Publishers

Bloomsbury is reorganizing itself again (the last time was in 2011), simplifying its structure to Consumer (trade) and Non-Consumer division, while declaring its intention “to become primarily a non-consumer publisher in the B2B academic and professional information market.” Driven in part by a new digital publishing plan, the company “aims to become the go-to scholarly partner for copyright holders looking to reach Higher Education institutions around the world, but who lack the expertise and infrastructure to do so effectively.” That means a “repositioning in the market from a primarily consumer publisher to a digital B2B publisher” by 2020. Richard Charkin will step […]

Lagardere reported first quarter earnings, with publishing sales of €415 million down €6 million or 1.4 percent (and declining 2.1 percent on a like-for-like basis). The results include a €5 million contribution from the acquisition of Rising Stars in the UK a year ago. (The Perseus acquisition did not close until April 1 and will be reported in the next quarter.) The company reminds investors “that the first quarter traditionally makes a lower contribution to the year as a whole.” After a big rebound in the fourth quarter of 2015, HBG USA sales fell 10.3 percent. The company blamed a “less intensive…release schedule” and “tough […]

Bertelsmann issued a brief first quarter performance update, with sales rising less than one percent to €3.95 billion, as group profit rose, up €42 million to €185 million. The credit goes to RTL Group’s European broadcasting and international TV production businesses, Arvato’s services businesses, and Relias’ education business (with an assist from the still-strong dollar). CEO Thomas Rabe says in the release, ” We are well on our way to making Bertelsmann a faster-growing, more digital and more international company. Our investments and the progress we have made in implementing our strategy prove this. Since January 1, we have worked in a […]

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt reported first quarter sales, with revenues of $206 million, up from $163 million a year ago, primarily on the addition of Scholastic’s EdTech business. The seasonal net loss of $165 million was $5 million (or 3 percent) higher than a year ago. In education, there was a “decline in domestic education billings due to smaller new adoption market in 2016 versus 2015.” The company said that trade sales of $31.5 million were down $2.3 million, or 7 percent, in the quarter, “due to a decrease in net sales of ebooks attributed to fewer movie tie-ins of bestselling ebook […]

Simon & Schuster’s parent company CBS reported first quarter results after the close of the market on Tuesday, with the publisher reporting flat sales of $145 million, as operating income was up $1 million to $13 million, “primarily reflecting lower production and selling costs” and driven by “operating efficiencies.” While sales were even with a year ago, that was a modest bar (since they had sales of $153 million in Q1 2014; $171 million in Q1 2013; and $176 million in Q1 2012). CEO Carolyn Reidy acknowledged to us the opening quarter has been soft “for the last couple of years” while adding […]