Amazon reported second quarter results after the close of the market Thursday afternoon. Total sales grew 20 percent to $23.18 billion, while operating income was $464 million (compared to a loss of $15 million a year ago) and net profits were $92 million (compared to last year’s net loss of $126 million). Amazon’s stock has spiked as a result, up over 16 percent to around $560 a share Friday morning, an all-time high. A big chunk of that profit looks to be attributable to the fast-growing, high-margin AWS cloud services business rather than their retail operations. AWS operating income this quarter was $391 million, […]
Archives for July 2015
Pearson to Sell FT Group to Nikkei
Following reports that started with Bloomberg on Monday, Pearson announced that it will sell the FT Group to Nikkei for £844 million (or about $1.3 billion at current conversion rates). The sale is expected to close in the fourth quarter, and does not include the FT’s London property at One Southwark Bridge and Pearson’s 50 percent stake in The Economist Group. (At one point, during the constant speculation on whether Pearson would ever sell the FT, they were said to be looking for closer to £1 billion.) According to reports the FT pension fund has been underfunded, and Pearson acknowledged they expect to contribute “around £90 million” after the […]
People
Jennifer M. Brown will join Random House Children’s Books on August 24 as vp, publisher Knopf Books for Young Readers, reporting to Barbara Marcus. Brown, who will “oversee the direction and lead the long-range and daily activities” at the imprint, spent the past eight years as children’s editor for Shelf Awareness and also serves as director of the Center for Children’s Literature at the Bank Street College of Education. “Her background and experience give her, and us, a truly unique point of view that perfectly positions her to lead the gifted Knopf editorial team into the future,” Marcus said in […]
Corporate: Scholastic Ends Year on a Flat Note; Bloomsbury Update
Scholastic reported fourth-quarter and full-year results on Thursday morning. With the recent quarter dominated by their by big EdTech sale to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, sales from continuing operations were marginally below flat at $488 million, with operating income down 12 percent to $33.5 million (attributed primarily to foreign exchange impact in their international division, due to the strong dollar). Among the one-time charges incurred in the quarter was a pretax severance expense of $5.3 million, as part of their ongoing cost reduction and restructuring programs. Full-year sales from continuing operations were $1.64 billion, up 5 percent from $1.56 billion in […]
More Watchman Sales Info
Further to HarperCollins’ announcement on Monday that Harper Lee’s Go Set A Watchman had sold over 1.1 million units in North America since going on sale on July 14, Nielsen Bookscan posted their data on print sales Wednesday. The service recorded just over 761,000 print copies of the hardcover sold in the US through outlets they track. (Other additions, including large print hardcover, library binding hardcover and physical audio tracked another 25,000 copies combined through Bookscan-monitored outlets.) Separately, Nielsen Bookscan UK had recorded sales of approximately 168,500 print copies in the first five days on sale there.
Von Moltke Promoted At Penguin Random House; Australian Cookbook Imprint Curtailed
Nina von Moltke has been promoted to the new position of evp, director, publishing development and author platforms at Penguin Random House, continuing to ceo Markus Dohle, and she joins the Penguin Random House North America board as well. Now reporting to von Moltke are Peter Gethers in his role as president of Penguin Random House Studio and John Schline, svp, corporate director, business affairs in his role overseeing the contracts department, as they “bring the contracts teams across Penguin Random House even more closely together.” She continues her other responsibilities as well, including oversight of Penguin Random House Audio and digital product development for apps and […]