Pearson has acquired Credly, a digital workforce certification company valued at approximately $200 million. Pearson already had a 20 percent stake in the company, and used available cash and liquidity to purchase the remainder, paying $140 million and a deferred consideration. Credly will be part of Pearson’s Workforce Skills division, following their 2021 acquisition of workforce AI platform Faethm. “The Credly acquisition is another important step in accelerating our strategy in the workforce skills market and in building connectivity across the entire Pearson portfolio…. Credly complements our other recent acquisition – Faethm – to address the full learner journey, enabling […]
Two Cookbooks Fall Into the Ocean, Delaying Pub Dates
In an unexpected turn of events in the supply chain challenges, publication dates for two Penguin Random House cookbooks have been postponed, after the books were literally lost at sea. TURKEY AND THE WOLF by Mason Hereford, scheduled to come out on February 15, will now publish on June 21. DINNER IN ONE by Melissa Clark will come out on September 6, instead of in March as planned. The cargo ship carrying the books from China was on a slow course in the Atlantic Ocean near Portugal, likely to delay docking in the US due to port congestion. A storm […]
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At Flatiron Books, Cat Kenney has been promoted to publicist.
Distribution: S&S to Distribute TKO
Starting February 1, comics and graphic novel publisher TKO Studios will be distributed by Simon & Schuster. S&S will manage trade book sales and retail distribution for the publisher worldwide.
Bloomsbury Increases Full-Year Guidance
Bloomsbury released a brief trading update ahead of the end of their fiscal year on February 28. The company said “revenue is expected to be comfortably ahead and profit materially ahead of market expectations.” (Analysts’ expectations were £197.1 million in revenue and £20.1 million in profit before taxes and highlighted items.) Both adult and children’s trade publishing were “strong.” They expect further growth from the £17.3 million acquisition of ABC-CLIO, which was completed in December.
Publishing Graduate Students Work on Distribution Issues
Graduate students at Portland State University are working to address distribution problems in the publishing industry, in partnership with the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA) and PubWest. Students will lead research projects into decreasing returns; making book printing truly carbon neutral; increasing use of POD as a preferred means of printing; addressing shortcomings in the supply chain that were exacerbated by the pandemic, and more. IBPA and PubWest will present the findings to the book trade after the projects are completed in March.