Source to Grow Book Biz

by Jim Milliot -- Publishers Weekly, 4/11/2005

Leslie Flegel, chairman of Source Interlink, told PW he expects the book business "to be an important element of our future." Source, one of the country's largest magazine distributors, will expand its book operation through a 10-year marketing and services deal with Levy Home Entertainment that Flegel expects to sign May 1, the same time Source's purchase of LHE's parent company, Chas. Levy Circulating Co. is completed. The Source purchase of Levy will leave LHE as a stand-alone company.

Source's acquisition of Levy, valued at $30 million, is just the latest in a string of purchases that has turned Source into a $1.7-billion distributor of a range of media products. Last year, it acquired Empire News, a move that put Source into the book business; its most recent deal was its merger with the distribution firm Alliance Entertainment. Among the stores that Source distributes to are Barnes & Noble and Borders.