Booktopia - Voluntary Administration

[Karellen]

In its initial public offering in 2020, Booktopia issued shares at $2.30 and debuted on the ASX at $2.86.

The stock has since lost more than 98 per cent and last traded at $0.045.

That is a shame...

Read more... https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-...tail/104053908

[Karellen]

I found this an interesting read on the state of Australian book sales...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-...hing/104087636

Never would I have thought the highest volume of book sales comes from discount stores like Kmart and BigW.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Karellen

I found this an interesting read on the state of Australian book sales...
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-...hing/104087636

Never would I have thought the highest volume of book sales comes from discount stores like Kmart and BigW.

That is interesting. I wonder if the U.S. is the same? Whenever I pass the book section in Walmart, I don't notice anyone browsing the books.

And very little mention of ebooks and audiobooks in the article.

And from the article:

IBISWorld data has Booktopia as selling $200 million a year, outstripping its main rival Amazon, the American company owned by Jeff Bezos.

Bezos may be The largest stock holder (I assume), but he doesn't own it; he's not even the CEO.

[Quoth]

But Amazon has about 80% of sales of online paper printed books in USA and over 92% of English Language ebooks world wide.

Shame about Booktopia.

Easons in Ireland used to be about 100% books. Maybe less than a 1/4 of floor space is books now. Everything from Art materials to Vapes. Toys, ice-cream, cheap jewelery.

The popular titles are in Tesco Supermarket and don't see much activity. The local independent bookshop has a half wall of sweets and two aisles of school and office stationary now.

[Karellen]

Reminds me of JB HIFI. A few years ago, it was the place to go for movies/music/tvshows.
My local store had about 20 aisles devoted to these disks.
Now there are three aisles, and the remaining is full of these plastic junk anime dolls, blenders, vacuum cleaners, coffee machines and other items that I would never have thought to buy from JB HiFI.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by Karellen

Reminds me of JB HIFI. A few years ago, it was the place to go for movies/music/tvshows.
My local store had about 20 aisles devoted to these disks.
Now there are three aisles, and the remaining is full of these plastic junk anime dolls, blenders, vacuum cleaners, coffee machines and other items that I would never have thought to buy from JB HiFI.

You just described Fry's Electronics shortly before their demise.
Aisles of DVD, Music and Electronic parts (this is where I say my first Sony e-reader and the Astak)

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by theducks

You just described Fry's Electronics shortly before their demise.
Aisles of DVD, Music and Electronic parts (this is where I say my first Sony e-reader and the Astak)

Or Maplin shops in UK and Ireland before demise. Electronics reduced to a couple of aisles, loads of "big boy's toys" and junk disco lighting etc.

[Frogm4n]

Originally Posted by John F

Bezos may be The largest stock holder (I assume), but he doesn't own it; he's not even the CEO.

He's Executive Chairman of the Board at Amazon. He's not doing day-to-day operations, but he still controls and runs the corporation.

[John F]

Originally Posted by Frogm4n

He's Executive Chairman of the Board at Amazon. He's not doing day-to-day operations, but he still controls and runs the corporation.

And he only owns 8.8 of the outstanding stock.

[DrNefario]

Originally Posted by Quoth

Or Maplin shops in UK and Ireland before demise. Electronics reduced to a couple of aisles, loads of "big boy's toys" and junk disco lighting etc.

Maplin was still a profitable business until it was loaded with debt after a predatory buy-out.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DrNefario

Maplin was still a profitable business until it was loaded with debt after a predatory buy-out.

The cause of death of many businesses attacked by vulture capitalists.

[kyteflyer]

Originally Posted by Karellen

Reminds me of JB HIFI. A few years ago, it was the place to go for movies/music/tvshows.
My local store had about 20 aisles devoted to these disks.
Now there are three aisles, and the remaining is full of these plastic junk anime dolls, blenders, vacuum cleaners, coffee machines and other items that I would never have thought to buy from JB HiFI.

Thats why I havent been anywhere near JB for years… I’m rather afraid that soon enough our only source of books of any kind will be Amazon, Kobo and Apple Books, and streaming has killed off the desire to own DVDs etc.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Quoth

The cause of death of many businesses attacked by vulture capitalists.

In the US in Massachusetts, was a chain called Leachmere. It was bough out by some other chain not in MA and the stores were used to help the other failing chain. That was a big loss until Best Buy came in and bought some of the old stores. Lechmere was similar to Best Buy.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by kyteflyer

Thats why I havent been anywhere near JB for years… I’m rather afraid that soon enough our only source of books of any kind will be Amazon, Kobo and Apple Books, and streaming has killed off the desire to own DVDs etc.

We do have ebooks.com.

As for discs, there are a lot of Blu-ray and 4K Blu-ray being made.

Those with a Xbox One S or Series X or PS5 have a 4K disc player.