With schools closing around the world — including system-wide closures in 33 states in the US and Washington, DC — and districts racing to develop remote learning programs, educational publishers, booksellers, and nonprofits are helping families and educators with free offerings. Scholastic has curated a Learn at Home resource for families, teachers, and administrators. The “free digital learning hub” is “designed to support virtual learning plans” and has four offerings: preK and kindergarten; grades 1 and 2; grades 3 to 5; and grades 6+. It provides “approximately three hours of learning opportunities per day, for up to four weeks of instruction,” […]
WH Smith Estimates Lower Sales and Profits at Travel Stores; Hudson Reports Duty-Free Impact
WH Smith provided an early update on its half-year results, alongside a warning about the potential impact of Covid-19 on earnings. For the first half of the fiscal year through the end of February, overall sales rose 7 percent, though High Street bookstore sales fell 5 percent, and were down 4 percent on a same-store basis. Profit for that period “will be in line with market expectations,” says the release. The group says the virus crisis has not yet significantly impacted High Street sales; however, “it recognises that Covid-19 could result in reduced high street footfall.” But their travel store […]
The Misfits Sues Abrams for Infringement in Photobook
Punk band The Misfits has sued Abrams Books for copyright infringement, claiming that the illustrated book Scream with Me, published in December, is “rife with large-scale, repeated, and unlicensed reproductions of Misfits A.D. intellectual property.” (Frontmen Glenn Danzig and Jerry Only created the Misfits A.D. company when they toured together in 2016.) The book’s cover features what the suit calls the Misfits’ “Fiend Skull design” trademark and, in doing so, “misleads consumers into believing that the photobook has been approved by, or is associated with, Misfits A.D., which is indisputably false.” In addition to an injunction on Abrams’ alleged infringement, […]
UK Raises Concerns Over McGraw-Hill and Cengage Merger, Gives Five Days to Address
The United Kingdom’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has given McGraw-Hill and Cengage five working days to address concerns that their planned merger will adversely affect the quality and price of textbooks available to their students. If they fail to do so, the CMA will move to an “in-depth” Phase II investigation, which could delay the merger further still. The two companies have already moved their expectations for completion of a deal from March to August, due to a slower-than-expected regulatory review in the United States. The Australian competition agency’s initial finding is also due this week. In its first […]
McGraw-Hill Reports Slower Sales Decline in 2019
McGraw-Hill reported Q4 earnings and its annual report for 2019, with full-year revenue of $1.571 billion, down from $1.597 billion in 2018. Though the decline moderated this year, it marks the sixth year of falling sales for the company. In 2017, sales had been $1.719 billion. This will be the last time the company’s fiscal year ends December 31. They are revising their fiscal year to end March 31, to “better align with seasonal industry cycles.” After the close of the next quarter, they will issue a revised annual report covering the new fiscal year. They have also changed for […]
The Audible Settlement Is Finally Public
Audible and the seven publishers who sued the company over its planned Captions feature — referred to as an Audiobooks-to-Text Service in the filings — complied with Judge Valerie Caproni’s request to make public the settlement, with only the amounts redacted. The published agreement reaffirms that Audible will make a monetary settlement payment to each of the litigating publishers, and reinforces that they will not caption books by AAP members without permission. The redacted portion reads: “In consideration of the Parties’ performance hereunder, Audible agrees to pay each of the Publishers the amount of [REDACTED] (the “Settlement Payment”), equaling a […]