Linn Wins: Former Investment Banker Buys Consortium

By Brad Zellar, PW Daily for Booksellers -- Publishers Weekly, 12/17/2001

Consortium Book Sales and Distribution, the St. Paul, Minn., distributor, has been sold to Donn Linn, a former Wall Street investment banker. Longtime owner Bill Brinton had put the company up for sale earlier this year. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

For the past 13 years, Linn, who has an MBA from Harvard, has been living in Indianola, Miss., and managing a diversified family business that includes banking, agriculture, and adult assisted-living facilities.

The sale caps a year of change for Consortium, which was founded in 1985 and distributes more than 70 independent publishers. Recently president and CEO Randall Beek resigned and was replaced by co-presidents Julie Schaper (sales, marketing, and public relations) and Peter Heege (finance and operations). Just a week ago, Graywolf Press, one of its premier publisher-clients, announced it would move to Farrar, Straus & Giroux next year.

Linn takes over a company with 40 fulltime employees and more than $12 million in annual sales; his purchase also includes Beek's minority stake in Consortium.

Linn comes to Consortium through a chance meeting with Po Bronson, author of The Nudist on the Late Shift, Consortium's chairman of the board. Bronson met Linn while researching a book on business people who undertake serious life changes, and Bronson later hooked Linn up with Bill Hammond of Publishing Strategy International, who was brokering the sale for Brinton.

"I've been in this business since 1974," Hammond said, "and I've never seen a deal come together so quickly and with such goodwill. It was a very unusual and wonderful experience. There was a tremendous interest in the company--a lot of blue-chip interest, including some very qualified individuals--and I think that speaks volumes about the respect people in this industry have for Consortium."

"This whole thing has been a bit of a shaggy dog story," Linn told PW Daily. "I've had a long and abiding love for books and literature, and living out here in the boondocks you develop a real appreciation for independent booksellers. I was looking around for something interesting to do that I could really care about, and from my first visit up there in October I felt a real affinity for what Consortium is all about. They've got a great management team, as well as a terrific name and franchise in place, so I certainly don't think anything drastic is going to happen; there's not going to be any major management shift or change. This is not a turnaround, I'm just hoping to have some fun and keep things moving forward."

Linn will be moving to the Twin Cities next year. "This is job one for me now," he said. "My intention is to spend virtually all of my time on this company. This is obviously my first foray into publishing, but I think I can bring some management skills to the table."

"We're obviously thrilled to have Donn come on board," Consortium co-president Julie Schaper said. "He brings to the company a solid financial background and the leadership skills to really push the business forward. He has a real enthusiasm for the book business, and we feel that his talents and energy will enable Consortium to serve its present and prospective clients with new and innovative service, as well as the traditional service we have always provided."

This article originally appeared in the December 17, 2001 issue of PW Daily for Booksellers. For more information about PW Daily, including a sample and subscription information, click here.