As elsewhere, the book industry in Japan has realised that today's publishing, with nearly half its stockwinding up as pulp, is a rotten way of doing business.
The so-called London Whale blunder weighed on shares heavily in the spring and summer, but with the year winding down the stock was just a few bucks shy of its 2012 highs.
The stock would be under more pressure, except winding down a costly store-makeover program a while back has let Safeway ramp up its share-buyback program.