BMI Releases Industry Barometer Survey Results for April 2023

Unlisted German publishing giant Bertelsmann is not considering any further large takeovers worth “billions” and has no plans to list its Penguin Random House (PRH) division, Chief Financial Officer Bernd Hirsch told newspaper Boersen-Zeitung. Bertelsmann raised its stake in PRH to 75 percent in July, giving it the option of listing the business after it purchased a PRH stake from rival Pearson . Asked whether Bertelsmann was seeking full control of PRH, Hirsch said: “We have reached our goal of gaining 75 percent control.” Buying the outstanding 25 percent stake, which is still owned by Pearson, would depend on whether Pearson approached Bertelsmann over the matter, Hirsch said. Asked whether Bertelsmann would consider listing PRH, Hirsch said: “We have the IPO option. But this is not a scenario which we are thinking about.” The progress already being made to transform Bertelsmann into a digital publishing company has reduced the need to raise funds via the stock market to finance further strategic change. “If you think in a five-year timespan, the financing need is no longer of a magnitude where large projects need to be financed via an initial public offering,” Hirsch told the paper. Bertelsmann is also not considering a sale of its Printing Group, Hirsch added.

Publishers’ revenue increased by $143.2 million (+6.2%) for the first quarter of 2018 (Jan - March) compared to the same period in 2017. These numbers include sales for all tracked categories (Trade - fiction/non-fiction/religious, PreK-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses). The increases are attributed primarily to strong growth in trade (consumer) books in January and February. Trade books increased by $94.7 million (+6.3%) to $1.59 billion in the first quarter of 2018 compared to the same period in 2017, with growth in Adult Books, Children & Young Adult Books and Religious Presses. Publishers also saw increased revenue for Professional Books, University Presses and Higher Ed Course Materials. Click Read More below for additional information.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc announces that it has completed the acquisition of the issued share capital of Head of Zeus Limited. The total valuation is £8.45 million, including payments of pre-existing loans. The consideration, net of pre-existing loans, is £7.35 million, of which £5.5 million will be satisfied in cash at completion, with £1.1 million payable in cash post completion, subject to working capital and other considerations, and £0.75 million of deferred consideration payable in cash subject to achievement of revenue, profit and Netflix release targets. Head of Zeus is an independent publisher of genre fiction and narrative non-fiction and children’s books, based in London. It has published many bestsellers, won literary prizes and industry awards. Its best-selling authors include Dan Jones, Cixin Liu, Victoria Hislop, and Lesley Thomson, and Elodie Harper, whose The Wolf Den went last week to number 5 in The Times bestseller list. Cixin Liu’s bestselling science fiction trilogy, The Three-Body Problem, is being adapted for Netflix by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, creators of HBO’s Game of Thrones.