Alibris sold
Wow. We just got news that Alibris has been purchased by private equity firm Oak Hill Capital Partners. Current President and CEO Marty Manley will be stepping down as CEO President, and will become the CEO and chairman of the board. Current COO Brian Elliot will become the new CEO President and COO.
Congrats, guys.
More details from:
Publishers Weekly story:
“With the backing of Oak Hill, Alibris is planning for rapid growth through the addition of more booksellers, publishers and distribution partners. Although Manley declined to discuss specifics, significant investment in likely in the international market. Alibris does some business abroad, but has not yet established any overseas Web sites, something that will likely be addressed soon…While Manley said he expects the majority of Alibris’s growth to come organically, the online used market is highly fragmented and could be ripe for consolidation by a company with Oak Hill’s resources. The only stand-alone online book market larger than Alibris is Abebooks.”Oak Hill Capital Partners press release:
“According to Bill Pade, a Partner with Oak Hill Capital Partners, ‘We have conducted extensive research on the used/hard to find/rare book market and related ‘long tail’ businesses. We are impressed with the position that Alibris has built in this market and with the quality of its management, technology, and business partnerships. We are excited about helping this company grow and prosper.”VentureWire Professional:
“Alibris has gotten some $50 million in the last seven years from backers Aberdare Ventures, Bedrock Capital Partners, CMGI @Ventures and Lightspeed Venture Partners, formerly known as Weiss Peck & Greer Venture Partners. The last $3 million round of funding came in September 2004, after the company withdrew a planned public offering, citing pricing weakness…Alibris, whose gross sales were up 20% to 30% to more than $70 million last year, isn’t a start-up any more, Manley said…Oak Hill is funding the all-equity transaction with money from its $2.5 billion Oak Hill Capital Partners II LP, which closed in September, said Bill Pade, a partner with the firm…Oak Hill is providing an undisclosed amount of working capital that Alibris will use to set up Web sites in Europe and Asia. The company also aims to expand its network of 8,000 booksellers with smaller publishers and also wants to get more music and movie dealers on board, Manley said. Alibris might also make add-on acquisitions.”Alibris’ letter to booksellers (via FrauBucher):
“This is terrific news for our sellers because it enables us to invest more in marketing, accelerate our international expansion and rejuvenate our music and movie business. We will continue to grow our distribution channels, improve our Web site and deliver tools and innovations that benefit our premiere network of sellers.”
(I’ll be updating this post with more details as they emerge.)
Comments
"the online used market is highly fragmented and could be ripe for consolidation by a company with Oak Hill's resources"
--Is this the continuation of the "consolidation" to the bookselling-as-profitable-investment hands of one or two huge corporations? I, for one, think Mr. Manley's "fragmentation" is not that, but some small remainder of *independence*! (after all, it's incorrect to refer to something as "fragmented" unless it was formerly a single monolithic entity!) Do people like Manley think the only possible course of action is to "consolidate" everything into as few large investment corporations (e.g., "by a company with Oak Hill's resources") as possible? That's a little crazy to me, though I can certainly see the evolutionary reasons for it. I'd rather deal with corporations a little more down to Earth.
Posted by: Robert | May 9, 2006 11:28 AM
Alibris is the worst seller I have ever encounter in my whole life. I placed an order with them, they took money off my credit card. Then two weeks later, they cancel the order with no reason. I ask them, then the customer service becomes so rude and turn his back after me. This company is the most irreliable company I've ever met in my 43 year life. I could have accepted easily if he can be honest saying to me whether that book is out of stock, or there's something wrong on the way. They made up a stupid reason that they failed to contact me, so they canceled the order. This action is so stupid because I have received the confirmation of the order one day after i placed the order; there's no need for another confirmation. Furthermore, there's no evidence they tried to contact me. They cancelled the order absolutely for no reason. That really annoys me because the book is important for my relative, she is doing a master disertation based on that book. Alibris obviously deserves to be bankrupt or bought by another company. The above fact going on is comepletely reasonable.
Manymee
Posted by: manymee | June 2, 2006 2:24 PM
It makes complete sense that Alibris was recently sold. After using the service for serveral years to my satisfaction, I have experienced horrible service recently. I found there to be no customer service at all, no support, and in fact, no humans anywhere in sight. A book I ordered, and paid for, never arrived. The phone number leads you only to automated prompts. Every email was answered with an automated form email that had nothing to do with my complaint or problem. I became convinced that this company was run from a kid's garage and he/she didn't feel like responding. They take the cut on the book that is ordered (i.e. costs are generally higher than Amazon and Barnes and Noble for current books) but there are no live customer service people. So when a book doesn't arrive, even after paying an upcharge for expedited shipping, there is no one to answer you. But the charge is put through on the credit card. That they have people do. Horrible service. I would never use again or recommend. There are many other sources, particularly with the Internet.
Posted by: C. Miller | September 19, 2006 4:33 PM