The editorial news of the week is the purchase of the publishers of Enciclopèdia Catalana by the Abacus group and Jaume Roures. The general director of the cooperative, Oriol Soler (Ripollet, 1969), received this newspaper on Thursday at the headquarters of his group in Poblenou to explain the operation. She was wearing a dark sweater with a small Rigoberta Menchú face sewn on.
There were two candidates to buy Encyclopedia and you won.
Yes. It’s been like a competition between Penguin Random House and us. The world of cultural and audiovisual industries has the challenge of combating the high level of concentration it suffers from. Amazon already has 52% of the publishing market in the US, 40% in Italy, 34% in France; Netflix invoices 100,000 million; Penguin Random House, 4,000 million… We must worry that the answer to this is infinite atomization, rather an ecosystem of medium-sized companies that can be competitive would be needed.
It’s hard to think that they beat a giant like Random by offering more money. It must be for other things…
We used imagination. In the end, we are the main bookseller in Catalonia, and this allows us to offer certain things. In a case like this, there is the financial part, there is the project part and there are more tactical issues, treasury, etc., which, being Enciclopedia’s main client, allowed us to have a little more room for maneuver .
Didn’t buy the debt?
Both we and Penguin did not bid for the company but for the stamps, fund and contracts. Therefore, we will not keep the debt, it was very clear from day one.
You say they are now the second publishing group, Random says they are.
We are second in Catalan, they are second in Spanish. Penguin in Catalan has 5% of the market, we are above 8% and Planeta (Group 62) has 16%. That the first three only add up to 30% shows the fragility of the Catalan ecosystem.
What happens to the stamps that Jaume Roures already has at Suma de Llibres (Navona, Folch
We will do everything possible to integrate them. Now, the one who has to decide is Jaume.
Abacus is the majority partner of this new publishing entity, but Jaume Roures appears in all the photos.
Sure, it’s his comeback, that’s fine. He is a figure, as could Lara, or Ricardo Rodrigo, Daniel Martínez… We should be very proud to have them or to have had them, these powerful people, in our cultural world. We have an obligation to attract them and for me it is a great honor to work with him, and with the desire to do more things… and not for his money, but for his talent.
But how much is Abacus and how much Oaks of the new society? Abacus will have more than 50% right?
We haven’t defined it yet, although it seems logical to me as you propose, but I’m not so much interested in marking territory or saying who’s in charge, but working together.
Who will distribute the books?
We, at Abacus, have a modern and competitive logistics system, we serve our stores, in Bonpreu-Esclat, in Caprabo… We also value very positively the commercial system of Ágora (the Enciclopedia distributor), we would like to continue working with them. For sure, logistics will not be part of the purchase equation, but if something can be done with them, it would be great for us. We are just exploring it, but I would like to take advantage of the talent in Ágora.
Who will be the editorial director of the new resulting group?
It’s still early. There are three superb elements, if everything ends well in the end: Ester Pujol, Joan Carles Girbés and Ernest Folch can contribute a lot and I’m very excited to be able to work with them, but I don’t know how it will turn out. But I do want the director of the company to be Xavier Mallafrè (current director of Abacus Editorial, and former director of Grup 62).
And what will you say?
We don’t have a name, it’s very strong, we didn’t even think of the problem. Our publishing group doesn’t use the Abacus brand in bookstores, just the name of each label, but now, seeing as we’re more publishers, we’ll have to have a name.
How long will it take to make the purchase?
Two months of due diligence and one of purchase, it’s the usual, I would be surprised if it doesn’t end well.
Will Abacus expand into more areas?
Our approach is that of the founders, these people from the 60s, who were ambitious, invented schools and then a teachers’ cooperative. Fifty years later we ask ourselves the same questions: how can we be useful in culture and education with the challenges the world faces today? And the answer is: in the content field. That’s why we’re making an audiovisual bet, an editorial one, a training one… This company, in 2025, 50% of its turnover will be content. This year we will invoice about 130 million, of which about 30 are already contained.
What does it mean for a cooperative company to do this?
We look up to Mondragón a lot. We want to solve this challenge with this proprietary system. The social economy, be it Caixa, Barça or Abacus, is people doing things, which has solved many problems in this country. The level of globalization that exists in the world poses challenges for freedom of expression and plurality, especially in small cultures, which the strictly mercantile company cannot solve, and neither can the State. The cooperative model, a modern cultural industry that is owned by the people, can make an interesting contribution. Bernat Medge or La Casa dels Clàssics would probably not exist with a strictly mercantile logic. And now they exist, work and make money.
But how does the day-to-day work of a company without an owner?
There is an owner: 60% of the property belongs to the consumers and 40% to the workers. Do not imagine a permanent assembly, but there is a board of directors, and the management commands. But the property can kick me out whenever it wants.
The publishing companies go beyond the ideology of the owners or managers: Mondadori published books critical of Berlusconi, the books of Group 62 cannot be identified with other Planeta spaces… And you?
I’m mostly concerned about being perceived as useful and being perceived as transversal. We are heirs to a tradition of Catalanism in the broadest sense of solving problems that cannot be solved by other means, because we do not have a State or because we are very small, Our president is Maravillas Rojo and we have people from all the parties on the council .
Minister Garriga said that the Government had helped this operation…
I haven’t talked to them about anything yet. I wanted to inform them, of course. They must have collaborated more with Encyclopaedia, trying to keep it from falling completely. We have not had any meetings, informal or formal and there is no funding agreement, nor have we discussed it. It is a strictly private operation.
There are independent publishers in Catalan who say: ‘When I grow up, I don’t know if I’ll sell to Planeta or Random’. Now do they have a third option?
I think so and that, moreover, we will treat his legacy better. Random House has a director with an extreme sensitivity for Catalan culture, but we cannot forget that their headquarters are in New York and they are German. And that Planeta has 33% for sale and the buyers’ options are what they are and are not Spanish.
Small publishers do a huge service these days.
Of course. Let’s not forget that if Anagrama exists today and is what it is, it is because it used to be small and above all independent. It is necessary that there is a large forest, with undergrowth. With what we have now, I don’t think we can say that as a country we already have a good forest, an ecosystem where authors and workers are paid well, for example. Periscope or L’Altra are essential and very valuable, but with a more complex and rich ecosystem everyone will be happier. I hear people who worry about the concentration but, what do you want me to tell them, what we are talking about is a turnover of 10 million.
Can’t tell how much the purchase costs?
No, there is a confidentiality clause.
A personal question: how is the trial for the tsunami case going?
I am in this package of judge García-Castellón, who has added a dead person to be able to accuse us of terrorism, and has added Puigdemont and Marta Rovira, who have nothing to do with it. It’s so surreal that I hope nothing happens. This topic does not concern me at all, not for a second. Let whatever God wants happen.
