Lance Fitzgerald will move over to Penguin Random House Audio, in the new position of vp, content and business development, reporting to Amanda D’Acierno. He has been vp & director, subsidiary rights at Crown. He will be responsible for growing the list to “include foreign-language publishing, original audio publishing, and to deepen our connection to theatre.” With Fitzgerald’s appointment, svp and associate publisher Amy Metsch “has decided to leave the company” after 17 years there. Additionally, Catherine Bucaria has been promoted to director, acquisitions & editorial operations, reporting to Fitzgerald. Laura Schreiber has joined Jimmy Patterson as editorial director. She […]
Earnings Reports
Pearson Preview Indicates 30 Percent Decline In Printed Textbooks, Weak Profits Ahead
Pearson released a 2019 trading update, providing a preview of what’s to come in the complete earnings results coming February 21. It’s not good. In North America, overall revenue was down 3 percent, dragged down by a 12 percent decline in the US Higher Education business. Print sales dropped an astonishing 30 percent, while digital sales showed only “modest growth.” The release notes, “This reflects rapidly changing market dynamics that are reshaping the industry, as illustrated by the fact that in 2019 we sold 3.7 million textbooks to students at US universities, compared to 7.4 million in 2016 and 21 […]
Scholastic Reports Strong Q2 for Trade Books
Scholastic reported second quarter earnings, with sales of $597.2 million, down from $604.7 million in last year’s Q2 (or 1 percent). Trade sales remained strong, though, at $103.6 million, up from $96 million (or 8 percent). Operating income was up, to $105 million, from $98 million one year ago (or 7 percent). Trade saw strong frontlist sales, from books including Raina Telgemeier’s Guts, Alan Gratz’s Allies, Maggie Stiefvater’s Call Down the Hawk, The Dinky Donkey, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: The Illustrated Edition, but also included the licensing revenue from Clifford, the animated programming now on Amazon […]
Wiley Earnings Reflect Continued Educational Publishing Decline
Wiley reported Q2 earnings, with total sales for the quarter of $466.2 million, up from $448.6 million — which includes increased sales scope from the zyBooks and Knewton acquisitions. Operating income was $63.4 million, up from $57.5 million. Educational publishing sales were $101.7 million, down from $107.5 million, a decline of 5 percent, despite the boost from the recent acquisitions. Professional learning sales were $76 million, down from from $82.2 million, or 8 percent. It’s unclear exactly how much traditional book publishing declined, however, since the company’s recent decision to combine books with its corporate training business, in a single […]
Barnes & Noble Education to “Review Strategic Opportunities” After Another Poor Quarter
Long-flailing Barnes & Noble Education reported results for another poor quarter, and now may go the way of the Barnes & Noble retail stores, announcing the hiring of a financial advisor to “review strategic opportunities.” That’s generally corporate-speak for putting a company in play, and they note the move comes “in response to a number of unsolicited inquiries.” But nothing is simple at BNED, and they say the adviser will “assist in a review of strategic opportunities to accelerate the execution of customer-focused strategic initiatives and enhance value for BNED shareholders, including, but not limited to, continued execution of the […]
Q3 Sales and Income Down at McGraw-Hill, Despite Digital Growth
McGraw-Hill reported earnings for the period ending September 30, with sales of $542.6 million, down from $552.1 million. Net income also fell slightly, down $2.2 million to $53.4 million. Meanwhile, the company’s preferred, non-GAAP measure of profit, adjusted EBITDA, was up slightly, to $371.7 million from $368.2 million. Higher ed sales of $189 million were down $12 million, while K-12 sales of $252 million rose by $11 million compared to a year ago. Despite lackluster overall results, the company reported strong sales growth for its “Inclusive Access” program and other digital offerings (entirely offset, nonetheless, by contraction in print sales […]