Christian Retailing

Year in Review: Industry News in 2012 Print Email
Written by Eric Tiansay   
Friday, 28 December 2012 04:03 PM America/New_York

Industry News: Family Christian buyout, ‘Obamacare’ rulings top newsmakers

Two of the biggest stories of 2012 came near year's end—the contrasting mid-November rulings involving Tyndale House Publishers and Christian-owned-and-operated Hobby Lobby Stores and sister company Mardel Christian & Education. 

A Nov. 16 federal court ruling stopped enforcement of the Obama administration’s abortion pill mandate against Tyndale, which filed a healthcare lawsuit against the government Oct. 2. Tyndale specifically objects to covering abortion pills.

But, unlike Tyndale's healthcare ruling, the court did not show favor to the Green family, owners of Hobby Lobby and Mardel. U.S. District Judge Joe Heaton ruled Nov. 19 that the Oklahoma City-based stores must provide insurance for the “morning after” and “week after” pills under new federal healthcare rules that begin Jan. 1. If they don’t, the companies will face significant fines.

Another big story broke in mid-November—the announcement of Family Christian Stores' management team partnering with a group of Atlanta-based Christian businessmen to acquire the company from its private equity owners, with plans to give 100% of its profits to benefit Christian causes.

 Terms of the Nov. 13 transaction—involving the nation’s largest Christian retail chain—were not disclosed. Family reported that while its ownership structure and financial purpose had changed, its operations will continue in a largely “seamless” way, said Cliff Bartow, CEO of the company.

In another sign of a changing Christian retail industry, Covenant Group expanded its membership with the addition of the 18-outlet chain Berean Christian Stores. With the addition of Berean and two other independents, Covenant now has 20 dealerships, representing 52 stores—an increase of more than 60% since fall 2011.

LifeWay Christian Stores President Mark Scott decided to retire in September following several months of significant health issues. Scott’s position was filled by Tim Vineyard, vice president of LifeWay’s technology division. LifeWay Christian Resources CEO Thom Rainer was named acting president of the retail division until LifeWay trustees can review and affirm the change at their next scheduled meeting in February.

CBA promoted Curtis Riskey from executive director to president during an October board meeting. Riskey served as interim executive director after the unexpected resignation of longtime President and CEO Bill Anderson in October 2009. He was appointed as executive director in March 2010 with CBA adopting a new management model.

In September, HarperCollins’ new Christian division, comprised of Zondervan and the newly acquired Thomas Nelson, announced its new leadership team, featuring 12 executives from both publishers. Mark Schoenwald leads the division as president and CEO.

 HarperCollins Christian Publishing also formed a single fiction team headed by Daisy Hutton, formerly vice president and publisher of fiction at Thomas Nelson.  

 Germany's Bertelsmann media company and British publisher Pearson agreed to merge the book publishing units Random House and Penguin Group last fall, forming the new Penguin Random House company, said to be the world's largest publisher of consumer books. Bertelsmann owns Random House, the parent company of WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Meanwhile, in a decision in favor of the federal government that could start an e-book price war, Denise Cote, federal district judge in Manhattan, N.Y., approved a settlement between the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins and Simon & Schuster in a civil antitrust case that accused the companies of price-fixing digital books.

 Evangelical Christian Publishers Association President and CEO Mark Kuyper told Christian Retailing that Cole's decision could have “a very negative impact” on e-book retailers.