MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
June 19 – June 26, 2008 Edition
Michael Eisner,
Borders Team Up
On Web Series
ANN ARBOR, MI/6/17/08– Borders Books has formed an alliance with former Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner and Eisner’s now independent media studio, Vuguru, to distribute the innovative Web series, Robin Cook’s Foreign Body: The Prequel, through the retailers newly launched Borders.com site and to members of the Borders Rewards® loyalty program, which now number more than 26 million.
Borders, together with Vuguru, will offer its customers a series of 50 two-minute episodes that are the prequel to international best-selling author Robin Cook’s novel, Foreign Body. Cooks Foreign Body follows two young Indian beauties that are coaxed into traveling to Southern California by a group of cunning, cutthroat medical entrepreneurs who promise to help cultivate their nursing training in the States by offering them the American dream. The plot delves into the world of medical tourism with twists and turns of seduction, murder and international intrigue.
Customers can now watch new daily episodes of the series at www.BordersMedia.com/foreignbody. The last installment will air August. 4. Cooks new novel, Foreign Body, to be published by G.P. Putnams Sons, will be released nationwide August 5. Borders is also the exclusive online book retailer for Vugurus official Foreign Body Web site. Customers interested in pre-ordering copies of Cooks upcoming thriller can place their orders at www.BordersMedia.com/foreignbody.
By teaming with Vuguru to offer our customers access to Body: The Prequel exciting, high-quality digital programming we are truly elevating the shopping experience for our customers and differentiating our company from our competitors, said Borders Group Chief Executive Officer George Jones. Now, customers can watch and learn the backstory to Foreign Body via these Web episodes on Borders.com before ever reading the book. Its a great way for readers to catch the excitement of a new release.
This unique marriage of offline and online content has created exciting new partnership opportunities for Vuguru around the Foreign Body series, said Michael Eisner. Were thrilled to be in business with Borders, a company that has truly embraced the emergence of digital media and continues to adapt to its evolving landscape.
Borders Group, Inc., headquartered in Ann Arbor, Mich., is a $3.8 billion retailer of books, music and movies. Through its subsidiaries it operates more than 1,100 stores and employs approximately 30,000 people worldwide. The company recently launched Borders.com for online shopping. More information on the company is available at www.borders.com.
Vuguru is a new media studio for Michael Eisner’s The Tornante Company. The studio produces and distributes innovative story-driven content for current new media and emerging platforms. Vugurus production of Prom Queen is the first of many shows developed and produced by the studio. Privately held, The Tornante Company makes investments in and incubates companies and opportunities in the media and entertainment space. Tornante, which recently acquired The Topps Company Inc., owns Team Baby Entertainment and has an ownership stake in Veoh Networks. More information on Vuguru is available at www.vuguru.com.
Dr. Robin Cook, who is widely credited with introducing the word medical to the thriller genre and 29 years after the publication of his breakthrough novel, Coma, continues to dominate the category he created. His most recent The New York Times best sellers include Crisis, Critical, Marker, Seizure, and Shock. Cook’s medical thrillers have successfully combined medical fact with fiction to produce a succession of 25 The New York Times best sellers that have been translated into 40 languages.
Eisner, 63, is the former Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company, a post he held from 1984 to September 2005. He served as Chairman of the Board from 1984 to March 2004. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Eisner was President and Chief Operating Officer of Paramount Pictures Corp., which was then a wholly owned subsidiary of Gulf+Western Industries, Inc. Prior to joining Paramount in 1976, Mr. Eisner was Senior Vice President, Prime Time Programming, for ABC Entertainment, a division of the American Broadcasting Company, Inc., with responsibility for the development and supervision of all prime-time series programming, limited series movies made for television and the acquisition of talent.