Pearson reported sales for the first half of the year of £2.047, down 7 percent (but up 2 percent on currency neutral basis). Adjusted operating profit was 75 million pounds, compared to 137 million pounds a year ago, reflecting bigger charges on their continuing restructuring charges (£43 million so far this year), foreign exchange, and “the impact on margins of the phasing of revenues into the second half of 2014.” Those charges were apportioned as: School, £22 million; Higher Education, £10 million; Professional, £4 million, and PRH £7 million. All of Pearson’s sales decline and then some came from the […]
Amazon Loses More Money Than Expected; Stock Suffers
Amazon’s stock is down over 10 percent in early Friday trading (a decline of almost $40 a share) after reporting a larger than expected loss for their second quarter — and forecasting bigger losses for the next quarter. Second quarter sales grew 23 percent to $19.34 billion, with an operating loss of $15 million, and a net loss of $126 million, or 27 cents a share. Sales were right on target with analysts’ estimates, but the loss was bigger than the consensus guess of 15 cents a share. That earnings miss plus third quarter guidance of a big operating loss of anywhere between […]
John Ingram Invests In Mediander
Chairman and ceo of Ingram Content Group John Ingram has invested in Mike Fine’s ambitious online “knowledge engine” startup Mediander.com, providing an “early-stage investment” through his personal investing vehicle, JRI Ventures LLC. According to the announcement, “the investment will be used to fund research and development, as well as technical, marketing and other operating expenses.” Fine has been the sole funder of Mediander up until now. ICG as a company also has venture capital arm that has taken stakes in a variety of digital publishing related start-ups. In 2010, John Ingram invested both personally and corporately in ReThink Books, which started […]
Batman Beats Back Kindle Unlimited
Yes, you read that correctly. For the first day since we starting monitoring the effect on Kindle Unlimited titles on Amazon Kindle’s So-Called Bestseller List, the number of KU titles on the top 100 declined modestly, now accounting for 38 titles. But Batman related books have stormed the list, taking over 10 slots, including the No. 1 position. (Wednesday was celebrated as the 75th anniversary of Batman’s creation.) KU books still claim half of the top 50 titles, though (25 today, versus 24 yesterday), and Amazon Publishing’s own titles still show the biggest boost. The traditional publisher titles included in KU […]
Scholastic Takes $21.4 Charge, Mostly on Storia, Which Will Switch to School Licensing Model
Scholastic reported fourth quarter and full fiscal year earnings on Thursday morning, with sales rising 8 percent to $549 million and operating income increasing more, at $48.6 million. The stock rose in early morning trading on the improved results and positive guidance for next year. But the company disclosed a variety of charges, including a mostly non-cash, pre-tax charge of $21.4 million primarily due to a shift in their Storia ereading platform. Scholastic intends to move the service to a “streaming model,” and as a result they will not support various operating-specific Storia apps. That change and a “settlement charge” […]
Rizzoli Acquires Welcome Books
Continuing an active year of acquisitions, Rizzoli International Publications has agreed to acquire the assets of Welcome Books, the publishing imprint of Welcome Enterprises. A publisher of illustrated books in the fields of art, photography, food & wine, parenting, history, travel, pets and social & popular culture, Welcome Books began publishing in 1995, and Rizzoli will continue to publish books under the Welcome imprint. All titles will continue to be sold and distributed domestically by Random House Publishers Service (which represented both companies), and internationally by Rizzoli. Rizzoli associate publisher Jim Muschett will “manage the acquired assets, revising and re-launching key titles, and publishing […]