eBooks by Sainsbury’s has sold its international social network subsidiary aNobii to Italy’s largest publishing group, Mondadori. The asset sale will enable eBooks by Sainsbury’s to focus exclusively on its core business of developing and growing its online retailing activities and ecommerce platform in the UK.
The deal follows the June 2012 64% majority share purchase of the beta.anobii.com website by British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, which later became Sainsbury’s ecommerce platform for eBooks – www.sainsburysebooks.co.uk.
Anobii.com has a million regular users, 300,000 of whom reside in Italy, and remains a popular community-centric website designed to help its international network of booklovers find and share books.
Tim Lennox, Managing Director at eBooks by Sainsbury’s, stated: "We have some ambitious and exciting plans for eBooks by Sainsbury’s and this deal will allow us to concentrate our energies on driving growth in this digital UK market. Although anobii.com has successfully established itself as a truly international social network for bookworms, over the years the website has become increasingly popular among Italians, so it made perfect sense that a company like Mondadori took ownership of the website and brand."