In a year-end letter to staff, Penguin Random House CEO Nihar Malaviya notes the challenges and successes the company had in 2023. “We have made significant changes, all to better position ourselves for the future,” he writes. “Many of these were exciting, but I also want to acknowledge that several others have been very difficult and challenging.” Though the memo is light on details, he notes the blockbuster publication of SPARE and expanding the company’s audio list as highlights. He continues, “We have sold more books this year than last year, our overall revenues are higher, and we have gained […]
Year End
Barnes & Noble Book of the Year Finalists
Barnes & Noble announced 12 finalists for their 2023 Book of the Year, as nominated by booksellers.
Best Of: Indigo’s Top 10 Books, PW’s Picks
The New Bestsellers of 2022
As noted on Friday, backlist comprised 70 percent of all print book sales in 2022 as measured by NPD Bookscan, and in line with that roughly three quarters of Bookscan’s top 200 books of the year were also published before 2022. They range from the works of Colleen Hoover — who claimed four of the top five slots, and sold over 14.3 million copies across multiple titles — plus social media discoveries (The Body Keeps the Score), books adapted to film (Where the Crawdads Sing), perennial bestsellers (The Alchemist, Dr. Seuss), and reissues of popular titles (the illustrated edition of Harry […]
2022: The Year In Mergers
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 […]
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 […]