Pearson told investors it expects operating profit for the year to be at the very bottom of the original guidance range of £590 million to £640 million, as part of its 9-month trading update. The reduced expectations are due to weaker than expected sales in the US higher education business, which represents 25 percent of sales. US higher ed revenues dropped 10 percent over the prior year’s period, which Pearson attributed to “a significant industry wide acceleration of print attrition as channel partners and students turn away from print products more rapidly than anticipated.” As a result, Pearson now anticipates […]
Education
Pearson Sued Over Student Data Breach
An Illinois parent has filed suit against Pearson in an Illinois Federal Court, seeking class action status and accusing the textbook company of negligence in a data breach that affected a million students in 13,000 schools across the US. The cyberattack on Pearson’s AIMSweb occurred in November 2018, and was apparently detected by the FBI in March 2019. The suit charges that “even after learning of the data breach in March” from the FBI, Pearson “concealed that fact from impacted schools for four months, failing to disclose it until late July 2019.” Even then, the suit charges, “they concealed the […]
McGraw-Hill Reports Improved Q2 Results, DOJ “Second Request” For Merger Info
McGraw-Hill reported top and bottom line progress in Q2, touting the success of its digital offerings, which now comprise 51 percent of total billings. Sales of $385 million for the quarter were flat, while total billings of $394 million were up $41 million from a year ago. Meanwhile, the cost of servicing its $2.1 billion dollar debt continues to chew through the company’s earnings. The quarter showed a net loss of $42 million — thanks to $47 million spent paying off interest. The comprehensive loss was higher, at $51 million, a little better than the $54.5 million loss in Q2 […]
People, Etc.
Gary Jansen will join Loyola Press on August 1 as executive editor, acquisitions. Most recently, he was executive editor and director of Image Books. At Berkley, Jin Yu has been promoted to deputy director, marketing. Allison Hellegers will join Stimola Literary Studio on August 12 as literary agent and subrights director, representing middle-grade, young adult, and select adult fiction and nonfiction. Previously, she was foreign rights director and US co-agent for Rights People for 10 years. Vintage Anchor publisher Anne Messitte wrote a longer remembrance of vice president, executive director of publicity and social media Russell Perreault, who died on […]
Investor Sues Barnes & Noble Education Over Blocked Board Nominations, Rejected Buyout Offers
Barnes & Noble Education, which has worked hard to perform even more poorly than the Barnes & Noble retail operation since the two split apart almost 4 years ago, now finds itself the focus of its own strange potential sale. Bay Capital Finance, which appears to be focused on real estate development, says it has been trying trying to acquire the company outright since earlier this year. On Monday, they filed suit in Delaware’s Chancery Court, asking for their nominations of five independent directors to the BNED board to be put before shareholders at the annual meeting. Bay Capital says […]
Pearson Will Phase Out Regular Print Textbooks to Push Students to Digital Versions
As the textbook market continues to shrink, industry leader Pearson is playing their final card in trying to get budget-savvy college students to fall in line, and as usual pretending it is corporate innovation. They are transitioning away from the printed textbook entirely, hoping to strangle the secondary market for used (and imported) textbooks once and for all. Pearson will no longer update their 1500 active US textbooks every three years with new editions. In 2020 they will update just 100 titles (versus the 500 titles updated in 2019). They say their textbooks will be “digital first” going forward, with […]