BooksActually has been making headlines since its owner, Kenny Leck, had his misdeeds exposed.
To catch up on the saga, you can read these comprehensive articles below:
- Rice Media Published Exposé on BooksActually’s Owner Kenny Leck ‘Making Romantic Advances’ on Young Employees
- BooksActually’s Kenny Leck Responded Publicly About Allegations & Will No Longer be Owner of the Bookshop
- Local Literary Community & Organisations ‘Cancels’ Kenny Leck After Exposé
TL; DR: BooksActually might actually get to go on as long as Kenny Leck is no longer involved in the operations in any way.
Literary organisations such as Sing Lit and publishers like Ethosbooks, among many others, will consider working with the indie bookshop again after it’s proven that Leck has handed over everything to his team of employees.
Fast forward a day later and Leck has publicly responded to the situation.
Giving Up BooksActually 100%
Giving up a bookshop that you’ve painstakingly built for 16 years is hard but that’s what Leck claims he’ll do.
He will “step back 100%” from BooksActually and “will not exist in any way any more”, he told The Straits Times.
Currently, Leck owns 50% of the shares to the bookshop while his ex-partner, Karen Wai, holds the other 50%.
He was in the process of buying back her shares when the incident happened.
100% of the bookshop’s shares, as well as its publishing arm Math Paper Press, will be transferred to his team of five employees who, thus far, has remained unnamed.
He will also be giving up the directorship of the shop.
“People think I will still be pulling the strings behind the scenes or I know people so I won’t be boycotted. No. Everybody has distanced themselves from me.”
‘Which Small Businesses Don’t Have Delayed Payments?’
In the exposé on Leck, it was mentioned that employees worked long hours without breaks for little pay; sometimes they were also paid late.
Leck admitted that he had not paid his employees on time, but fully paid them in the end.
In fact, outside of his employees, authors and publishers who’ve worked with him were also owed money, some for a few years.
While he acknowledged that such incidents happened, Leck said he’d paid them fully in the end.
“Which small businesses don’t have delayed payments?”
“I paid up. I’m not like other companies where I delay and then I totally don’t pay.”
Plans Sped Up
Leck also pointed out that before the incident, he was already in talks with his team about them taking a “bigger stake” in his business.
The company no longer has major debts, he added.
So to him, this merely means that his plan has sped up, and he is no longer in the picture.
He also asked the literary community in Singapore to attack the person who’s done wrong (him), and not the bookstore or the “new people” operating it.
As for the allegations against him by ex-wife Renee Ting, Leck says they are untrue but isn’t able to explain further due to his divorce settlement with her; he is reportedly still making restitution.
Previously, he also denied other allegations and said he’ll “speak to each publicly” but “now is not the time”.
Read Also:
- 10 Facts About BooksActually, The Bookstore That Everyone is Talking About Now
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Feature Image: Facebook (BooksActually & Kaplan Singapore)
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