E-reading in Copenhagen. Image – Getty: Media Lens King
By Porter Anderson, Editor-in-Chief | @Porter_Anderson
‘A Massive Catalogue of International Content’
Denmark’s WeDoBooks announced on January 29 that it has acquired Libreka, a German B2B ebook distributor that reportedly offers content from all German publishers.
The range of Libreka’s work is said to reach more than 80,000 publishers and some 1,000 trade partners, and to represent more than 4.5 million titles.
WeDoBooks’ corporate messaging says that the new acquisition paves the way for “a healthy digital book market between publishers and libraries in Northern Europe.”
In the arrangement, WeDoBooks says it has acquired all shares in Libreka GmbH. And WeDoBooks is already a supplier of digital library content provision for 98 percent of Scandinavia’s libraries, and now is gaining access that will let it offer contemporary products to the German marketplace, as well.
A potentially heartening note in this news is that WeDoBooks’ analysis of the value of its move has to do with its appraisal that “digitization has started to accelerate in Europe south of the Nordic markets.
Lasse Nyrup
Lasse Nyrup, CEO of WeDoBooks, is quoted today, saying, “Scandinavian libraries are undisputed world champions in digital lending, and WeDoBooks is the largest provider of digital library systems in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
“We are now bringing all that know-how and technology to the German-speaking library market, where there is great untapped potential and interest in our solutions,” says Lasse Nyrup, CEO of WeDoBooks.
“Through Libreka,” he says, “we gain access to a massive catalogue of international content with lending rights. We have extensive experience working with various pricing models for the library market, and we firmly believe that we can bring a truly healthy balance to the relationship between publishers and libraries by offering the right combination of price models, rather than a single option for all titles.
“Our overriding ambition is to create a healthy and well-balanced digital book market globally, providing flexibility in pricing so that the needs of both publishers and libraries are covered. This has already been achieved in Scandinavia.”
Thorsten Schreiber
And for Libreka, CEO Thorsten Schreiber says, “We are very impressed with what WeDoBooks has achieved in a relatively short time and with a very sound approach.
“We believe that together we can massively boost the digital literature offering in the German-speaking market. We already have a well-developed network of publishing customers and sales channels. The opportunities to expand the customer portfolio with solutions for libraries while strengthening the book industry through a sensible and dynamic approach make us convinced that this is a dream match.”
More from Publishing Perspectives on mergers and acquisitions is here, more on the German market is here, and more on the Danish book publishing market is here, more on ebooks is here.
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