Amazon ceo Jeff Bezos released his annual shareholder letter on Wednesday, revealing for the first time that has more than 100 million paid Prime members globally. In another, less widely-reported statistic, Bezos wrote that over 1,000 Kindle Direct Publishing authors earned over $100,000 in royalties in 2017 (thus comprising over $100 million). Beyond that, third-party sellers accounted for more than half of the units sold on Amazon worldwide for the first time — and over 140,000 small and medium-sized businesses (thus comprising over $14 billion). Among other things, in reviewing the pipeline for television series on the way through Prime […]
Earnings Reports
Quarto Has Good Finish to A Hard Year
Quarto reported “poor results” for the full year of 2017, but after a very weak first half and a profit warning in November, sales for the second half of the year from continuing operations were up 5.8 percent. For the full year, continuing sales were $152.5 million, down $2.1 million, with an operating loss of $17.9 million, compared to an operating profit the previous year of $16.1 million. Their after tax loss was $18.5 million, compared to a loss of $5.3 million a year ago. The company notes that operating margin “was impacted by a combination of factors including high […]
Sales Flat At Penguin Random House
Bertelsmann reported full year 2017 results on Tuesday morning in Germany, with sales at Penguin Random House just below flat, at €3.359 billion (down €2 million from 2016). Operating EBITDA for the publisher fell 2.9 percent to €521 million (down €16 million), “particularly as a result of negative exchange rate effects.” (Per our style, from here forward, we will refer to the PRH reporting division, which includes the separate Random House Germany, as PRH+, and will use PRH for just the Penguin Random House joint venture.) At PRH on its own, sales were €3.075 billion, up €16 million from a year ago, reflecting the […]
Scholastic Raises Earnings Guidance on Tax Changes
Scholastic reported fiscal third quarter results on Wednesday afternoon, with sales of $345 million, an increase of 2.5 percent from $336 million a year ago. The seasonal operating loss from continuing operations was $23.7 million, a slight improvement over the previous year’s operating loss of $24.7. Trade publishing sales were $50.2 million, up $1 million from a year ago. Book club revenues declined by $2.6 million, while book fair sales increased by $2 million. Overall segment operating loss was $0.9 million, compared to operating profit of $6.3 million in the prior year period, which the Scholastic attributes to “a favorable […]
Earnings Steady At Lagardere Publishing
After releasing 2017 sales information only in February, Lagardere followed up Thursday evening with their earnings report. The publishing division had earnings of €210 million, up €2 million from a year ago, on sales of €2.289 billion (up €25 million from 2016). The news from the release was that companywide earnings were modest, up just €8 million to €405 million, and the guidance is for “stable” (or flat) earnings in 2018. Lagardere’s shares are down over 7 percent in Friday trading as a result. Those earnings also reinforce that, while Lagardere Publishing’s margins appear lower than their trade publishing peers, the unit remains Lagardere’s […]
Wiley Gains with Publishing Steady
Wiley reported results for their fiscal third quarter, ending January 31, with sales of $456 million (up $20 million, though down 1 percent measured in constant currency), and operating income of $67.4 million (up $16.2 million). For the second quarter in a row, publishing sales were stronger than the recent downward trend: STM and professional publishing sales of $80.8 million were up from $76.9 million a year ago, and education publishing sales of $48.4 million were down slightly, versus $50.3 million a year ago. CEO Brian Napack said in the release: “We continue to see good momentum in the business, […]