2022 was an odd year for publishing mergers, in multiple ways. In line with the larger market and the broader economy, the year started strong with a series of deals of note, following pandemic-driven strength. Then as interest rates rose and the economy cooled, deal activity got quiet quickly. Some of the year’s biggest deals were the ones that didn’t happen. There was Penguin Random House’s planned $2.175 billion acquisition of Simon & Schuster that was blocked by the court, of course. (Which means S&S will be back up for sale in 2023.) But also, it became clear in early […]
Year End
2021: The Year In Mergers
It was a blockbuster year for mergers and acquisitions, even with the headline-making lawsuit brought by the Department of Justice to try to block Penguin Random House‘s deal to acquire Simon & Schuster. Prospective sellers across the publishing landscape read the environment and made big deals, often at healthy multiples. With growing sales, strong profits, and impressive resales, publishing is actually looking investable to a wider range of players. And there was plenty of notable activity beyond the roster of straight acquisitions. Scholastic experienced a dramatic change in control following the abrupt death of Dick Robinson, and surprising designation of […]
2021: The Year in Finance
With Bookscan-monitored print sales up 11 percent in units through November and AAP-reported dollars up even more through October, trade publishers are lined up for a strong, and profitable, year. Multiple publishers have set new earnings records so far this year, as the pandemic-related increase in reading – including backlist sales, audio consumption and online purchasing – held, even as lockdown restrictions loosened in many regions. Based mostly on reports for the first three quarters — with a couple of recent updates — here’s where publishers’ march to a profitable 2021 stands for now: Bertelsmann For the first half of […]
Zauner Tops Libro.fm’s Bestselling Audiobooks of the Year
Libro.fm announced their top 10 audiobooks of 2021, “based on sales through 1,500+ independent bookstore partners.” Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner, narrated by Michelle Zauner (Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group) The Last Thing He Told Me by Laura Dave, narrated by Rebecca Lowman (Simon & Schuster Audio) Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid, narrated by Julia Whelan (Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group) The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah, narrated by Julia Whelan (Macmillan Audio) People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry, narrated by Julia Whelan (Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group) Klara and the Sun […]
Simon & Schuster CEO Looks to “A Host of New Opportunities”
As Simon & Schuster closes the year as part of the newly re-merged ViacomCBS, ceo Carolyn Reidy writes to staff in her year-end letter, “This re-combination will present Simon & Schuster with a host of new opportunities as we forge close relationships that can both draw from and supply content to our new media partners, expanding the universe of direct relationships and pipelines that we have previously worked very hard to establish and maintain, and that over the years have yielded significant benefit. I am very much looking forward to seeing how we will be able to exploit the many […]
Briefs
Robin Richardson will join Tommy Nelson as senior director of marketing starting December 18. Previously she was vice president of digital for RFD-TV. The Noble Prize site has posted the text of Olga Tokarczuk‘s Nobel Lecture. The Book Industry Study Group released their 2019 update to the BISCAC codes (the detailed genre/subject codes that tell trading partners and their machines how to categorize your books). Penguin Random House ceo Markus Dohle shares his annual year-end letter of thanks to company staff. Among the company’s notable accomplishments in 2019 was a string of acquisitions and investments: “As one major priority, we long […]