NetLibrary to Acquire Peanut Press

Posted on February 9, 2000

NetLibrary has signed an agreement to acquire Peanut Press, a distributor of literature for reading on handheld computing devices. The announcement was made at the Seybold Seminars in Boston.

"By joining forces with peanutpress.com, netLibrary is making eBooks available to more people in more ways than ever before," said netLibrary President and Chief Executive Officer Timothy R. Schiewe. "Like netLibrary, peanutpress.com is open to providing the written word for a variety of devices. We both understand that, when it comes to eBooks, content matters most, and readers should have a choice about the device they use."

"We are thrilled to be a part of netLibrary," said peanutpress.com President Jeff Strobel. "The technology and content offerings brought to the table by both our companies are a perfect fit and present a great solution to eBook enthusiasts across the Internet."

Since their establishment as eBook companies, netLibrary and peanutpress.com have taken slightly different paths in terms of content development. netLibrary's focus has been to serve academic library customers with a collection of reference, scholarly, and academic titles from publishers such as Oxford University Press and Harvard Business School Publications. peanutpress.com, on the other hand, has focused on the consumer market. Books by authors such as Stephen King, Elmore Leonard, and Frank McCourt are available as peanutpress.com editions. The companies plan to integrate features to create a cohesive new offering that will be available by the end of the year.

"eBook collections at netLibrary and peanutpress.com are quite complementary, without much overlap," said Miriam Gilbert, netLibrary senior director of publisher relations. "We will work within our existing publisher relationships to obtain permission as needed to create a very well-rounded selection of eBook editions for various platforms and markets."