Publishers

Amazon reported first quarter sales after the close of the market on Thursday, with sales of $19.74 billion (up 23 percent) and net income of $108 million, or 23 cents a share, both almost exactly in line with analysts’ expectations. Amazon’s stock rose by $13 a share Thursday in anticipation of the report, but the price has given back much more, down $32 a share and still falling, in early trading on Friday. (Amazon shares hit an all-time high of about $408 a share in January, but with the market rotating out of “momentum” and high-value tech stocks, it now […]

This year’s annual letter to shareholders from Amazon ceo Jeff Bezos provides a tour of a “small subset of…initiatives” at the company. “Readers & Authors” is the second item, after a celebration of Prime: “We’re investing heavily on behalf of readers. The all-new, high-resolution, high-contrast Kindle Paperwhite launched to rave reviews. We integrated the very impressive Goodreads into Kindle, introduced FreeTime for Kindle, and launched Kindle in India, Mexico, and Australia…. Joining CreateSpace, Kindle Singles, and Kindle Direct Publishing, is the new service Kindle Worlds, the literary journal Day One, eight new Amazon Publishing imprints, and the launch of Amazon Publishing […]

Berteslmann released its financial report for the fiscal year 2013, which included the first-ever annual revenues for the combined Penguin Random House entity. Including a half-year’s worth of revenue from Penguin, total sales of €2.655 billion for PRH (plus Random House Germany, which remains a separate company, but was reported with Bertelsmann’s book publishing interests) were 23.9 percent higher than the €2.142 billion reported for Random House’s record-setting 2012. But after adjusting for currency and excluding Penguin, revenues naturally decreased  compared to last year’s “exceptional success” of the FIFTY SHADES trilogy. (The three books still sold another seven million units in […]

Sales dipped at Scholastic in their fiscal third quarter, ending February 28, dropping $5 million to $373.5 million. Their seasonal net loss of $12.1 million was an improvement over the $20.1 million loss a year ago, though “solely the result of a favorable settlement of outstanding federal tax audits which resulted in a one-time tax benefit of $13.8 million.” The loss on continuing operations grew to $41 million (compared to $31.5 million a year ago.) The company said results were held back by lower educational technology sales as they combined their educational technology and classroom and supplemental materials sales forces. Special costs […]

As is their tradition, Lagardere followed up the headline reporting of 2013 sales from with additional reporting on their profits. On the already noted sales of €2.066 billion for Lagardere Publishing, recurring EBIT was flat at €223 million. Because sales fell 10 million euros, and EBIT was up €6 million under the hypothetical constant exchange rate, they celebrate that “publishing successfully raised its operating margin.” Outside of operating profits, however, Lagardere took a €24 million impairment charge in the publishing division, “especially on Partworks in Spain.” US profit “was significantly higher thanks to several best-sellers and the positive effects of growth […]

Wiley reported adjusted third quarter sales of $458 million and operating income $77.6 million, both down slightly. The company took charges of $4.3 million in the quarter related to their ongoing restructuring program, and they expect to take another $10 million of charges in the fourth quarter. The company’s reduced trade book lines are now reported inside the “professional development” segment, where adjusted revenue declined 5 percent o $94.2 million — attributed to “a decline in print books (-9 percent), particularly due to lower demand for technology titles and the discontinuation of certain low-margin non-divested consumer titles.” Digital book sales […]