• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Login
  • Register

Publishers Lunch

The Publishing Industry's Daily Essential Read

  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help

Simon & Schuster Finishes with Record Profits

February 13, 2014
By Michael Cader

Simon & Schuster reported fourth quarter sales of $225 million, up $10 million from a year ago, helping the publisher to finish the year with sales rising $19 million, at $809 million in all. Parent company CBS said in their announcement that year-end results “reflect growth in print book sales.”

Once again, margins rose more than sales, and S&S had record profits for the year. Fourth quarter OIBDA was $37 million for the quarter, compared to $31 million a year ago. For the full year, OIBDA of $113 million was up $24 million, and operating income of $106 million was up $26 million. That’s an operating income margin of 13 percent for the year. S&S took a restructuring charge of $1 million in the just-reported quarter, related to reorganization of their manufacturing and production department announced in November.

CEO Carolyn Reidy said that “growth in print” sales “reflects two of our major properties” that sold a “heavier than normal” amount in print: The Rush Limbaugh children’s picture book, and the Duck Commanders. “In both cases, ebook sales were quite light.” For the fourth quarter, Reidy said they “had growth in both physical and digital” sales. “Every single division was up significantly,” Reidy noted, making “a great ending to the year.”

For the full year, all digital products comprised 27 percent of sales, versus 23 percent in 2012, growing by 22 percent overall. eBooks alone comprised 24 percent of sales, compared to 20 percent in 2012. Reidy did note, however, that “we were surprised at the softness of digital sales in January” 2014, after the reported period.

S&S’s results were in line with parent company CBS, where overall sales were up 6 percent in the fourth quarter, to $3.9 billion, and adjusted OIBDA of $927 million was up 7 percent. 

Filed Under: Earnings Reports, Free, Publishers

sidebar

Primary Free Sidebar

Login


Forgot password
Quick Pass users click here to log in
Get Full Access
The publishing industry's essential daily read

Each Publishers Lunch Deluxe subscription includes full access to our searchable multi-year archive of industry news, a nightly email reporting 10 to 50 deal transactions, and our database of industry contacts, scripts, and posting privileges.

Learn More

RSS Automat

  • Taylor & Francis to Make Voluntary Separation Offer; Threatens Layoffs to Follow September 25, 2023 Bookseller
  • Rupert Murdoch to Retire from News Corp and Fox Boards September 21, 2023 NYT
  • OpenAI's New DALL-E3 Lets Artists Opt-Out of Future Training; Rejects Request to Mimic the Style of Living Artists September 20, 2023 TechCrunch
  • Another Response to AI-Generated Books: KDP Lowers Limit On Number of Titles You Can Create, "To Help Protect Against Abuse" September 18, 2023 KDP Forum
  • TikTok (and Instagram) Stars Sell Cookbooks September 18, 2023 NYT
  • Actor and UK Harry Potter Audiobook Narrator Stephen Fry Demonstrates How His Voice Was Copied By AI Without Permission September 18, 2023 Deadline
  • Neal Sofman, Legend of Bay Area Independent Booksellers, dies at 75 September 15, 2023 SF Chronicle
  • Major Textbook Publishers Trying Suing Shadow Library LibGen Again September 15, 2023 Torrent Freak
  • Deesha Philyaw Has Seven-Figure Deal with Mariner for "The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman" in 2025 and "Girl, Look" September 14, 2023 AP
  • Copyright Office Doubles Down on Declining to Register Award-Winning Midjourney-Created AI Art September 12, 2023 Copyright Review Board document
© 2023 Publishers Lunch. All Rights Reserved.