosh that's gonna be fun to clean up! hahaa
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Mucky Tundra (18-Feb) : check the main forum, seems a spam bot is running amok
Zero2Cool (18-Feb) : What?
Mucky Tundra (18-Feb) : Is the Packers online game "Packers Predict" now available for 2024? I can't tell
Zero2Cool (17-Feb) : Bengals planning to Franchise Tag Tamaurice Higgins
Zero2Cool (14-Feb) : Packers are hiring Luke Getsy as senior offensive assistant.
Martha Careful (12-Feb) : I would love to have them both, esp. Crosby, but either might be too expensive.
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