Krause Pub's parent co. files for bankruptcy

Sad news: https://www.stevenspointjournal.com/story/news/2019/03/13/writers-digest-publisher-f-w-krause-publications-files-bankruptcy/3133387002/

Who will assign KM#'s in the future?

How about we create a company to do it?

Now who has some deep pockets to start it.

Not surprised, but I am surprised about Sky & Telescope...

Bankruptcy is not the same as cease operations.
losing money is much better for the debtors than zero cash flow -
forgiving some debt and continuing on lower expectations vs. complete write off.

it remains to be seen what will continue to operate and what will be shut down.

Sad for the employees etc. However in my opinion Weltmünzkatalog is a much better catalog anyway (and always was) so I won't really miss it if it will no longer be printed.

I bought a physical catalogue once and found it cumbersome to use but good value considering the range of data. I then thought I would try the disk version to save a few bob and hopefully it will be easier to use. I was very disappointed. It was just a bunch of scans no searchable data. I was very unimpressed because they had not bothered to invest in making a better product.

Sad. Wonder what becomes of the Standard world coins and world paper money catalog?

Quote: "techwriter"​Sad. Wonder what becomes of the Standard world coins and world paper money catalog?

​agreed. Very sad news. Another publisher may take over the publishing of the catalogs. I wonder if print catalogs are getting to be bad business as there is so much information available online nowadays.
Aaron

Well the chips have fallen...

The Books division (except UK) is now owned by Penguin Random House (see https://publishingperspectives.com/2019/06/penguin-random-house-wins-bid-to-buy-fw-medias-list/)

The magazines (which feed data into the catalogs) is now owned by Active Interest Media (see https://www.numismaticnews.net/article/active-interest-media-acquires-four-fw-groups-including-numismatics)

The last thing I saw was a request to the court to dissolve the bankruptcy filing so they could close down the holding company - there's nothing left.

2020 Catalogues...

It looks like they must be still going which is good news. I'm guessing the profitable parts of the business have survived.

They may be taking orders but there's no guarantee the book will be published

I think that misses pretty much ALL of the nuances of the story.

Krause publication started as a small niche publisher when that was a feasible business model.

This takes the story up to about 2000, when Krause is a flourishing small publisher with a wide range of business lines within the niche.

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/krause-publications-inc-history/

Not really covered is that in 1988, 30% of Krause was put into an ESOP (Employee Stock Ownership Plan) and the company because wholely owned by the ESOP in 1999.

The problem is that the goals of the business - despite being owned by the employees - differed from the goals of the employees, and the company was sold in 2002.

"Krause Publications' sale to Cincinnati-based F&W Publications Inc. for $120 million will boost the retirement accounts of the Wisconsin firm's 450 employees. As of the end of 2001, the business was valued at $175 per share, meaning the $241-per-share sale price represents a 38 percent increase.
After the company pays off its $38.8 million in debt, employees stand to gain an average of $180,000. Long-serving and higher-level workers should earn much more."

https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-07-03-0207030111-story.html

The new owners were a traditional media conglomerate in an era when media conglomerates were about to sink due to the Internet.