Hasan Altaf joins the Paris Review as managing editor next Tuesday. Most recently, he was the managing editor at Harper’s Magazine. Fiction writer, poet, and musician Christian Keifer takes the new role of West Coast editor. Additionally, an expanded roster of advisory editors incorporates former poetry editor Robyn Creswell, plus Saskia Hamilton and Christopher Merrill. At Milkweed Editions, Joanna R. Demkiewicz has been promoted to marketing director. Jordan Bascom moves up to publicist. Former John Murray publishing director Eleanor Birne joins David Godwin Associates as an agent on September 3. The MacDowell Colony announced 87 recipients of fall-winter fellowships, including […]
Earnings Reports
Sales Slide at Penguin Random House On Softer Dollar and More
Bertelsmann reported results for the first half of the year on Thursday, with sales at Penguin Random House+ (the PRH joint venture, plus the separate Random House Germany) registering €1.482 billion, down €48 million (or 3.1 percent) overall from a year ago. Operating EBITDA fell further, to €171 million, down 35 million (or 17 percent). The company blamed “high negative exchange rate effects – in particular from the US dollar…among other factors” for the declines. In the investor call, cfo Bernd Hirsch said that “a little bit more than 50 percent” of the drop in EBITDA was due to foreign […]
New Accounting Rules Will Likely Lift Penguin Random House’s Sales: It’s A Long Story
On Thursday Penguin Random House’s parent company Bertelsmann will be the last of the big companies to report financial results through June 30, and when that happens, there will be something different about PRH’s results. The company will use a different accounting method for their ebook sales, making their overall sales for the past six months unlike previous PRH reports. That will also make their sales report unlike those of all the other publishers that we have reported so far this earnings season. That difference is that for many (but not all) ebook sales, PRH will start counting the full consumer […]
Barnes & Noble Education Falls Short In First Quarter and Stock Drops
After one glorious quarter of giving investors a little comfort, Barnes & Noble College is back to its old ways. The company reported fiscal first quarter earnings on Wednesday morning, missing analysts’ expectations for what is their quietest quarter. Sales of $337.5 million were down $18.2 million or 5.1 percent — even with the incorporation of the Student Brands acquisition — with a higher seasonal net of loss of $(38.6) million, compared to a loss of $(34.8) million a year ago. Same-store sales at their college bookstores were down 2.2 percent. Analysts were expecting flat sales and a reduced loss […]
Harper Has Big Gains In Sales, Profits
News Corp reported fourth quarter results on Thursday, with HarperCollins turning in a strong quarter, recording sales of $490 — up $83 million from the same period a year ago. Along with the higher sales, book publishing EBITDA was much higher too, at $71 million, compared to $39 million a year ago. One big, profitable boost was $28 million of revenue from the sublicensing agreement for J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy, in which Amazon Studios acquired global television rights. That’s the “advance” for the rights, and the primary expected cash benefit from the agreement for the foreseeable […]
Indigo’s Sales and Profits Fall on Store Renovations and Investments, As Merch Sales Keep Growing
Canadian retailer Indigo reported sales for their fiscal first quarter, ending June 30, with sales of $205.4 million (CA), down $1 million and below expectations of a modest gain, as the company swung to an adjusted EBITDA loss of $13.3 million, and a pre-tax loss of $20.7 million (versus a loss of $7 million a year ago). EBITDA suffered due to “higher discounting, higher costs at the expanded distribution facilities, the increase in minimum wage in Ontario, and other investments in transformational initiatives.” Superstore sales comps were barely positive, up 0.2 percent, as were small-format store comps, up 0.76 percent. […]