Earlier this week TNPS broke the news that BestSharer S.L., the parent company of Madrid-based digital books subscription service 24Symbols, was in voluntary administration, leaving a question mark over the future of the service.
Today TNPS is able to report that 24Symbols is expected to not just survive but grow, even as parent company BestSharer goes through a “voluntary bankruptcy service”.
24Symbols Head of Business Development Isabel Blank told TNPS:
Bestsharer S.L. is in administration since last January 25th, but despite the fact that we are beginning this voluntary bankruptcy process, 24symbols continues its activity and operation as usual.
Some key aspects and of this process:
It is a non-liquidation administration process, which reiterates the company’s intention to continue making available our reading service to our customers. Our platform is still live and growing.
Financially speaking, our monthly cash flow is positive, and this has allowed us to keep up with all our cash obligations, namely content providers and technology, partners, employees and collaborators.
Our highly committed staff -including business, content, technology and customer service teams- continues to support and increase our current registered and subscribed user base, and our business.
A press release about the process offers more details for those interested, and is copied at the end of this post.
With catalogue of one million titles across ten languages, and 1.5 million registered users, 24Symbols is one of the oldest surviving digital books subscription services, and the latest statement, clarifying the position of the service in relation to the challenges facing BestSharer, confirms the sustainability of the subscription model.
In our previous post about 24Symbols I took a quick tour of the many digital books subscription success stories of 2019, and commend that post –
and this –
to anyone still on the fence about the future of the subscription model.
The full press release from 24Symbols follows:
BESTSHARER -24SYMBOLS’ OWNER- ENTERS A
VOLUNTARY COMPANY ADMINISTRATION PROCESS
The Company Administration Is Not a Liquidation Process
and the Digital Reading Platform Will Continue to Operate as Usual.
Madrid, January 28th 2020.- Bestsharer S.L., the company behind 24symbols’ digital reading platform is in administration since last January 25th, a consequence of the business impact derived from its reference shareholder ending its liquidation process –the main shareholder was in addition its key distributor, as defined per the company’s strategic plan drawn up upon its entry as a shareholder back in 2013-.
The entry into administration, declared as a non-liquidation one, is the next step of the adjustment plan executed during 2019 which allowed regaining a positive cash flow. Additionally, it was a required condition to gain enough time to develop a new strategic plan in accordance to the company’s situation and the current digital reading market.
The company declares that:
it maintains the usual support and development of its reading service platform operation,
it is up to date with all cash obligations required to maintain the service platform available, regarding content and technology providers, partners, employees and collaborators.
its business, content, administration, technology and customer service teams remain highly committed to the company and focused on offering a high-quality reading service to its entire user base around the world.
