Borders's Creditors Committee Named
The official committee of unsecured creditors involved with Borders Group's Chapter 11 filing was approved with representatives from Penguin, HarperCollins, Random House, and Perseus Books Group. Other reps are from Sony Music, GGP Limited Partnership and the Simon Property Group.

Borders started receiving some inventory from publishers last week, primarily through Ingram.

Kodansha, Dai Nippon Buy Vertical
The Japanese publishing giant Kodansha has joined with Japanese printing giant Dai Nippon Printing to acquire Vertical Inc., a publisher of Japanese prose fiction and nonfiction and classic manga in translation with offices in Tokyo and New York City. The acquisition comes as Kodansha is set to launch Kodansha Comics. The relationship with Dai Nippon will provide production and printing support for Vertical's books as well as provide access to new licenses through DNP's relationship with a wide range of Japanese publishers.

RH Offers Early Retirement
Random House is offering an early retirement package to staffers 50 and over, featuring enhanced benefits. The package is open to U.S. employees who have been at the publisher for at least five years. A company spokesperson said the offer is not a precursor to a companywide downsizing.

Haymarket Author Denied Visa
Haymarket Books expects to put on hold a book tour for Omar Barghouti scheduled for April because the U.S. consulate in Jerusalem has denied him a visa. Barghouti, the founding member of the Palestinian Civil Society Boycott, Divestment, Sanction Campaign, is the author of Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions.

NACS in Deal With BookRenter
The National Association of College Stores is partnering with the online textbook company BookRenter. Through NACS-
CORP, the association's wholesale distributor subsidiary, NACS will offer three BookRenter services to its 3,100 members.