Amazon Post $1 Billion Profit
Driven by increased revenue from its fast-growing cloud computing service, Amazon posted an operating profit of $1.1 billion in the first quarter, ended Mar. 21, 2016, up from $255 million in the same period in 2015.
Readerlink Acquires Anconnect
Readerlink Distribution Services will acquire the retail book-distribution arm of Anconnect, which distributes books to 3,600 Walmart and 644 Sam’s Club outlets. The deal includes Anconnect’s Winder, Ga., and Denton, Tex., distribution centers, and most of the workers at those centers will be hired by Readerlink.
Wattpad Goes Hollywood
The online reading and writing community Wattpad is launching Wattpad Studios, a new division that will partner with film and entertainment companies to develop new media properties out of the content on its website. Aron Levitz has been named to direct Wattpad Studios, and he will operate out of Toronto and Hollywood.
IDPF, W3C May Merge
International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) are considering a merger, which would unify the two organizations in the pursuit of developing the ePub format and improving the overall state of publishing on the Web. A special meeting is slated for the IDPF’s DigiCon Conference, May 10–11, at BEA in Chicago to discuss the plan.
