Publishers

News Corp. reported fiscal third quarter results after the close of the market on Thursday, with HarperCollins recorded sales of $490 million, up 19 percent from $412 million a year ago. That sales total included $8 million from recent acquisitions and $10 million in foreign exchange gains. Earnings rose more, up 45 percent to $80 million, compared to $55 million a year ago. The gains were driven “by the success of numerous backlist titles, including the Bridgerton series” by Julia Quinn following the success of the Netflix adaptation. Sales were also helped by “faster digital growth.” Digital sales were up […]

ViacomCBS reported first quarter 2021 results on Thursday morning, with sales at Simon & Schuster of $185 million — up $15 million, or 8.8 percent, versus the same period a year ago. With the parent company classifying S&S under “discontinued operations” while the pending sale to Penguin Random House awaits regulatory review and approval, ViacomCBS has changed the way they report the publisher’s earnings, showing operating income before other items of $27 million. The publisher says operating income was up 80 percent for the quarter, and compares to $15 million a year ago. Simon & Schuster ceo Jonathan Karp said, […]

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt continues to excel in issuing earnings press releases featuring prose that’s far more encouraging than the data. In their minds they are becoming a “pure-play learning technology company” with “a strong start to the new year” and “impressive growth in important key performance indicators, positioning HMH amongst the largest and fastest growing companies in the edtech market.” In their accounting, they are a debt-laden company that has lost nearly unfathomable amounts of money relative to their size since going public. Compared to what was a bad pandemic quarter a year ago, sales from continuing operations — setting […]

Alongside more detailed corporate reporting elsewhere, Bertelsmann issued a brief first quarter trading update on Thursday, with revenues of €4.2 billion, versus €4.1 billion a year ago. Penguin Random House was among the three divisions that “delivered particularly strong performances” and “double-digit organic growth rates. (Note that topline growth at the company was far lower than the estimated “organic” growth, suggesting that foreign exchange weighed on results.) Separately, Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial announced an agreement to acquire Spanish-language children’s and YA imprints Molino and Serres, along with Catalan-language imprint, La Magrana, from the RBA Group close once the relevant […]

Lagardere reported first quarter sales for the period ended March 31, with publishing sales of €509 million, up from €457 million, an 11.6 percent gain over the first quarter of 2020. Acquisitions — primarily the addition of Laurence King Publishing last September — added €6 million to sales, while currency exchange reduced sales by €17 million. The company attributed the strong performance to “successful editorial decisions in the various regions as well as by the increased appeal of reading among consumers during extended lockdowns, notably in France and the United Kingdom,” where sales grew by 22.2 percent and 19.8 percent […]