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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]