The Home Depot® announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire HD Supply Holdings, Inc., a leading national distributor of maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) products in the multifamily and hospitality end markets. The acquisition is expected to position The Home Depot as a premier provider in the MRO marketplace. "The MRO customer is highly valued by The Home Depot, and this acquisition will position the company to accelerate sales growth by better serving both existing and new customers in a highly fragmented $55 billion marketplace," said Craig Menear, chairman and CEO of The Home Depot. "HD Supply complements our existing MRO business with a robust product offering and value-added service capabilities, an experienced salesforce that enhances the strong team we have in place, as well as an extensive, MRO-specific distribution network throughout the U.S. and Canada."

Meredith Corporation's Martha Stewart Living marks the 30th anniversary of the legendary brand's magazine with its December issue featuring fresh new ideas to get into the holiday spirit with advice on entertaining, decorating, cooking, gift giving, beauty and more, as well as a look back at Martha Stewart Living's start, its most iconic moments over the last three decades, editors' all-time favorite recipes from the archives and some of its most popular magazine covers. Martha Stewart Living launched in 1990 with a mission to teach and inspire readers eager to learn from Martha and her team, who shared their expertise in everything from decorating, gardening, crafting, and organizing to cooking, baking, entertaining, and beyond. The magazine offered a pioneering personality-driven editorial approach marked by careful attention to detail, visual glossaries, thoughtful instruction, and boundless creative insights that has proven timeless and continues to resonate with its audience today. As Martha wrote in the first issue of Martha Stewart Living, "Our families and our homes are the centers of our lives. This magazine will always be filled with ways to make those homes more beautiful, more comfortable, and more full of life and light and joy for those we love."

Montgomery Public Schools has partnered with learning technology company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to implement Amira Learning™, the first intelligent reading assistant that listens to, assesses and tutors learners to bolster early literacy for its students. Amira’s state of the art speech recognition and enhanced AI software offers 1:1 reading practice for young learners and administers both an oral reading fluency assessment and a dyslexia screener. Launching in Montgomery’s Brewbaker Primary School (BPS), which serves the largest elementary population in Montgomery County, Amira will provide teachers with a high-quality 1:1 reading instruction, practice and tutoring solution as it seeks to build the foundational literacy skills of its 600+ diverse students and deliver marked improvement in reading foundations among English Language Learners. Amira, which can be utilized in both virtual and face-to-face learning environments, will help BPS keep students engaged and on track and safe as it shifts to a hybrid learning model in response to of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the third quarter of 2020, Bertelsmann again achieved slight organic growth, further stabilizing its business during the Corona pandemic. This has significantly slowed the revenue decline in the year to date. The Group continues to benefit from the broad positioning of its corporate portfolio and high proportion of digital business models. Book publishing, the music business, Arvato’s services, and the education business once again proved to be particularly robust. The advertising markets also recovered in the third quarter. Bertelsmann’s revenues softened by 6.3 percent to €12.0 billion (previous year: €12.8 billion) in the period from January to September. Adjusted for portfolio and exchange rate effects, the decline in revenues was 4.8 percent. At the end of the first half of 2020, revenues had declined by 8.9 percent (organic: 7.9 percent). In the third quarter, the company recorded organic revenues growth of 1.6 percent.

Debi Chirichella has been named president of Hearst Magazines. The announcement was made by Hearst President and CEO Steven R. Swartz. The appointment is effective immediately. Chirichella was named acting president of Hearst Magazines in July and was previously executive vice president and chief financial officer, overseeing strategic financial planning and reporting and international operations. She joined the company in 2011 as senior vice president and chief financial officer. “Debi has been a key part of our Magazine company leadership team for almost a decade and has a very strong command of all aspects of this business,” said Swartz. “She has expertly led the division over the past several months, and we are confident in the future as Debi and her team continue to build on the legacy of our great brands around the world.”

Macmillan has pushed back the official reopening of its New York City offices for its trade group from January 11 to July 6. Similar to many New York City publishers, Macmillan’s workforce has largely been working remotely since March following the spread of the coronavirus throughout the metropolitan region. In making the announcement, Macmillan said that it has created a voluntary program that “allows limited access to the office space for employees to work and/or access their work space.” Macmillan first started the program in August at the suggestion of employees, and, the publisher said, “the program has evolved to include access to mailing options and other office services for use by employees both onsite and working remotely.”

Health Media Network and Meredith Corporation announced a first-to-market strategic alliance that brings Meredith's trusted content to doctors' offices throughout the country. The new Meredith Health Media Network Alliance enables advertisers to engage healthcare focused consumers across all Meredith assets as well as HMN's fully addressable video networks which includes Women's and Men's Health, Kids and Family Network, and the one of a kind PetCare TV. Through this alliance, Meredith gains a new distribution channel for its essential and inspiring lifestyle and entertainment video content bringing brands such as PEOPLE, Better Homes & Gardens, SHAPE, EatingWell, PARENTS, Allrecipes, FOOD & WINE, Southern Living, Health and Travel + Leisure, among others, to a wider audience while programming against key lifestyle themes such as healthy living, fitness travel, cooking and pop culture. Combined with Health Media Network's wellness and healthcare focus, this alliance provides an unprecedented opportunity for advertisers to engage target-rich audiences in a 360-brand approach.

Meredith Corporation's PARENTS released the 12th annual list of Best Children's Books, recognizing the 30 top new reads for every child in 2020. Selected by the editors and kid-approved, the list of winners is available now on PARENTS.com/BestBooks and in the December issue of PARENTS magazine, available now. "Our editorial team—as well as our exclusive panel of librarians and voracious young readers—has been reviewing books since January to come up with this prestigious list of winners. PARENTS celebrates children's books in every issue, but there is nothing like this annual list to fill our readers' personal libraries and help raise the next generation of book lovers." Click read more below for the lists.

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas has approved the previously announced asset purchase agreement with Brookfield Asset Management, Inc., Simon Property Group and the Company’s DIP and First Lien Lenders, which is supported by the Unsecured Creditors Committee. Pursuant to the APA, Brookfield and Simon will acquire substantially all of JCPenney’s retail and operating assets through a combination of cash and new term loan debt.

Meredith Corporation's Allrecipes announces its support for finding a cure for childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases by teaming up with St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for its 2020 Thanks and Giving® campaign. This holiday season Allrecipes will shine a spotlight on this important cause through a wide range of content and promotional offerings across its digital, print, and social channels with the goal of helping kids and families at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital® as part of the annual tradition that raises funds to directly support the St. Jude mission: Finding cures. Saving children.® This is the first time that Allrecipes has participated in the St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign, which unites world-class brands and their customers around a common goal – to build awareness and raise funds to support vital research and treatment. Because of generous supporters, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food – because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.

Wiley Education Services announced a new partnership with University of Wyoming (UW) to help bring the school’s courses online quickly and effectively for the spring 2021 semester. One of Wiley's largest fee-for-service agreements to date, the partnership will provide UW with instructional design and faculty support, as well as development and training services for their faculty as they look to convert in-person classes to online modalities. The current landscape, amid COVID-19, has accelerated institutional focus on course design and faculty development. While 45% of faculty report an overall improved perception of online learning since the beginning of the pandemic, educators are still navigating the transition, according to Every Learner Everywhere and Tyton Partners. Wiley has been supporting its partners by meeting their immediate needs as it relates to course and faculty development, market research, and on-campus support, while also helping them plan for the long-term.

Target Corporation and Ulta Beauty announced a strategic, long-term partnership to transform the beauty landscape with Ulta Beauty at Target. The “shop-in-shop” concept will offer established and emerging prestige brands online and in select Target locations nationwide beginning next year. Target and Ulta Beauty, two trusted retail leaders that excel in curation, omnichannel engagement and guest-centric experiences, will together create a new way for beauty enthusiasts to discover exciting prestige brands. The partnership brings Ulta Beauty’s best-in-class beauty authority to millions of guests who love the ease and convenience of Target’s one-stop shopping experience. It also provides beauty brands an opportunity to expand and grow in a new, industry-leading omnichannel retail experience.

Pearson announces the disposal of its interests in Pearson Institute of Higher Education (PIHE) in South Africa to a consortium of Stellenbosch Graduate Institute (SGI) and EXEO Capital. Stellenbosch Graduate Institute (SGI) is an established provider of innovative education programmes from a digital platform. EXEO Capital is a pan-African alternative investment firm. This is in line with the strategic direction Pearson has taken in recent years to shift away from physical, large-scale direct delivery services and focus on strategic opportunities. The disposal is expected to close in the first half of 2021 subject to the necessary regulatory approvals being obtained.

With sales up in all categories, unit sales of print books rose 9.5% in the week ended Oct. 31, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The top-selling book was The Deep End (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #15) by Jeff Kinney, which sold more than 171,000 copies and helped to drive up sales in the juvenile fiction category by 15.5%. A second new release that landed high on the category list was Jimmy Fallon’s 5 More Sleeps ’til Christmas, which sold more than 21,000 copies. For most categories, sales increases over the week ended Nov. 2, 2019, weren’t driven by hot new bestsellers but by solid sales overall. The #1 title in the juvenile nonfiction category, for example, was Big Preschool Workbook, which sold a modest 7,200 copes. The YA fiction category, which had a 25.7% increase, was once again led by Stephenie Meyer’s Midnight Sun, which sold more than 17,000 copies.

As support for Two Sides’ consumer-focused Love Paper campaign continues to grow, we are pleased to announced that the Love Paper logo is now available for on-product use! Any company that uses print, paper and paper-based packaging, including brands, retailers, marketing agencies, printers, and paper and paper-based packaging manufacturers, can use the Love Paper® on-product logo to enhance their own sustainability messages. The Love Paper® logo is a simple, eye-catching way to tell customers that you care about the environment and use products from an inherently sustainable industry. The logo’s subtle design and color variations are an effective yet unintrusive addition to any paper product, from printed catalogs and books to direct mail and product packaging.

Hygiene is a key factor in modern society today. Good health, together with an improved quality of life, is directly related to good hygiene. Our latest fact sheet examines the research and looks at which is the most hygienic way to dry hands, paper towels or electric hand dryers? We are pleased to present the Two Sides Q3 Campaign Update. The report covers all of our latest results and successes. Product packaging around the world is currently going through a transformation, with companies keen to move from single-use to more sustainable solutions. Read more at: https://twosides.info/documents/factsheets/6-What's-More-Hygienic.pdf?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=TSUK%20Nov%201&utm_content=TSUK%20Nov%201+CID_058a839741026ebda51b4eec13bfca33&utm_source=Email%20marketing%20software&utm_term=Read%20more

The New York Times Company announced third-quarter 2020 diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $.20 compared with $.10 in the same period of 2019. Adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations (defined below) was $.22 in the third quarter of 2020 compared with $.12 in the third quarter of 2019. Operating profit increased to $39.6 million in the third quarter of 2020 from $25.1 million in the same period of 2019 and adjusted operating profit (defined below) increased to $56.5 million from $44.1 million in the prior year, as higher digital-only subscription revenues and lower costs more than offset lower advertising revenues. Subscription revenues in the third quarter of 2020 rose due to growth in the number of subscriptions to the Company’s digital-only products, which include our news product, as well as our Cooking, Games (previously Crossword) and audio products. Revenue from digital-only products increased 34.0 percent, to $155.3 million. Print subscription revenues decreased 3.8 percent to $145.7 million largely due to lower retail newsstand revenue, while revenue from our domestic home delivery subscription products grew 2.5 percent.

Fiscal 2021 First Quarter Key Financial Highlights: *Revenues were $2.12 billion, a 10% decline compared to $2.34 billion in the prior year, primarily driven by the sale of News America Marketing *Net income of $47 million compared to a net loss of $(211) million in the prior year, which included non-cash impairment charges of $273 million *Total Segment EBITDA was $268 million compared to $221 million in the prior year *Reported EPS were $0.06 compared to $(0.39) in the prior year – Adjusted EPS were $0.08 compared to $0.04 in the prior year *Segment EBITDA at Digital Real Estate Services grew 45%, with record revenue and profit contribution by Move, operator of realtor.com®, led by its referral model *Segment EBITDA at Dow Jones grew 47%, driven by record average consumer product subscriptions of 3.88 million, led by 29% growth in digital-only subscriptions *Book Publishing saw 13% and 45% growth in revenues and Segment EBITDA, respectively, benefiting from continued strong performance in digital sales

Average student spending on college textbooks and course materials continued to decline during the fall semester of 2020, dropping 7% compared to the same term last year, according to a special preview of the latest data from independent research firm Student Monitor. A high-level version of Student Monitor’s Fall 2020 report is due out in November, followed by the full report in December. “We are pleased to once again partner with Student Monitor to offer a sneak peek of its Fall 2020 report, which reaffirms the incredible array of options that students and college administrators have today to access course materials and improve learning outcomes,” said Kelly L. Denson, Vice President of Education Policy and Programs at the Association of American Publishers. “The consistent decline in student spending on textbooks and other learning materials is a clear illustration of education publishers’ longstanding commitment to affordability initiatives that put students and educators first.”

Fiscal 2021 first quarter revenues were $694 million, down 4 percent from the prior-year period. Declines due to COVID-19 and previously announced magazine portfolio adjustments were partially offset by record first quarter revenue performance for National Media Group digital advertising and Local Media Group political revenues. Fiscal 2021 first quarter earnings from continuing operations more than tripled to $42 million from $12 million in the prior-year period. Adjusted EBITDA grew 17 percent to $143 million due primarily to digital advertising and political revenue growth. Fiscal 2021 first quarter cash flow from operations was $79 million, compared to a use of $14 million in the prior-year period, and free cash flow was $70 million, compared to a use of $29 million in the prior-year period, as Meredith benefited from political revenues, effective working capital improvements, lower compensation-related items, and lower restructuring payments.

At its meeting today, the Bertelsmann Supervisory Board appointed Rolf Hellermann as the new Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the international media, services and education company. Rolf Hellermann, currently CEO of the Bertelsmann subsidiary Arvato Financial Solutions and a member of Bertelsmann’s Group Management Committee, will take up his position as CFO and member of the Bertelsmann Executive Board with effect from January 1, 2021. He succeeds Bernd Hirsch, who is leaving the company at his own request to pursue new professional challenges. Bernd Hirsch had previously asked the Supervisory Board to release him from his position on the Board of Management with effect from the end of the year 2020. The Supervisory Board has complied with this request. Christoph Mohn, Chairman of the Bertelsmann Supervisory Board, said: “I am very pleased that Rolf Hellermann has agreed to serve as CFO of Bertelsmann. He is optimally qualified for this position, has a profound analytical mind, and takes a strategic perspective. He most recently demonstrated his entrepreneurial skills as CEO of Bertelsmann’s fast-growing subsidiary Arvato Financial Solutions. I am convinced that Rolf Hellermann is an ideal choice as a new member of the Executive Board. On behalf of the entire Supervisory Board, I wish him every success in his new position.”

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $13.82 billion for the retail month of October, the four weeks ended November 1, 2020, an increase of 15.9 percent from $11.92 billion last year. For the nine weeks ended November 1, 2020, the Company reported net sales of $30.66 billion, an increase of 16.4 percent from $26.33 billion last year.

Q3 2020 Headlines: *While the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact third quarter net sales and billings performance, HMH’s continued virtual learning support for customers and decisive cost and liquidity actions helped mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its profitability and cash flow, and resulted in strong cash generation in the seasonally important third quarter of 2020. *Net sales declined 32% to $387 million in the third quarter, and declined 28% to $828 million on a year-to-date basis *Billings1 declined 32% to $506 million in the third quarter, and declined 33% to $934 million on a year-to-date basis *HMH concluded the Texas Literature adoption with a 34% share of the opportunity *Significant growth in digital platform usage with a 388% increase in student assignments over the last twelve months as schools continue to adjust to remote learning environment *Continued acceleration of SaaS billings growth to 147% for the last twelve months *Net cash provided by operating activities of $264 million in the third quarter, and $75 million on a year-to-date basis *Strong free cash flow2 of $237 million in the third quarter, and nearing break-even at $(11) million on a year-to-date basis

Third Quarter 2020 Summary(1) *Total reported sales of $2.5 Billion, down 9% versus last year and up 18% sequentially compared to the second quarter of 2020. Sequential sales performance represents an 800 basis points trend improvement when comparing year-over-year revenue performance *GAAP operating income of $102 million and net income of $57 million, or $1.04 per share, each down approximately 5% year-over-year *Improved working capital conversion resulted in operating cash flow of $309 million and adjusted free cash flow of $312 million, versus $212 and $209 million, respectively in prior year *$1.7 billion of total available liquidity including $743 million in cash

Under Armour has joined a growing list of major consumer brands that are making big changes to their wholesale strategies. The athletic brand, which saw some progress in its turnaround during the third quarter, said it will begin to exit 2,000 to 3,000 stores in North America, its largest market. By the end of 2022, it expects to be in about 10,000 doors, executives said in a conference call. As it overhauls wholesale, Under Armour is also upping its focus on direct-to-consumer (D-to-C) channels, where it plans to offer fewer promotions and discounts to fuel healthier margins. Total Retail's Take: Considering the upheaval we've seen in the brick-and-mortar arena in 2020, and its uncertain future moving into 2021, it's not surprising that leading brands such as Under Armour are taking a long, hard look at their wholesale operations.

Revenues increased 2% as growth in both recurring and transactions revenues was partly offset by a decline in Global Print revenues and a negative impact from foreign currency that reduced revenues by $6 million (approximately 1%). *As expected, organic revenues increased 2%, driven by 4% growth in both recurring revenues, which comprised 80% of total revenues, and transactions revenues. *The company’s “Big 3” segments (Legal Professionals, Corporates and Tax & Accounting Professionals), which collectively comprised 79% of total revenues, reported organic revenue growth of 5%. Operating profit increased primarily due to lower costs and higher revenues. Lower costs reflected the completion of the repositioning of the company in 2019 following the separation from the Financial & Risk (F&R) business and lower expenses from the company’s COVID-19-related efforts to mitigate 2020 annual costs by $100 million. Lower costs were partly offset by higher depreciation and amortization and a lower benefit from the revaluation of warrants that the company holds in Refinitiv relating to the proposed sale of Refinitiv to London Stock Exchange Group plc (LSEG), which is discussed later in this news release.

After wresting the crown from longtime #1 Pearson in 2018, STM, business, and legal publisher RELX Group (formerly Reed Elsevier) remained the world’s largest publisher last year, with revenue of $5.64 billion, according to Livres Hebdo and Publishers Weekly’s annual ranking. The only change in the top 10 in 2019 was in the second and third spots, where Thomson Reuters, with a 3% increase in revenue to $5.28 billion, overtook Pearson and moved into second place. Sluggish higher education sales and restructuring efforts aimed at making the company more streamlined resulted in another year of revenue decline at Pearson, but it managed to hold on to third place, with sales of $5.09 billion. The other top 10 publishers in 2019 are in the same positions they held in 2018’s global ranking. Companies focused on the professional and educational markets took six of the top 10 spots, with the more trade-oriented publishers occupying the other four slots. Revenue last year was basically flat in Bertelsmann’s book publishing segments, which include both the world’s largest trade publisher, Penguin Random House, and the company’s small but growing education division. Bertelsmann was the #4 publisher in 2019.

• Third quarter revenues of $814.5 million rose 116.3% as compared to the prior year, reflecting the acquisition of Legacy Gannett. *Same store pro forma revenues (as defined and reconciled below) decreased 19.6%, due to unfavorable impacts resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and general trends adversely impacting the publishing industry. • Digital advertising and marketing services revenues were $197.2 million in the third quarter, or 24.2% of total revenues. • Over $218 million in annualized synergy measures were implemented by the end of the third quarter, with approximately $54.5 million in savings recognized in the quarter. • GAAP net loss attributable to Gannett of $31.3 million in the third quarter reflects $61.4 million of depreciation and amortization.

Chico's FAS, Inc. announced the closing of its amended and extended $300 million Senior Secured Credit Facility (the "Credit Facility"), consisting of a $285 million asset-based revolving credit agreement ("Revolver") and a $15 million "first-in last-out" term loan ("FILO"), with Wells Fargo & Company as the lead lender. The Revolver and FILO have a five-year term maturing on October 30, 2025. "We are pleased to announce that the Company has significantly strengthened our liquidity and enhanced our financial stability for the foreseeable future. As well, this new Credit Facility demonstrates the confidence our lenders have in Chico's FAS and the sustainable, long-term success of our brands," said Molly Langenstein, Chief Executive Officer and President. "We also are continuing to benefit from the aggressive measures we initiated earlier this year to streamline the organization and reduce operating and occupancy costs. These substantial ongoing cost savings initiatives are expected to benefit future years and reflect a cultural shift in how we manage our business."

Strong gains in all categories led to a 13% increase in unit sales of print books in the week ended Oct. 24, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The double-digit increase came despite only a few new books making a splash. Matthew McConaughey’s Greenlights was the #1 title in the week, selling about 78,000 copies and boosting sales in the adult nonfiction category 6.2% over the week ended Oct. 26, 2019. Another new nonfiction release, America Under Assault, Vol. 3 by Tom Fitton, sold about 40,000 copies, putting it in fourth place on the overall bestseller list. The juvenile and YA categories all had gains of at least 20% in the week, led by a combination of older frontlist and backlist books. The 20.8% increase in juvenile fiction was led by sales of Dav Pilkey’s Grime and Punishment (Dog Man #9), which sold approximately 45,000 copies in the week and more than 743,000 copies since its release on September 1.

The Association of American Publishers released its StatShot report for September 2020 reflecting reported revenue for all tracked categories, including Trade (Consumer Books), K-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses. Total revenues across all categories for September 2020 were up 14.6% as compared to September 2019, coming in at $1.8 billion. Year-to-date sales were down 1.8% as compared to the first nine months of 2019, with a total of $11.2 billion.

Walgreens Boots Alliance and McKesson Corporation announced the completion of their previously announced agreement to create a joint venture combining their respective pharmaceutical wholesale businesses in Germany, Alliance Healthcare Deutschland (AHD) and GEHE Pharma Handel (GEHE). WBA holds a 70 percent controlling equity interest in the joint venture and McKesson holds the remaining 30 percent interest. “At Walgreens Boots Alliance, we all look forward to working together with McKesson Corporation on this joint venture,” said Ornella Barra, co-chief operating officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance. “It is a very exciting step for our Pharmaceutical Wholesale Division and a unique chance for us to further develop innovative services to manufacturers and pharmacists in Germany.”

Sixty people have been charged in a magazine fraud scheme that took advantage of seniors. According to a report by the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the federal government says the telemarketing scam defrauded 183,000 people across the U.S. for more than $335 million over a 20-year-period. Many victims were elderly. Fourteen defendants are described as owners of companies involved in phony magazine sales. Another 16 were call-center managers, 10 were telemarketers and four served as lead brokers, who sold lists of consumers to call.

With less than one week until the November election, new U.S. Postal Service data show an exceedingly high-volume of mail moving through the system and a focus on delivery of ballots. Key Facts: *2.5 Days Average Delivery Time. Since October 1, the average time of delivery for First-Class Mail, including ballots, was 2.5 days with 97.5 percent of all measured First-Class Mail delivered within five days across the country. *4.5 Billion Political and Election Mail Mailpieces. Total mail volume surpassed 4.5 billion mailpieces for both Political Mail and Election Mail tracked, representing an increase of 114 percent compared to the 2016 election cycle. *122 Million Ballots Processed and Delivered. Since Sept. 4, the Postal Service has processed and delivered more than 122 million ballots, including both blank ballots delivered from election officials to voters and completed ballots from voters to election officials.1

John Wiley & Sons Inc. continues to innovate its publishing business, announcing today two technologies that advance how scientific research is published, delivering greater value to researchers. First, the company’s publishing platform provider and subsidiary, Atypon, has successfully piloted its interactive figures technology in the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, publishing the first scientific articles designed exclusively to leverage the multimedia nature of the web.

Total consolidated revenues increased 51.5 percent to $283.8 million, compared with total consolidated revenues of $187.3 million in the prior year period, reflecting strong growth in the Company’s three business segments along with contributions from PersonalizationMall.com (“PMall”), which the Company acquired in August 2020. Excluding the contribution from PMall, total net revenues increased 40.6 percent compared with the prior year period. Gross profit margin for the quarter was 40.7 percent, unchanged compared with the prior year period. Operating expenses as a percent of total revenues improved 630 basis points to 45.4 percent of total sales, compared with 51.7 percent of total sales in the prior year period. Excluding the impacts of the Company’s non-qualified deferred 401k compensation plan and one-time costs primarily associated with its acquisition of PersonalizationMall.com, operating expenses, as a percentage of total revenues improved 820 basis points to 43.5% in the quarter. This reflected the strong revenue growth in the quarter combined with the Company’s ability to leverage its operating platform.

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. announced that it has entered into an asset purchase agreement with Brookfield Asset Management, Inc, Simon Property Group and a majority of the Company’s DIP and First Lien Lenders. Key terms of the APA are as follows: *Brookfield and Simon will acquire substantially all of JCPenney’s retail and operating assets (“OpCo”) through a combination of cash and new term loan debt. *The formation of separate property holding companies (“PropCos”), comprising 160 of the Company’s real estate assets and all of its owned distribution centers, which will be owned by the Company’s DIP and First Lien Lenders. *The OpCo and PropCos will enter into master leases with respect to the properties and distribution centers moved into the PropCos (the “Master Lease Agreement”). JCPenney, Simon and Brookfield, and the Majority Lender Group have reached agreement on all outstanding business points in the Master Lease Agreement.

Carter’s is permanently shutting down hundreds of stores. The children’s apparel and accessories retailer announced that it plans to close 25 percent of its brick-and-mortar fleet, or about 200 locations, as the leases of those units expire. Speaking to analysts, Carter's CEO Michael Casey said that nearly 60 percent of those outposts will likely be shuttered by the end of next year and 80 percent will shut down by the end of 2022. Carter’s currently operates about 850 stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico under its namesake banner and OshKosh B’Gosh brand.

Total Billings $1.1 billion (-9% y/y); Total Digital Billings $0.6 billion (+17% y/y excluding K-12); Total Adj. EBITDA $439 million (+1% y/y); Free Cash Flo $254 million (-$16 million y/y).

UPS announced third-quarter 2020 consolidated revenue of $21.2 billion, a 15.9% increase over the third quarter of 2019. Consolidated average daily volume increased 13.5% year over year. Net income was $2.0 billion for the quarter, 11.8% above the same period in 2019, or 10.7% on an adjusted basis. Operating profit was $2.4 billion, up 11.0% compared to last year’s third quarter, or 9.9% on an adjusted basis. Diluted earnings per share was $2.24 and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $2.28, up 10.1% from the same period last year. GAAP results include a pre-tax transformation charge of $44 million, equivalent to $0.04 per share. In the prior year period, GAAP results included a pre-tax charge for transformation costs of $63 million, equivalent to $0.06 per diluted share.

Wiley Education Services announced the signing of several new university partnerships this year including Calvin University, La Trobe University, Methodist University and University of New Haven, to support more than 45 undergraduate and graduate online programs across a variety of high-demand disciplines from healthcare to counseling and cybersecurity. “We are continuing to see an increased, proactive commitment to strategic online learning programs from universities, not for emergency support amid COVID-19, but to promote long-term success,” said Todd Zipper, President of Wiley Education Services. “We look forward to serving as a trusted partner to each university, delivering top-quality faculty training and career-focused education in subject areas that are critically needed now and will surely be essential to post-pandemic recovery.”

Office Depot announced that over $3.5 million worth of educational supplies were recently provided to students, teachers and Title I schools across the country as a result of Office Depot’s charitable programs and the generosity of Office Depot and OfficeMax customers. Students at more than 25 Title I elementary schools received brand-new backpacks filled with traditional school supplies, with a total value at over $1.5 million, through Office Depot’s Start Proud!® national community investment initiative. The donated supplies, which included notebooks, composition books, highlighters, pens, pencils and more, were distributed to students during celebratory drive-thru and walk-up socially distanced celebrations at the start of the school year to help set them up for success. School administrators, teachers and Office Depot associates teamed up to host these events, which served as a fun kick-off to this unique new school year, filled with masked smiles and air high fives.

Commenting on the results, Nigel Newton, Chief Executive, said: “Bloomsbury experienced excellent trading in the first half with year-on-year profit growth of 60% to £4.0 million. This has delivered our highest first half earnings since 2008 and exceeded the Board’s expectations. Online book sales and e-book revenues were significantly higher. The Consumer division had an excellent performance with 17% revenue growth and a £2.1 million increase in profit before tax and highlighted items to £2.7 million. Stand-out bestsellers during the period included Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race, Crescent City: House of Earth and Blood, White Rage, Humankind and Such A Fun Age. In the Non-Consumer division, our strategy of developing online academic resources, conceived five years ago, meant we were well placed to benefit from the accelerated shift by academic institutions to digital products to support remote learning. We saw 47% growth in sales of Bloomsbury Digital Resources as a result.

S&P Global today reported third quarter 2020 results with revenue of $1,846 million, an increase of 9% compared to the same period last year. Net income decreased 26% to $455 million and diluted earnings per share decreased 25% to $1.88 primarily due to the debt tender premium and fees associated with the recent senior notes tender offer. "S&P Global has a collection of strong and resilient businesses that continued to perform well in the current environment. The demand for our ratings, benchmarks, research, data, and analytics is greater than ever during uncertain and volatile markets," said Douglas L. Peterson, President and Chief Executive Officer of S&P Global. "Two years ago, we established a number of growth initiatives. It is very encouraging to see so many of these investments result in new products that we have launched this year. This is particularly true with our ESG investments and the traction that our new ESG products are gaining in the marketplace."

Unit sales of print books increased 13.4% in the week ended Oct. 10, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, with three new titles topping the bestseller list. The two biggest bestsellers were in adult nonfiction, helping to lift unit sales 10.9% over the week ended Oct. 12, 2019. Ina Gartner’s Modern Comfort Food sold more than 130,000 copies in its first week, while Humans by Brandon Stanton followed, selling almost 103,000 copies. Juvenile fiction sales rose 17.1%, led by The Tower of Nero by Rick Riordan, which sold about 49,000 copies in its first week. YA nonfiction sales jumped 71.4% in the week. Three new titles in the Complete Guide in Ten Easy Lessons line from Simon & Schuster’s Portable imprint drove the gains: Engineering Made Simple, Science Made Simple, and Math Made Simple each sold more than 6,000 copies in its first week. Five new titles took the second through sixth spots in adult fiction, where sales rose 9.2%.

Gap Inc., which was for decades a fixture at shopping malls around the country, said Thursday that it will be closing 220 of its namesake Gap stores — or one-third of its store base — by early 2024. That will result in 80 percent of its remaining Gap stores being in off-mall locations. As part of its restructuring, Gap Inc. said it also plans to close 130 of its Banana Republic stores in North America in three years. The retail organization detailed a three-year plan that calls for closing what amounts to 30 percent of the company’s Gap and Banana Republic stores in North America and focusing on outlets and its e-commerce business.

The U.S. Postal Service provided new service performance data this week to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for the week of Oct. 10 through Oct. 16, 2020. Key performance indicators for the week of Oct. 10 include: *First-Class Mail: 85.58 percent of First-Class Mail was delivered on time, a 0.57 percent decrease from the week of Oct. 3 *Marketing Mail: 86.00 percent of Marketing Mail was delivered on time, a 3.17 percent decrease from the week of Oct. 3 *Periodicals: 77.43 percent of Periodicals were delivered on time, a 1.11 percent decrease from the week of Oct. 3

Grainger reported results for the third quarter 2020 with sales of $3.0 billion, up 2.4% and up 4.6% on an organic daily basis compared to the third quarter 2019 driven by significant share gains in the U.S. segment and strong growth in the endless assortment businesses. Daily sales for the quarter increased 2.4% as compared to the 2019 third quarter. Organic daily sales, which exclude revenues from the divested Fabory and China businesses from the prior year results, increased 4.6% as compared to the 2019 third quarter. These sales increases were fueled by share gains in the U.S. segment and significant growth in the endless assortment businesses which more than offset declines in the Canada segment. Reported and adjusted gross profit margin for the third quarter of 2020 was 35.6%. This compares to reported and adjusted gross profit margin in the third quarter of 2019 of 37.3%. The unfavorable variance was driven by pandemic-related mix headwinds, particularly noticeable in our U.S. segment, and the continued business unit mix impact from the faster growth in our lower-margin endless assortment businesses.

Luxe Interiors + Design is celebrating its 15-year anniversary with a redesign, debuting in the November/December 2020 issue. Owned by Sandow, Luxe magazine is helmed by Pamela Jaccarino, who has served as founding editor in chief since the publication's launch in 2005. “At our 15-year anniversary mark, Luxe is looking boldly toward the future with optimism, enthusiasm and a refreshed new logo and redesign,” Jaccarino stated. The redesign, which is exclusively for the print magazine, includes updated, clean layouts and new cover designs to highlight Luxe’s regional editions.

Gap has what it takes to win again. With strong brand awareness and a large, active customer base, we are focusing on harnessing the power of Gap brand in asset-light ways. Going forward, we will look to transform our business model through partnerships that grow and amplify our global reach. Today, we shared with our team that we are starting a strategic review of options for our Gap business in Europe. One of the options being explored is the possible closure of our company-operated Gap stores in the United Kingdom, France, Ireland and Italy at the end of the second quarter in 2021. In addition, we are reviewing our warehouse and distribution model and our Gap and Banana Republic company-owned e-commerce operations in Europe. A possible outcome is the closure of our EU distribution center in Rugby.

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. announced that it has filed a draft asset purchase agreement, which tracks the terms of the previously announced letter of intent, to sell JCPenney. All parties are working to conclude negotiations and intend to utilize the ongoing mediation process to help achieve that goal. Key terms of the draft APA are as follows: *Brookfield Asset Management, Inc (“Brookfield”) and Simon Property Group (“Simon”) will acquire substantially all of JCPenney’s retail and operating assets (“OpCo”) through a combination of cash and new term loan debt. *The formation of separate property holding companies (“PropCos”), comprising 160 of the Company’s real estate assets and all of its owned distribution centers, which will be owned by the Company’s Debtor-in-Possession and First Lien Lenders. *The OpCo and PropCos will enter into a master lease with respect to the properties and distribution centers moved into the PropCos.

Amazon.com, Inc. announced plans to open two new fulfillment centers in Kansas. The new fulfillment centers, which are anticipated to launch in 2021, will together create over 1,000 new, full-time jobs with industry-leading pay and comprehensive benefits starting on day one. “We’re excited to continue our growth and investment across Kansas so we can better serve our customers throughout the state,” said Alicia Boler Davis, Amazon’s vice president of global customer fulfillment. “We are grateful for the strong support we’ve received from local and state leaders, and we look forward to ingraining ourselves in the communities in which we serve.”

Unit sales of print books rose 7.9% in the week ended Oct. 10, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan, with three new titles topping the bestseller list. The two biggest bestsellers were in adult nonfiction, helping to lift unit sales up 7% over the week ended Oct. 12, 2019. Ina Gartner’s Modern Comfort Food sold nearly 129,000 copies in its first week, while Humans by Brandon Stanton followed, selling almost 103,000 copies. Juvenile fiction sales rose 11.9%, led by The Tower of Nero by Rick Riordan, which sold close to 49,000 copies in its first week. The biggest increase came in the smallest category, YA nonfiction, where unit sales jumped 63.9% in the week.

In an email to customers, Barnes & Noble acknowledged that it was made aware "of a cybersecurity attack" on October 10, adding that it resulted "in unauthorized and unlawful access to certain Barnes & Noble corporate systems.” The email said that while payment card and other financial data were not compromised by the attack, systems affected by the hack “did contain your email address and, if supplied by you, your billing and shipping address and telephone number. We currently have no evidence of the exposure of any of this data, but we cannot at this stage rule out the possibility.”

REI Co-op announced the expansion of its recommerce business by piloting two used-gear pop-up stores and its trade-in program, giving members more ways to buy and share gently used outdoor gear and apparel and keeping high-quality products rotating through the co-op community at more accessible price points. During a time when more people are turning to the outdoors and discovering new, socially distant, activities, REI continues to be a resource for gear and inspiration. To expand gently used gear to more members across the country, the co-op launched its online recommerce business in 2018, supplementing its members-only Garage Sale events in REI stores across the nation. Today, despite a challenging retail environment, the online business alone is up nearly 100 percent compared to last year, in part due to demand from millennial customers who prioritize renting or purchasing used over buying new gear.

The Postal Service has seen a significant increase in mail volume, with volume surpassing 3 billion mailpieces for the week of Oct. 3. This surge in volume represents an increase of 19 percent, or an additional 480 million mailpieces, compared to the average volume in September. Key performance indicators for the week of Oct. 3 include: *First-Class Mail: 86.15 percent of First-Class Mail was delivered on time, a 0.18 percent increase from the week of Sept. 26 *Marketing Mail: 89.17 percent of Marketing Mail was delivered on time, a 0.65 percent decrease from week of Sept. 26 *Periodicals: 78.54 percent of Periodicals were delivered on time, a 0.24 percent increase from the week of Sept. 26

Fourth quarter Walgreens Boots Alliance highlights, year-over-year: *Sales increased 2.3 percent to $34.7 billion, up 2.3 percent on a constant currency basis *Operating income decreased 26.0 percent to $650 million; Adjusted operating income decreased 27.7 percent to $1.1 billion, down 27.4 percent on a constant currency basis. Fiscal 2020 highlights, year-over-year: *Sales increased 2.0 percent to $139.5 billion, up 2.5 percent on a constant currency basis *Operating income decreased 73.7 percent to $1.3 billion; Adjusted operating income decreased 24.9 percent to $5.2 billion, down 24.8 percent on a constant currency basis *Net cash provided by operating activities was $5.5 billion, a decrease of $109 million compared with fiscal 2019; Free cash flow increased 5.6 percent to $4.1 billion

Richard A. Hayne, Chief Executive Officer of Urban Outfitters, Inc. announced the following changes to the Company’s management structure to better support URBN’s future growth and strategic initiatives. *Meg Hayne has been promoted to Co-President and will remain Chief Creative Officer. Meg will continue to manage the creative functions she currently oversees. In addition, our three large Brands and Sourcing will now report to Meg. *Frank Conforti has been promoted to Co-President and Chief Operating Officer. Frank will assume additional responsibility for URBN’s Fulfillment & Logistics, Development, Legal, Talent and Human Resources Departments. Frank will continue to operate as Chief Financial Officer while the Company begins a search for his successor. *Sheila Harrington has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer of the Free People Group. *Hillary Super has been promoted to Chief Executive Officer, Anthropologie Group. click read more below for additional detail

Improving trend in Q3 with a strong performance in Global Online Learning; North American Courseware and Global Assessment in line with expectations; and International further impacted by COVID-19 *At the nine months, Group sales declined by 14% largely reflecting the continuing impact of COVID-19 and test centre and school closures in Global Assessment and International, and expected declines in North American Courseware. *Global Online Learning sales grew 14% due to 41% enrolment growth in Virtual Schools for the academic year 2020/2021 and strong sales growth in Online Program Management (OPM) driven by undergraduate and international performance, partially offset by discontinued programs. *Global Assessment sales declined 19% due to the impact of test centre closures in Professional Certification (Pearson VUE), cancellation of spring testing in US Student Assessment and school closures impacting Clinical Assessment. *North American Courseware declined 14% with a stronger adoption performance in the Fall in US Higher Education Courseware and good growth in digital and subscription take up leading to the faster decline of higher priced package and print sales. *International declined 24% due to the impact of COVID-19 and as the associated economic effects intensified in several key markets, predominantly affecting public and private spending on courseware and assessments. *Pearson retains a strong balance sheet and significant financial headroom.

U.S. online sales will reach $794.50 billion this year, up 32.4% year-over-year and accounting for 14.4% of all retail spending. That’s according to eMarketer’s third-quarter forecast, which also predicts that E-commerce sales will reach 19.2% of all U.S. retail spending by 2024. The increase for 2020 is much higher than the 18.0% gain predicted in the company’s second-quarter forecast as consumers continue to opt for online shopping amid the pandemic. Online shopping is so strong that it will more than offset the 3.2% decline in brick-and-mortar spending this year, which will drop to $4.711 trillion, reported eMarketer. As a result, total U.S. retail sales in the US will remain essentially flat.

Penguin Random House has partnered up with PEN America, Out of Print (a PRH subsidiary), and When We All Vote to launch Book the Vote, which the publisher describes as a "nonpartisan initiative to protect free speech and ensure every voter’s right to participate in elections." Via its website, the initiative will create and distribute author and book–related content, voter registration information, and other resources in order to educate readers on civic topics and encourage potential voters to "participate in our democracy and express their voices through voting." The initiative will run in conjunction with PEN America’s Free Speech 2020 initiative, and a portion of sales from each of Out of Print's Get PoLITical apparel collection will continue to be donated to PEN America to benefit that campaign.

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) released its StatShot report for August 2020 reflecting reported revenue for all tracked categories, including Trade (consumer publications), K-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses. Total revenues across all categories for August 2020 were essentially flat at $1.9 billion, an increase of 0.3% as compared to August 2019. Year-to-date sales were $9.4 billion, a decline of 4.6% as compared to the same period last year. Trade (Consumer Books) sales were notably up 6.9% year-over-year, coming in at $703.6 million. Year-to-date (January-August 2020) Trade sales were $5.0 billion, an increase of 5.2%, as compared to the first eight months of 2019.

The Taunton Press has sold Fine Cooking, the preferred media platform for avid cooking enthusiasts, to Meredith Corporation. Meredith’s national media group reaches nearly 200 million American consumers every month, including 80% of US millennials. It is a leader in creating content across media platforms and life stages in key consumer interest areas such as celebrity, food, lifestyle, home, parenting, beauty, fashion, news and sports. Meredith also features robust brand licensing activities including more than 3,000 SKUs of branded products at 5,000 Walmart stores across the US and at walmart.com., as well as innovative business-to-business marketing solutions provided by Meredith Xcelerated Marketing.

A number of big summer bestsellers, a surge in interest in books on social justice, and ongoing demand by parents for children’s books that both educate and entertain combined to continue to push up unit sales of print books through this year’s third quarter. According to NPD BookScan, print unit sales rose 6.4% for the nine months ended Oct. 3, 2020 over the comparable span in 2019. Unit sales jumped 29.1% in the juvenile nonfiction category, led by huge demand for Big Preschool Workbook, which sold nearly 649,000 print copies in the period, and My First Learn-to-Write Workbook by Crystal Radke, which sold almost 595,000 copies.

The United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) today of price changes to take effect Jan. 24, 2021. The proposed prices, approved by the Postal Service Board of Governors, would raise Mailing Services product prices approximately 1.8 percent for First-Class Mail and 1.5 percent for other categories. Although Mailing Services price increases are based on the consumer price index, competitive International Shipping Services prices are primarily adjusted according to market conditions. The governors believe these new rates will keep the Postal Service competitive while providing the agency with needed revenue.

The U.S. Postal Service provided new service performance data today to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee for the week of Sept. 26 through Oct. 2, 2020. During the seven-day period, First-Class Mail and Marketing Mail performance experienced positive improvement in service delivery. Key performance indicators for the week of Sept. 26th include: *First-Class Mail: 85.97 percent of First-Class Mail was delivered on time, a 1.74 percent increase from the week of Sept. 19th *Marketing Mail: 89.82 percent of Marketing Mail was delivered on time, a 1.14 percent increase from week of Sept. 19th *Periodicals: 78.30 percent of Periodicals were delivered on time, a 1.42 percent decrease from the week of Sept. 19th. For First-Class Mail and Marketing Mail, 97.7 percent and 97.54 percent of mailpieces respectively reached their intended destination within two days of the initial estimated delivery date.

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $16.84 billion for the retail month of September, the five weeks ended October 5, 2020, an increase of 16.9 percent from $14.41 billion last year. September sales were positively impacted by two holiday shifts, Labor Day in the U.S. and Chuseok/Moon Festival in Asia. The estimated positive impact on September sales was slightly less than 100 bps worldwide, half relating to each holiday.

Fox News has been a home for numerous bestselling authors in the conservative publishing space, and the company has now upped its commitment to books with the creation of Fox News Books. Fox has signed a three-book deal with HarperCollins, whose Broadside Books will oversee the imprint. Both companies are owned by Rupert Murdoch. “We are excited to partner with HarperCollins, utilizing our vast library of content to further enhance the audience experience,” said Suzanne Scott, CEO of Fox News Media, in a statement. The current deal is for three books only and Fox News employees are free to sign with other houses. Live Free or Die by Fox News host Sean Hannity, for example, was released this fall by Simon & Schuster.

Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many school children were receiving less instruction on handwriting, especially cursive writing. But a July 2020 study by researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) showed that, despite the move to remote learning and more time spent with screens and keyboards, children (and adults) still benefit from writing in cursive. The benefits of cursive writing, particularly for students with dyslexia, have been noted for several years. Researchers have found that all students benefit from learning handwriting. It improves hand-eye coordination, boosts memory and stimulates brain development. Dyslexia Awareness Month offers another opportunity to highlight how handwriting can help students with dyslexia, a learning disability that affects reading, spelling and writing. For these students, learning cursive writing can be the difference between underachievement and a successful academic experience.

North Equity announced that it has acquired a number of media brands from Bonnier Corporation. The acquisition includes Popular Science, Popular Photography, Saveur, Outdoor Life, Field & Stream, Better You and Interesting Things. The additions complement North Equity’s robust home platform, where Saveur will join BobVila.com and Kitchenistic to form a new food category. They will also create a new specialty media vertical under Popular Science and Popular Photography, and expand North’s growing footprint in the military, tactical and outdoor verticals, where it recently added Task & Purpose, one of the leading digital media properties for active-duty military and veterans.

Four of the outdoor industry's oldest print magazines—Bike, Powder, Snowboarder, and Surfer—will cease publication indefinitely this year, according to multiple sources at the brands' parent company, A360 Media. TransWorld SKATEboarding, another A360 Media property, will also pause operations until further notice. Sierra Shafer, editor-in-chief at Powder, confirmed today that staff members at all five titles received indefinite furlough notifications late on Friday, October 2. Employees at Bike and Surfer were furloughed immediately, Shafer said, while Powder and Snowboarder staff learned the same would happen to them on November 20. None of the furloughed staff will be paid after operations cease.

The Supreme Court agreed on Friday to hear an appeal by the Federal Communications Commission over its attempt to loosen restrictions on a company's ability to own a local broadcast station and newspaper in the same market. The FCC has been attempting to revise restrictions on cross-ownership since 2003, but the agency's efforts have repeatedly been struck down in court. The most recent FCC attempt occurred in November of 2017, when the agency voted 3-2 to do away with several ownership restrictions -- including one that prevented the same company from owning a newspaper and broadcast station in the same market.

With the juvenile and YA nonfiction categories both posting better than 32% gains, unit sales of print books rose 10.3% in the week ended Sept. 26, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Unit sales rose 32.3% in juvenile nonfiction over the week ended Sept. 28, 2019. Two new titles helped boost sales: Superpowered by Renee Jain sold more than 11,000 copies in its first week, putting it in second place on the category list. Channel Kindness debuted in sixth place on the list, selling nearly 8,000 copies. In third place was Patricia Brennan Demuth’s Who Is Ruth Bader Ginsburg?, which sold more than 11,000 copies. Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi was #1 in YA nonfiction, selling almost 8,000 copies. Total units in the category rose 34.5% over 2019.

Every holiday season, major parcel carriers and courier services add surcharges to cover the increased volume of packages they must deliver through the final quarter of the year. Not surprisingly, this year’s surcharges are larger and broader than ever before. In fact, 2020 may go down as the largest “peak season” in history, given the e-commerce boom that happened from the coronavirus pandemic, which shifted sales to e-commerce and away from in-person shopping. FedEx and UPS both saw 20 percent increases in packing volume through May, while USPS was hit with a massive 50 percent increase in packages they delivered through June. Switching to the leading parcel companies may save you from the potential of late or lost packages — but the peak season surcharges will affect companies of all sizes. Each carrier has specific criteria by which they assess and apply surcharges, but there are packaging strategies that can be deployed to lower fees regardless of which service you’re using.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced a strategic restructuring to accelerate its digital transformation and align its cost structure with its digital first, connected strategy. These steps will further streamline operations and better enable HMH to support teachers and students with digital first, connected solutions that drive successful outcomes in remote, face-to-face and hybrid learning environments.“The actions we announced today will help us to realize our digital first vision by creating a more focused company with increased recurring digital subscription revenue that produces higher margins and free cash flow. We recognize the personal impact these actions will have on our HMH team members. We thank our departing colleagues for their contributions and are committed to treating them in a respectful and compassionate way.” Joe Abbott, HMH’s Chief Financial Officer added, “The actions we’re taking are intended to drive billings growth, position us to build our recurring subscription revenue base, simplify and strengthen our business model, reduce costs, and generate sustained and positive free cash flow." The Company’s restructuring includes both labor-related and non-labor expense reductions. The labor-related reductions involve organizational changes resulting in a 22% reduction of HMH’s workforce, including positions eliminated as part of the previously announced Voluntary Retirement Incentive Program and net of newly created positions to support HMH’s digital first operations.

InnerWorkings, Inc. and HH Global Group Limited announced the completion of HH Global’s acquisition of InnerWorkings. The combined organization will be led by Robert MacMillan, Chairman and Group CEO of HH Global, together with experienced senior managers from both companies. The transaction was announced on July 16, 2020 and received approval from InnerWorkings stockholders on September 24, 2020. Under the terms of the merger agreement, InnerWorkings stockholders will receive $3.00 in cash for each share of InnerWorkings common stock they hold. As a result of the completion of the transaction, shares of InnerWorkings common stock were removed from listing on the Nasdaq Stock Market, with trading in InnerWorkings shares suspended prior to the opening of business on October 1, 2020.

Since 2005, 2,100 newspapers have closed, almost one-quarter of the 9,000 newspapers that were being published in 2004, according to a report from the Hussman School of Journalism and Media at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Can newspapers be saved? The Rebuild Local News coalition has an ambitious plan.RLN is not turning to government for a bailout; it sees it as an ally. The gist of the plan is for Americans to step up and help save local news, which is essential to ensure communities have a watchdog to fight corruption and waste. One bipartisan idea is a $250 refundable tax credit used to buy local news subscriptions or as a donation to a local nonprofit news endeavor.

As part of the ongoing preparations by the United States Postal Service for the November election, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy requested the issuance of an internal directive to authorize and instruct the use of additional resources to satisfy any unforeseen demand and ensure that all Election Mail is prioritized and delivered securely and on time. The directive is in response to the Postmaster General’s commitment made in August to engage standby resources in all areas of operations beginning Oct. 1, 2020. “The U.S. Postal Service’s number one priority between now and the November election is the secure, on-time delivery of the nation’s Election Mail. The Postal Service, our unions, and the more than 630,000 postal employees are united in delivering on this sacred duty,” said Postmaster General DeJoy. “These actions ensure additional resources will be made available as needed to handle whatever volume of Election Mail we receive.”

Online retailers of physical goods are seeing five times as many new customers now than they did before the pandemic, according to a new report from Forter, increasing both fraud risk from criminals trying to pose as good customers and the risk of turning down legitimate shoppers. A separate study from Sift shows criminals are taking over customers’ accounts more frequently as a way to steal. Two reports released today by fraud-prevention technology providers show how the coronavirus pandemic is creating new challenges for online retailers trying to distinguish the growing number of legitimate online shoppers from criminals seeking to commit fraud. Both note how the rapid growth of curbside pickup is increasing the likelihood of retailers suffering fraud losses.

Over more than six months of extreme disruption, the nation’s independent bookstores have steadily grown their businesses beyond their four walls. A PW survey of three dozen indies nationwide found most offering some combination of online sales, curbside pickup, home delivery, outdoor browsing, and in-store shopping. The diversity of sales channels reflects a substantial expansion of retail customer service as they navigate evolving market conditions caused by Covid-19 and climate change. More than 80% of bookstores surveyed are now open for some form of limited in-store browsing, with appointments or other measures to ensure that they abide by state capacity guidelines. Of the shops that are not open to in-store browsing, all have online ordering and most are offering curbside pickup and outdoor browsing. That level of customer service reflects an unparalleled modernization of independent bookselling, but the question on the minds of booksellers is whether their efforts will be enough to combat forces beyond their control.

The Association of American Publishers announced that its Directors have unanimously elected Brian Napack as Chairman of the Board, effective September 25, 2020. Mr. Napack, President and CEO of John Wiley & Sons, has been AAP’s Vice Chairman since the beginning of the year, and a Board member since 2017. Mr. Napack succeeds John Sargent, who resigned as AAP’s Board Chairman on September 17, 2020 in conjunction with stepping away from Macmillan Publishers. Mr. Sargent gave more than twenty years of exceptional service to AAP, nearly thirteen of them as an officer.

Amazon is set to significantly expand its digital and on-demand printing capabilities after reupping an existing agreement with Kornit, the Israeli manufacturer of high-speed inkjet printing equipment. Over the next five years, Amazon committed to buying $250 million in existing Kornit products, such as digital printers and inks, and $150 million in "future products." The deal totals $400 million. The move is a big one for Amazon, which has been steadily and methodically building its digital printing capacity over the last several years. Most of that capacity has gone toward its Merch by Amazon service, a print on-demand platform that enables sellers to create and sell custom apparel and other merchandise decorated and fulfilled by Amazon. We've covered Merch by Amazon and two related services—Amazon Custom and Amazon Merch Collab—at length, particularly where they stand in relation to the promotional products industry.

Hearst Magazines announced the launch of Premium Print, a strategic initiative that includes a multimillion-dollar investment across its portfolio of more than 25 brands to further strengthen its position in the marketplace and enhance the quality of its print products. The announcement was made by Hearst Magazines Acting President Debi Chirichella and Hearst Magazines Chief Content Officer Kate Lewis. “Our magazines are at the heart of our brands and our business, the foundation of our editorial mission and vision,” Chirichella said. “For the benefit of our audiences and our marketing partners, we’re focused on producing the highest quality print products and providing an outstanding content experience that is engaging on every level.” The additional investment will improve the product of several Hearst Magazines print properties through new, larger formats, higher-quality paper and improved editorial ratios.

This month’s issue of EMPIRE magazine is a very special tribute to actor and filmmaker Chadwick Boseman and marks the first tribute issue in the title’s 31-year history. In honour of the Black Panther star who died of colon cancer aged 43 in August, the November issue of EMPIRE will feature personal remembrances from Boseman’s screen collaborators, plus a look back at the iconic roles he portrayed over his career – from Thurgood Marshall to James Brown and beyond – as well as revisiting their interview experiences with the man himself. The special subscriptions cover below was created exclusively for EMPIRE by London-based Nigerian artist Kingsley Nebechi, celebrating Chadwick Boseman and his most beloved roles. “He truly embodies strength and humility”, Kingsley told the EMPIRE team. “I wanted the artwork to reflect his versatility”.

Grainger is proud to have helped support the Chicago Cubs through a safe and successful season at Wrigley Field that required agility and teamwork on and off the field. Grainger helped the Cubs conduct virtual safety assessments; procure personal protective equipment, sanitization products, and social distancing materials; and enact measures to help keep employees and customers safe at other areas of the Wrigleyville campus, including the front office, Hotel Zachary and offshoot warehouses.

Helped by the release of Bob Woodward’s Rage, unit sales of print books jumped 16.4% in the week ended Sept. 19, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Rage was the overall top title in the week, selling sold more than 344,000 copies. Another new release, Blackout by Candance Owens, sold more than 70,000 copies, and total sales in the adult nonfiction segment rose 14.7% over the week ended Sept. 21, 2019. YA fiction continued to benefit from the success of Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer, which sold more than 32,000 copies, helping to give category sales a 44.3% boost. Last year at this time, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton was the top YA fiction title, selling more than 7,000 copies, and The Giver by Lois Lowry was second, selling 6,000 copies.

Barnes & Noble Inc. is pleased to announce Educator Appreciation Week from Saturday October 3, through Sunday, October 11. October’s Educator Appreciation Week will give Educator Members: *25% off list price on most books, gifts, music, DVDs, and toys and games for classroom and personal purchase; *10% off Barnes & Noble’s GlowLight Plus, the bookseller’s largest eInk reader; *10% off Barnes & Noble Café beverages and food during Appreciation Days.

Net sales for the quarter increased 12.5 percent, to $52.28 billion from $46.45 billion last year. Net sales for the fiscal year increased 9.3 percent, to $163.22 billion from $149.35 billion last year. Net income for the fourth quarter was $1.389 billion, or $3.13 per diluted share, compared to $1.097 billion, or $2.47 per diluted share last year. This year’s fourth quarter was negatively impacted by incremental expense related to COVID-19 premium wages and sanitation costs of $281 million pretax ($0.47 per diluted share) and a $36 million pretax charge ($0.06 per diluted share) related to the prepayment of $1.5 billion of debt. These items were partially offset by an $84 million pretax benefit ($0.15 per diluted share) for the partial reversal of a reserve of $123 million pretax ($0.22 cents per diluted share), related to a product tax assessment taken in the fourth quarter of last year. Net income for the fiscal year was $4.00 billion, or $9.02 per diluted share, compared to $3.66 billion, or $8.26 per diluted share in the prior year.

InnerWorkings, Inc. announced that, at a special meeting of stockholders held on September 24, 2020, InnerWorkings’ stockholders approved the adoption of the previously announced merger agreement relating to the proposed transaction between InnerWorkings and HH Global Group Limited (“HH Global”), whereby InnerWorkings will become a wholly owned subsidiary of HH Global. After certification by the Company’s inspector of elections, the final voting results for the Company’s special meeting will be filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) in a Form 8-K, which will also be available at https://investors.inwk.com. The merger is expected to close on October 1, 2020, subject to the satisfaction of the remaining customary closing conditions.

HH Global is delighted to announce our listing at number 30 in Sunday Times PwC Top Track 250. The Sunday Times Grant Thornton Top Track 250 ranks Britain’s private mid-market growth companies with the biggest sales. The listing sees HH Global move up 14 places. This year’s special Covid-19 edition highlights the important contribution that mid-market companies have made to the UK during the pandemic, from supporting the NHS to enabling remote working. Group CEO, Robert MacMillan said: “This year has seen some huge milestones for our business, and we’re delighted that our performance has once again been recognised in the Sunday Times PwC Top Track 250. As ever, my thanks go to our staff whose delivery for our clients is driving our performance and growth. We look forward to climbing the list further next year!”.

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy delivered the following remarks today to the National Association of Secretaries of State in a conference call regarding ongoing election preparations: “Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for the opportunity to join you today. We are less than seven weeks from Election Day. The Postal Service is ready and committed to handle whatever volume of election mail it receives. Our number one priority is to deliver election mail on-time and within the Postal Service’s well-established standards. Let me underscore that the Postal Service has more than enough capacity, including collection boxes and processing equipment, to handle all election mail this year, which is predicted to amount to less than 2% of total mail volume from mid-September to Election Day. In terms of the recent mailer, as you know the intent of our nationwide mailer was to craft one common message to encourage voters to inform themselves on how to vote by mail effectively, and to avoid providing guidance on state-specific rules and regulations. The concern that some of you have voiced about the mailer underscores why we set out to create one message and not state-specific guidance. I should note, several of you have also voiced appreciation about our educational effort to the public."

If you buy a Lego set today, the toy bricks come packed in tiny numbered plastic bags. Every year, the toy manufacturer uses hundreds of millions of those bags. But the company is starting to phase out single-use plastic, with the goal of making its packaging sustainable by 2025—and those bags are a big part of it. Next year, it will begin rolling out an alternative, with bricks packed in Forest Stewardship Council-certified paper instead. “We want to ensure recycling our bags is as easy as possible for builders,” says Tim Brooks, vice president of environmental responsibility at the Lego Group. “Plastic recycling facilities are not very common and differ from country to country, which is why we chose to make the bags out of recyclable paper.” The company tested new packaging options extensively, searching for something that would be sustainable but also strong enough to hold Lego bricks, easy to pack in boxes, and something that children liked to use. “We tested about 15 different prototypes with hundreds of children and parents but explored many more, including those made from recycled plastic and even paper made from stone,” Brooks says.

Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2020 Financial Highlights: *Adobe achieved record quarterly revenue of $3.23 billion in its third quarter of fiscal year 2020, which represents 14 percent year-over-year growth. Diluted earnings per share was $1.97 on a GAAP basis, representing 22 percent year-over-year growth, and $2.57 on a non-GAAP basis, representing 25 percent year-over-year growth. *Digital Media segment revenue was $2.34 billion, which represents 19 percent year-over-year growth. Creative revenue grew to $1.96 billion, representing 19 percent year-over-year growth. Document Cloud revenue was $375 million, representing 22 percent year-over-year growth. *Digital Media Annualized Recurring Revenue (“ARR”) increased $458 million quarter-over-quarter to $9.63 billion exiting the quarter, representing 24 percent year-over-year growth on a constant-currency basis. Creative ARR grew to $8.29 billion, and Document Cloud ARR grew to $1.34 billion. *Digital Experience segment revenue was $838 million. Digital Experience subscription revenue was $729 million, representing 7 percent year-over-year growth. Digital Experience subscription revenue, excluding Advertising Cloud revenue, grew 14 percent year-over-year. *GAAP operating income in the third quarter was $1.07 billion, and non-GAAP operating income was $1.40 billion. GAAP net income was $955 million, and non-GAAP net income was $1.25 billion.

Octane,​ a Fintech company founded in 2014 to better serve the lending needs of the powersports market, today announced it has acquired the digital assets of ​Cycle World, Motorcyclist, Dirt Rider, Motorcycle Cruiser, UTV Driver, ATV Rider, ​and​ Cycle Volta ​from Bonnier Corp. “We are acquiring these titles because we want to support brands that get people excited about powersports,” said Jason Guss, CEO of Octane. “Our goal for this acquisition is to ensure that unbiased product reviews, rigorous and objective testing, and informed storytelling​ will continue to be available to powersports enthusiasts. When combined with Octane’s financing platform and dealership partners, consumers will soon be able to go directly from researching their dream vehicle to owning it, in a fast, seamless process.”

L Brands, Inc. announced a partnership with Next PLC for its company-owned Victoria’s Secret business in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Under the agreement, which is subject to regulatory clearance, Victoria’s Secret U.K. and Next PLC have formed a joint venture (“JV”), where the JV will acquire the majority of the assets of the Victoria’s Secret U.K. business that is currently in Administration. The newly formed JV will operate all Victoria’s Secret stores in the U.K. and Ireland, subject to agreeing to terms with landlords. The U.K. digital (online) business, which is currently operated by Victoria’s Secret in the United States, will be folded into the JV in Spring 2021. Under the terms of the agreement, Next PLC will own 51 percent of the JV, while Victoria’s Secret will own 49 percent.

Scores of wildfires continue to blaze across the western United States, taking a toll on booksellers and publishing professionals across California, Washington State, and Oregon. The situation was acute in Oregon, where recent fires had burned through a million acres and the state put an estimated 500,000 people on evacuation notice last week. A spokesperson for Ashland, Ore,-based Blackstone Publishing said eight employees lost their homes to the fires that have been ignited in the area. The company created a GoFundMe campaign to support these employees, and as of Sunday evening had raised more than $85,000 in donations toward its $100,000 goal. The publisher will match donations to the fund.

With less than two months before state and national elections, REI Co-op is taking action to ensure its employees, members and outdoor community have what they need to be informed and ready to participate in the voting process. To start, REI is making sure none of its employees have to choose between voting and earning a paycheck this November. The co-op is also encouraging employees (and members) to ensure their voices are heard by voting early, mail-in voting or absentee voting. For employees in states that require in-person voting, REI offers flexible scheduling options as well as the option of using one of their “Co-op Way Days,” paid time off that employees can use to put their values into action, such as community service, advocacy, voting, civil participation, outdoor recreation and stewardship.

Office Depot announced the release of the company’s 12th edition of its Diverse Supplier Catalog. The catalog highlights an assortment of more than 1,500 items ranging from paper and toner, to presentation boards, writing instruments, school supplies, furniture, technology and desk accessories, with more than 700 products also containing eco-attributes or eco-labels.

With all but one category posting double-digit gains, unit sales of print books rose 17.5% in the week ended Sept. 5, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Sales in the juvenile fiction category rose 30.6% over the week ended Sept. 7, 2019, due in large part to the release of Dav Pilkey’s Grime and Punishment (Dog Man #9), which sold more than 239,000 copies in its first week. The category also received a boost from another new Scholastic title, as Ann M. Martin’s Logan Likes Mary Anne! sold more than 32,000 copies in its first week. Unit sales in the YA fiction category jumped 43.4% over 2019. Cassandra Clare’s The Lost Book of the White, Vol. 2 sold nearly 13,000 copies in its first week, putting it in third place on the category list.

J.Crew Group announced that it has successfully completed its financial restructuring process and emerged from Chapter 11 well positioned for long-term growth. As part of its financial restructuring, the Company has equitized more than $1.6 billion of secured indebtedness, and Anchorage Capital Group, L.L.C. has become the majority owner of the Company. To support ongoing operations and future growth initiatives, J.Crew Group is capitalized with a $400 million exit term loan due 2027 provided by Anchorage, as well as GSO Capital Partners LP and Davidson Kempner Capital Management LP, among others. In addition, the Company has access to a new $400 million ABL credit facility due 2025 agented by Bank of America, N.A.

The July edition of the Association of American Publishers’ StatShot program showed a clear divide between the current fortunes of trade and educational publishers. Sales of adult books rose 20.9% in the month over July 2019, and sales in the children/young adult category increased 14.5%. Sales of religious books were up 4% over July 2019. In contrast, sales in the K-12 instructional materials category fell 24.9% compared to last July, while sales in the higher educational course materials segment fell 21.9%. Overall, industry sales from the 1,361 publishers who report sales to the AAP fell 9.4% in the month, and were down 5.8% in the first seven months of 2020 compared to a year ago.

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for July 2020 reflecting reported revenue for all tracked categories, including Trade (consumer publications), K-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses. Total revenues across all categories for July 2020 were $1.8 billion, a decline of 9.4% as compared to July 2019. Year-to-date sales were $7.5 billion, a decline of 5.8% as compared to the same period last year. Trade (consumer books) sales were notably up 17.9% year-over-year, coming in at $689.1 million. Year-to-date (January-July 2020) Trade sales were $4.3 billion, an increase of 5.0%, as compared to the first seven months of 2019. In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of July, in the Trade (consumer books) category, Hardback revenues jumped 47.0%, coming in at $246.0 million; Paperbacks were down 0.2%, with $211.2 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 1.1% to $23.5 million; and Board Books were up 20.4%, with $16.5 million in revenue.

The United States Postal Service provided new service performance data today to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, indicating continued improvement while ensuring trucks run on time and adhering to the Postal Service’s existing transportation schedule. This data, available through the week of August 29, marks an uptick in service performance, consistent with recent trends. The percentages reported – 88.04 for First-Class Mail, 89.56 for Marketing Mail and 78.24 for Periodicals – represent service performance by the Postal Service from acceptance of a mailpiece into our system through delivery, measured against published service standards.

J. C. Penney Company, Inc. announced that it has reached an agreement in principle to sell JCPenney through a court-supervised sale process. The Company plans to seek approval of a disclosure statement and, ultimately, confirmation of a plan of reorganization in parallel with the sale process. Related to the sale process, JCPenney expects to execute a “stalking horse” asset purchase agreement, which will track an executed letter of intent, outlining the following: *Brookfield Property Group and Simon Property Group intend to acquire substantially all of JCPenney’s retail and operating assets for $1.75 billion, which includes a combination of cash and new term loan debt. *The agreement contemplates the formation of a separate real estate investment trust and a property holding company, which will include 161 of the Company’s real estate assets and all of its owned distribution centers. The PropCos will be owned by the Company’s Ad Hoc Group of First Lien Lenders. *The OpCo and PropCos will enter into a master lease with respect to the properties and distribution centers moved into the PropCos.

UPS announced that it expects to hire over 100,000 seasonal employees to support the anticipated annual increase in package volume that will begin in October 2020 and continue through January 2021. “We’re preparing for a record peak holiday season. The COVID-19 pandemic has made our services more important than ever,” said Charlene Thomas, Chief Human Resources Officer. “We plan to hire over 100,000 people for UPS’s seasonal jobs, and anticipate a large number will move into permanent roles after the holidays. At a time when millions of Americans are looking for work, these jobs are an opportunity to start a new career with UPS.”

Meredith Corporation announced that it will seek shareholder approval of an amendment to its charter that would increase options for a tax-efficient separation of the Company's National and Local media groups while preserving the rights currently held by both classes of shareholders if such a potential future event could maximize shareholder value. The proposed amendment is not in response to any specific conversations or events. Instead, the Company believes it is a prudent step to increase the number of options available. There is no timeline for nor assurance of a potential transaction resulting from this proposed charter amendment.

Coldwater Creek will be revived – online and in print. CWC Companies, parent company of the women’s apparel retailer, which shut down operations at the end of July, has been acquired by Newtimes Group, one of world’s largest supply providers to the apparel industry. The Hong Kong-based Newtimes said it purchased CWC’s inventory and intellectual property assets from Sycamore Partners for $12.2 million. Newtimes plans to operate the acquired assets as an independent entity under the newly formed Coldwater International and will provide sourcing and back-office support. The company plans to relaunch the Coldwater Creek website in a few weeks and issue a new Coldwater Creek catalogue before the end of the year.

Nordstrom wants to ensure that its employees have the time to vote on Nov. 3. The department store retailer is making Election Day a holiday for all its U.S. employees. While Nordstrom stores and operations centers will remain open, the company will work with employees to set schedules which will enable them to get to the polls. It also will provide its store, fulfillment center, distribution center and call center employees discounted rides to the polls through Lyft. "We believe every voice matters and our country is stronger when we all participate in the democratic process," said Pete Nordstrom, president and chief brand officer. "This initiative is a direct result of feedback we heard from more than 50,000 Nordstrom employees from all regions of the U.S. They told us they want to be actively engaged in their communities and help find solutions to the challenges we're facing. Enabling them to make their voices heard by voting is a meaningful and productive way we can support our people and our communities."

Certain funds affiliated with Chatham Asset Management, LLC announced that they have completed the previously announced acquisition of substantially all assets of The McClatchy Company. The new company will retain The McClatchy Company name. The transaction significantly strengthens the Company’s balance sheet so that it can deliver on its mission to provide essential, independent journalism to local communities across the United States. This milestone marks the official completion of the acquisition of the Company's assets and the successful transition of these assets from Chapter 11. As of September 4, 2020, the entirety of McClatchy’s 30 news organizations and all of its employees transitioned to a new private entity under Chatham ownership.

Unit sales of print books rose 7.1% in the week ended Aug. 29, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Backlist titles continued to drive growth in the juvenile nonfiction category, which posted unit gains of 39.7% over the week ended Aug. 31, 2019. Big Preschool Workbook remained the top title in juvenile nonfiction, selling more than 26,000 copies. A couple of Brain Quest titles by Lisa Trumbauer had big sales jumps in the week, including Brain Quest Workbook: Kindergarten and Brain Quest Workbook: Grade 1, which landed in the fifth and sixth spots, respectively, on the category bestseller list; the two sold about 20,000 copies combined. His Truth Is Marching On by Jon Meacham was the top new release in the week, selling more than 38,000 copies. It was #1 on the adult nonfiction list and helped to drive up sales in the category by 4.3%.

1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. has announced its plans to hire more than 10,000 seasonal associates across its gourmet foods and gift brands for the upcoming holiday season. Hiring has commenced at Harry & David®, PersonalizationMall.com®, Cheryl's Cookies® and The Popcorn Factory® to fill critical roles to meet holiday peak demand and help customers connect with others as they navigate what is expected to be an unusual season ahead. As the company quadruples its workforce nationwide for the holiday period, it continues to prioritize the health and safety of its team members. Seasonal positions vary by brand and include full-time and part-time roles in key areas such as production, gift assembly, customer service, and distribution and fulfillment center operations, among others. The majority of these roles are being offered throughout Illinois, Ohio and Oregon, with some work-from-home positions available.

*Total net sales were $135.8 million, a decrease of $25.9 million or 16.0%, compared to $161.7 million last year. *Gross profit was $41.7 million, or 30.7% of net sales, compared to $51.7 million, or 32.0% of net sales last year. *Operating income was $7.7 million, or 5.7% of net sales, compared to operating income of $12.1 million, or 7.5% of net sales, last year. *Net income was $5.3 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, compared to $9.3 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, last year.

The Postal Regulatory Commission will host a technical conference to consider a United Parcel Service (UPS) petition to change how the Postal Service determines incremental costs and how it accounts for peak-season costs in its periodic reports. WHAT: The Commission has scheduled a Video Technical Conference to assist in its review of the petition. WHO: UPS and the Postal Service will present material addressing current costing methodologies and potential improvements. WHEN: September 29 at 11:00 a.m. Interested parties who wish to participate must file a notice of intent to participate no later than September 14, 2020, as provided in Order No. 5586 — Notice and Order Establishing Docket to Obtain Information Regarding Proposed Changes to Cost Methodologies and Scheduling Technical Conference. WHERE: The Technical Conference will be broadcast via Webex. Additional information including a Webex link, a conference schedule, and procedures will be sent to those who sign up. A recording of the Webex in its entirety will also be available on the Commission’s website, www.prc.gov. https://www.prc.gov/press-releases/prc-hosts-technical-conference-consider-ups-petition-proposed-changes-usps-costing

The impact the coronavirus can have on physical stores was illustrated by the release of first quarter results by Barnes & Noble Education. For the quarter ended August 1, sales in B&NE’s retail segment dropped 42.2% from the comparable period a year ago, falling to $158.8 million. In the period, comparable store sales fell 42.8%, which B&NE said accounted for $106.6 million in lost revenue. B&NE operated 772 physical outlets in the quarter and 670 virtual stores. The company noted that since the majority of its campus stores were closed during the quarter, sales of digital textbooks increased, as did online sales of general merchandise, which includes clothing and food.

The Postal Service’s Expanded Election Mail Task Force, which was recently announced by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to enhance already-existing Election Mail efforts, held its inaugural meeting today. The meeting was productive and included the leadership of all four of the major unions of the Postal Service, as well as the leaders of our management associations. The Task Force members reviewed current plans to ensure and affirm that the Postal Service is prepared to deliver on the election. All parties at the meeting are fully focused on the mission and the importance of ensuring the election remains the number one priority for the more than 630,000 employees of the Postal Service.

Summary: +GAAP Results: Revenue of $431 million (+2%) and EPS of $0.29 (+$0.23) +Adjusted Results (at constant currency): Revenue +2% to $431 million, EBITDA +42% to $82 million, and EPS +124% to $0.42 +Research Publishing & Platforms (at constant currency): Revenue +6% and Adjusted EBITDA +19% +Shareholder Return: Wiley among select group with 27 consecutive years of annual dividend increases

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $13.56 billion for the retail month of August, the four weeks ended August 30, 2020, an increase of 15.0 percent from $11.79 billion last year. For the 16-week fourth quarter ended August 30, 2020, the Company reported net sales of $52.3 billion, an increase of 12.7 percent compared to net sales of $46.4 billion during the similar period last year. For the 52-week fiscal year ended August 30, 2020, the Company reported net sales of $163.2 billion, an increase of 9.2 percent from the $149.4 billion during the similar period last year.

In response to the devastation caused by recent wildfires throughout California, Gap Foundation will make a $100,000 donation to the Center for Disaster Philanthropy’s (CPD) California Wildfires Recovery Fund. To date, the 2020 California wildfire season has resulted in more than 1.6 million acres of burned land and more than 3,100 structures damaged or destroyed. Gap Foundation chose to partner with CDP because of their approach that prioritizes medium to long-term recovery, especially among vulnerable populations throughout California. Since its inception, CDP’s California Wildfires Recovery Funds has awarded more than $3 million in grants to nonprofits and community groups in northern and southern California. Through the Selvage Fund, and in partnership with E4E Relief, Gap Foundation is able to support Gap Inc. employees who have been directly impacted by the fires.

Second Quarter Highlights: *Comparable sales were down 34.7% on an owned basis and down 35.1% on an owned plus licensed basis, due to faster paced store recovery than originally modeled and better than expected growth of digital business. *Digital sales remained strong, growing 53% over second quarter 2019. Digital sales penetrated at 54% of total owned comparable sales. *Delivered gross margin of 23.6%, an improvement of approximately 650 basis points from first quarter 2020 due to improved retail margins from mix and better sell through of clearance merchandise. *Inventory was down 29% from a year ago, allowing the company to exit second quarter in a clean inventory position. *Finished the quarter in a strong liquidity position with approximately $1.4 billion in cash and approximately $3 billion of untapped capacity in the company’s new asset-based credit facility.

Increases in sales of e-books and digital audiobooks and higher online sales helped to cushion the financial impact of the Covid-19 pandemic at Penguin Random House, parent company Bertelsmann reported this morning. Total revenue in the first half of 2020 fell 1.4% at PRH from the comparable period a year ago, dropping to €1.63 billion. EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) fell 7.9%, to €209 million. In April, Bertelsmann also acquired the remaining 25% stake in PRH that had been held by Pearson. The U.S. had the best performance among PRH’s international companies, with sales rising 5.2%, to €990 million. “The coronavirus pandemic had a negative impact on the company’s businesses due to the extensive closures of local bookstores,” Bertelsmann reported. “In contrast, the US business demonstrated particular resilience, partially offsetting reductions in other countries.”

As part of the ongoing preparation for the election in November, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy will participate in a follow-up meeting with the National Association of Secretaries of State (NASS) Election Committee on Thursday, Sept. 17. This meeting follows an Aug. 26 conference call with NASS President and New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, NASS Elections Committee Co-Chairs Jocelyn Benson, Michigan Secretary of State, and Frank LaRose, Ohio Secretary of State, and Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft. During the Aug. 26 call, DeJoy reiterated to the Secretaries of State that delivering ballots entrusted to the Postal Service is the organization’s number one priority between now and Election Day, and that the Postal Service is ready, willing, and able to handle the nation’s election mail. He underscored the Postal Service’s commitment to partnering with state election officials as they work to ensure that those who choose to use the mail to vote will have their ballots counted in anticipation of the expected spike in Election Mail amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the reporting period, Bertelsmann’s Group revenues declined by 8.9 percent to €7.8 billion (H1 2019: €8.6 billion). The organic decline in revenues was 7.9 percent. The Group’s growth businesses were stable at €2.9 billion. They now account for 37 percent of total revenues, after 35 percent in the previous year. BMG, Majorel, Arvato Supply Chain Solutions, Arvato Financial Solutions, and the Bertelsmann Education Group, developed positively. Operating EBITDA was €1.01 billion (H1 2019: €1.29 billion). The RTL Group and Gruner + Jahr divisions in particular felt the effects of the corona-related decline in the advertising markets. In contrast, the Arvato services businesses increased their operating earnings. BMG and the Bertelsmann Education Group posted operating EBITDA at the previous year’s level. Group profit remained stable overall at €488 million (H1 2019: €502 million).

DEPARTURES®, the leading voice of luxury and experiences published by Meredith Corporation for American Express Platinum Card® Members, today revealed its September 2020 special Visionaries issue celebrating individuals across fashion, media, food, technology, sports, wellness, and beyond whose work is positively impacting society and driving meaningful change. This second annual special issue has five separate covers, along with candid interviews with six standout visionaries. Elsewhere in the issue, DEPARTURES delves into innovation with reporting on the future of architectural design as the world adapts to new realities, takes a look at the future of fashion from the perspectives of notable photographers, highlights big thinkers on what's next in the field of wellness, shares top chefs' views on how we'll be dining out in the months and years to come, and much more.

REI Co-op will open its new store in Appleton, Wisconsin on September 4 for limited in-store shopping, offering a wide assortment of quality outdoor gear for hiking, camping, mountain biking and paddling. The new 20,000-square-foot store at the Center Valley shopping center was originally scheduled to open in the spring but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. REI Appleton will also offer Buy Online, Pickup In Store capabilities and zero contact bike shop services. With nearly 300,000 lifetime members in state, REI Appleton will join the co-op’s existing Wisconsin locations in Brookfield and Madison. “Appleton is an incredible community, and we’re thrilled to finally open our doors and connect our members to the many outdoor spaces in the region,” said Gary Kim, REI Appleton store manager. “Whether our members are enjoying their favorite activity or want to try something new for the first time, we’ll have the gear they need to get outside.”

In a letter transmitted today to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Postal Service provided service performance charts showing significant increases in all mail categories. “As the charts show, service performance improved across all major mail categories in the weeks prior to my testimony (delivered on August 24), and this trend has continued through August, returning to early-July levels,” said Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in his letter to the Committee. “This recovery took place while still adhering to our existing transportation schedules. In other words, we are improving service performance while more consistently running our trucks on time.”

With all but one category posting increases, unit sales of print books rose 8% in the week ended Aug. 22, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Stephenie Meyer’s Midnight Sun, which sold nearly 59,000 copies in the week, continued to drive sales in the YA fiction segment, where print units rose 27.8% over the week ended Aug. 24, 2019. The YA nonfiction category had a 40.6% jump in sales, with Stamped by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi remaining in first place in the category, selling more than 12,000 copies. Big Preschool Workbook stayed #1 in juvenile nonfiction, selling more than 34,000 copies and helping to drive up print unit sales up 36.3% over 2019.

We’re all trying to sell something to someone. We have a great product, a great service, or a can’t-miss promotion that we want people to know about. We’ve decided to reach them through direct mail. But what should we say? What do we show? How do we stand out from all the other messages in the mailbox? And how do we do it in a matter of seconds? A smart strategy, a great mailing list and a stellar offer don’t mean anything if your creative execution is weak. There are certain creative secrets that have been proven through neuroscience that will increase the likelihood of your direct mail piece getting noticed and driving your customers to action. Simply following these four powerful recommendations will increase your chances of success. Good creative matters. Find out the secrets of how to do it. Join Us September 14th, 10 AM Central. Sustain, Grow & Transform Direct Mail Hosted by American Express. Be our guest FREE: Use code GUEST20. Register at: https://www.ana.net/membersconference/register/id/MOC-SEP20E5

For the Second Quarter of Fiscal 2020 *Net sales decreased 26.3% to $1.2 billion compared to $1.7 billion in the second quarter of fiscal 2019 due to the impact of COVID-19. *Comparable sales (sales for stores open at least 14 months, including stores temporarily closed due to COVID-19, and e-commerce sales) decreased 26.7% compared to an increase of 6.2% in the second quarter of fiscal 2019. In the second quarter, transactions declined 36.2% and average ticket increased 14.9%. *Gross profit decreased to $329.0 million compared to $605.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019. As a percentage of net sales, gross profit decreased to 26.8% compared to 36.4% in the second quarter of fiscal 2019, primarily due to deleverage of fixed costs due to lower sales, channel mix shifts, deleverage of salon expenses due to lower sales, and an increase in inventory reserves. These pressures were partially offset by lower promotional activity. *Operating income decreased to $12.8 million, or 1.1% of net sales, compared to $208.0 million, or 12.5% of net sales, in the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Adjusted operating income was $54.9 million, or 4.5% of net sales. *Net income was $8.1 million compared to $161.3 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Adjusted net income was $41.5 million compared to adjusted net income of $159.0 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2019.

Second Quarter Fiscal Year 2020 Results: Net sales were down 18% year-over-year, reflecting a 95% increase in online sales, offset by a 48% decline in store sales, which were impacted by partial closures during the quarter. During May, Gap Inc. began reopening stores previously closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, with approximately 90% of its global fleet open as of August 1. Second quarter fiscal year 2020 comparable sales were up 13%, driven by the strength of Gap Inc.’s scaled e-commerce business, which added over 3.5 million new customers during the quarter. The comparable sales calculation reflects online sales and comparable sales days in stores that have reopened. Operating expenses were $1.1 billion, a decrease of $198 million versus last year, primarily due to a decrease in store payroll and benefits and other store expenses resulting from store closures during the quarter. As a percentage of net sales, operating expenses were 32.9%, an increase of 1.1 percentage points driven by lower net sales. Operating income was $73 million or 2.2% of net sales.

REI Co-op will open its new store in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee on September 4 for limited in-store shopping, offering a wide assortment of quality outdoor gear for hiking, camping, climbing and more. Designed to be a gateway to outdoor adventures in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, REI Pigeon Forge will feature the co-op’s newest retail format offering a variety of gear rentals, zero contact bike shop services for maintenance and repairs and Buy Online Pickup In Store capabilities. The new 21,500-square-foot store was originally scheduled to open in the spring but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. REI Pigeon Forge marks the co-op’s fifth location in the state and will serve the co-op’s nearly 250,000 lifetime members in Tennessee and the millions of visitors that adventure in the region every year.

Consumer Privacy 2-Parter: Hear what lessons can be learned now that the California Consumer Privacy Act is in place during the first session on Sept. 16th from 1:00-1:45. Then tune back in at 2:00 to learn about data literacy and your brand's marketing ecosystem. CohereOne CEO Tim Curtis will moderate. Crutchfield's CIO Jeff Bingaman (bottom right), Wunderman Thompson's Chief Privacy Officer Rachel Glasser (top right), KP Public Affairs Lobbyist Pat Joyce (top left), Brann & Isaacson Partner David Swetnam-Burland (bottom left) will prep you for the complexity and fluidity of evolving privacy laws. Remote Sales Tax Collection, Post-Wayfair: Brad Scott, Halstead Bead's director of finance, chairs ACMA's tax committee and along with fellow committee member, Linda Lester, VP of K-Log (both pictured at a recent House Small Business subcommittee hearing with FindTape Founder Kevin Maloney in between), he will share D.C. lobbying stories and provide an update on how the committee intends to get Federal legislation passed to make sales tax collection easier for remote merchants. The committee also will outline how other remote merchants and suppliers can get involved all for the better good. Sept. 23rd at 2:00 E.T. CLICK HERE >>> https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zoG0Zv-zTpumXJcbZIESvA to Register NOW; SPOTS ARE LIMITED

Fourth Quarter Highlights: Total net revenues increased a record 61.1 percent to $418.0 million, compared with $259.4 million in the prior year period Net Income was $9.8 million, or $0.15 per diluted share. Adjusted Net Income1 was $15.1 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $8.3 million, or ($0.13) per share, in the prior year period. Full Year Highlights: Total net revenues increased 19.3 percent to $1.49 billion, compared with $1.25 billion in the prior year, reflecting strong growth across all three of the Company’s business segments. Net Income was $59.0 million, or $0.89 per diluted share. Adjusted Net Income1 increased 86.9 percent to $65.0 million, or $0.98 per diluted share, compared with $34.8 million, or $0.52 per diluted share, in the prior year.

A summary of results for the second quarter ended August 1, 2020 as compared the second quarter ended August 3, 2019: *Net sales of $698 million, down 17% as compared to last year, reflecting the adverse impact of COVID-19 on store sales. *Gross profit rate improved 140 basis points to 60.7% on lower promotional and clearance activity. *Operating income improved to $14 million and $22 million on a reported and adjusted non-GAAP basis, respectively, as compared to an operating loss last year of $39 million, which reflected $45 million of flagship store exit charges. *Net income per diluted share improved to $0.09 and $0.23 on a reported and adjusted non-GAAP basis, respectively, as compared to net loss per diluted share last year of $0.48, which reflected the adverse impact from flagship store exit charges of approximately $0.50 per diluted share, net of estimated tax effect.

Census 2020 is not going well. Nor is it going as planned. This critical distinction has been amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic, which again exposes the depth and breadth of the digital divide in America. Popular narratives about the digital divide that separates our nation are too often anchored narrowly on the mere availability of broadband in a community. And now, emerging narratives about Census 2020 self-reporting issues routinely fail to look beyond the pandemic disruptions. Long before the launch of this decade’s Constitutionally mandated count of the country’s resident population, planners at the Census Bureau smartly decided to embrace modern technology and create an online platform for responding to the critically important questionnaire. But then they made a giant leap of faith.

UPS announced the appointment of Nando Cesarone to President, U.S. Operations and Scott Price to President, UPS International. Nando Cesarone previously served as President UPS International and in that role led the company's business operations in more than 220 countries and territories outside of the U.S. Prior to that, he served as President of UPS’s European operations, leading UPS Europe to record business performance during the company’s five-year investment program. Cesarone also served as President of the Asia Pacific Region.

Total Company net sales for the three months ended July 31, 2020, decreased 16.5% over the same period last year to $803 million. Comparable Retail segment net sales decreased 13%, driven by negative retail store sales due to stores being closed for part of the quarter and lower store productivity once opened, partially offset by strong double-digit growth in the digital channel. By brand, comparable Retail segment net sales increased 11% at Free People and decreased 8% at Urban Outfitters and 25% at the Anthropologie Group. Total Retail segment net sales decreased 14%. Wholesale segment net sales decreased 51%. For the three months ended July 31, 2020, the gross profit rate decreased to 29.6% from 32.8% in the prior year’s comparable period. Gross profit dollars decreased 24.6% to $238.0 million from $315.9 million. The decrease in gross profit rate was primarily due to an increase in delivery and logistics expense due to penetration of the digital channel, followed by store occupancy expense rate deleverage. Net income for the three months ended July 31, 2020, was $34 million and earnings per diluted share was $0.35. Net loss for the six months ended July 31, 2020, was $104 million and loss per diluted share was $1.06.

SECOND QUARTER 2020 SUMMARY: • Second quarter net loss of $255 million, which included after-tax COVID-19 related charges of $14 million primarily related to corporate asset impairments, decreased from net earnings of $141 million during the same period in fiscal 2019. • In Full-Price, net sales decreased 58 percent. Excluding the Anniversary Sale event shift impact, Full-Price sales decreased in the mid-forties percent range. Off-Price net sales decreased 43 percent compared with the same period in fiscal 2019. Top performing merchandise categories included home, kidswear, accessories, beauty and active in both Full-Price and Off-Price. • Total company digital sales decreased 5 percent. Excluding the Anniversary Sale event shift impact, digital sales increased approximately 20 percent in the second quarter and in the mid-teens range on a year-to-date basis. The Company’s e-commerce business continued to experience significant growth in new Nordstrom customers of more than 50 percent. • Gross profit, as a percentage of net sales, was 21 percent, decreasing from 35 percent for the same period in fiscal 2019 due to planned markdowns and deleverage from lower sales volume and reflected sequential improvement in merchandise margin trends.

For the thirteen weeks ended August 1, 2020 (the "second quarter"), the Company reported: *A net loss of $46.8 million a material improvement over the thirteen weeks ended May 2, 2020 (the "first quarter"). The second quarter net loss includes the after-tax impact of inventory write-offs of $8.0 million. For the thirteen weeks ended August 3, 2019 ("last year's second quarter"), the net loss was $2.3 million. *Net sales were $306.2 million, an improvement of 9.2% from the first quarter, reflecting the benefit of strong digital sales and store reopenings. Sales decreased approximately 39.8% from last year's second quarter, reflecting disruptions related to the pandemic, including the continuation of temporary store closures and limited hours during the second quarter, as well as the impact of 74 net permanent store closures since last year's second quarter, partially offset by double-digit growth in digital performance. For the twenty-six weeks ended August 1, 2020, the Company reported: *A net loss of $225.1 million compared to net loss of $0.3 million for the twenty-six weeks ended August 3, 2019.

Bonnier Corp. has signed a licensing agreement for its iconic brand Popular Science with Celestron Acquisition LLC, it was announced by Elise Contarsy, Senior Vice President of Bonnier Consumer Products. Founded in 1960, Celestron offers the largest selection of consumer optical products in the world and is the global leader in telescope manufacturing. An industry leader for more than 60 years, Celestron will produce an extensive line of Popular Science products that will include telescopes, microscopes, sport optics and accessories. The deal was brokered by Evolution USA LLC, the licensing and brand management agency that represents the Popular Science brand worldwide.

Domestic gross profit rate was 22.8% versus 24.0% last year. The gross profit rate decrease of approximately 120 basis points was primarily driven by higher supply chain costs as a result of the increased mix of online revenue and lower profit-sharing revenue from the company’s private-label and co-branded credit card arrangement. Domestic GAAP SG&A was $1.56 billion, or 17.1% of revenue, versus $1.76 billion, or 19.9% of revenue, last year. On a non-GAAP basis, SG&A was $1.54 billion, or 16.9% of revenue, versus $1.74 billion, or 19.7% of revenue, last year. Both GAAP and non-GAAP SG&A decreased primarily due to: (1) reduced store payroll expense; (2) lower advertising expense; (3) reduced incentive compensation expense, as the company did not pay or accrue short-term incentive expense for second quarter performance; and (4) lower medical claims expense. International revenue of $782 million increased 9.4% versus last year. This increase was primarily driven by comparable salesgrowth of 15.1%, which was partially offset by the impact of approximately 490 basis points of negative foreign currency exchange rates. International SG&A was $142 million, or 18.2% of revenue, versus $166 million, or 23.2% of revenue, last year. SG&A decreased primarily due to lower payroll and benefit expense, primarily in Canada, and the favorable impact of foreign exchange rates.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. released its Most Anticipated Books for September to launch a stacked fall publishing season after delays due to COVID-19. “A lot more reading has been done this year, one of the very few silver linings to COVID-19. Even so, new publishing has been peddling very gently since late March, absent the support of bookstores. Now the floodgates have well and truly opened, just as our bookstores get back into their stride,” said Barnes & Noble CEO James Daunt. “This is when our booksellers come into their own, applying their skills to curate the best from amongst the plethora of new publishing. Our Most Anticipated Books list for September is a bold introduction to the riches of the fall publishing. With so much that is new, bookstores have suddenly become very exciting.” The below fifteen titles were chosen by Barnes & Noble’s bookselling team with a diversity of genres in mind, including fiction, mystery, poetry, history, and YA. go to: https://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/press-release/barnes-noble-announces-anticipated-books-september/

My name is Mike Duncan, and for the past two years I have been honored to serve as Chairman of the Board of Governors for the United States Postal Service. Throughout my life, I have looked for ways to help strengthen and support institutions important to American communities. That’s why I spent five years serving on the Board of the Tennessee Valley Authority, and why I serve on the Board of Alice Lloyd College near my home in Kentucky. When I accepted this position, I did so because of my admiration for the United States Postal Service and its public service mission. Click read more below for the rest of the statement.

Pearson plc announces the prospective appointment of Andy Bird as its new Chief Executive, starting on 19th October, 2020. It is intended that John Fallon will continue as Chief Executive until that date, when he will step down from the Board and remain as an advisor until the end of the year. Andy is currently a Non-Executive Director at Pearson plc and was appointed to the Board on 1st May, 2020. Andy has had a distinguished career spanning 35 years in the media industry. Most recently he worked for The Walt Disney Company, as Chairman of Walt Disney International, responsible for the company’s businesses outside of the US. After joining in 2004, he led a major expansion of Walt Disney International, transforming the organisation into a digital-first business focused on the diverse needs of consumers around the world.

The Board of Managers of American Media, LLC's holding company have made the strategic decision to combine American Media and Accelerate360, LLC (Accelerate). The announcement was made by Accelerate CEO David Parry. As part of the consolidation, American Media will be renamed A360 Media and American Media President and CEO, David J. Pecker has been named Executive Advisor of A360 Media effective immediately. "This is a transformative event that significantly reshapes Accelerate and American Media into a new type of media and marketing company with an unprecedented reach all the way to the sales floor," said Mr. Parry.

“The U.S. Postal Service greatly appreciates the efforts of the House of Representatives to assist us. We look forward to continuing to work with Congress on more meaningful reform that will ensure our long-term health, and we remain a vital part of our nation’s critical infrastructure. We are concerned that some of the requirements of the Bill, while well meaning, will constrain the ability of the Postal Service to make operational changes that will improve efficiency, reduce costs, and ultimately improve service to the American people. We reiterate that the Postal Service is fully capable and committed to delivering the nation’s election mail securely and on time, and will do everything necessary to meet this sacred duty.”

Learning Company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) reinforced its commitment to racial justice with a major book donation aimed at amplifying Black voices while getting books into hands of children and families in need. HMH is in the process of donating over 50,000 titles by Black authors to more than 15 youth-serving nonprofit organizations across the United States. Donated through HMH’s Books for Equity initiative, the curated list of titles explores issues of race and features Black main characters, including works by Toni Morrison, Kwame Alexander, Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Margaret Walker, Melba Pattillo Beals and many more. Recipients of the donations include City Year, Girls Write Now, Boys & Girls Club of Harlem, Communities In Schools of Central Texas, and more.

Following news last month that O, The Oprah Magazine would cease regular print publication, Oprah herself has addressed the brand’s future in a video published on its website. In a video posted on O, the media mogul hinted at big things for the brand, while announcing the print magazine will scale back to at least four special print issues a year. “There’s been a lot of chatter and a lot of speculation about O, The Magazine ending,” Oprah said from her home. “I want you to know, it’s not ending, it’s evolving. Because after 20 years of covers, I think it’s time, and I also think it’s a good thing. None of us were meant to stay the same. We evolve.”

Everything is relative. Unit sales of print books fell 5.6% last week compared to the week ended August 8, 2020, when sales rose 10.2% over the prior week driven by several new blockbuster titles. Compared to August 17, 2019, however, sales were up 14.3% at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The biggest factor in last week’s sales decline was the trailing off of sales of Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer, which sold more than 524,000 print copies following its release on August 4. Last week it sold a very respectable 139,000 copies, making it once again the top-selling title for the week, but the sales drop from its debut led to a 38% sales decline in the young adult segment in the week.

Consistent with expectations disclosed in the company’s July 28, 2020 business update, net sales were $2.319 billion for the quarter ended Aug. 1, 2020, a decrease of 20 percent compared to sales of $2.902 billion for the quarter ended Aug. 3, 2019. Total Bath & Body Works second quarter sales in the United States and Canada were $1.197 billion, an increase of 13 percent compared to $1.061 billion last year. Total Victoria’s Secret second quarter sales in the United States and Canada were $977.5 million, a decrease of 39 percent compared to $1.606 billion last year. Reported loss per share for the second quarter ended Aug. 1, 2020, was $0.18 compared to earnings per share of $0.14 for the quarter ended Aug. 3, 2019. Second quarter operating income was $44.0 million compared to $174.6 million last year, and net loss was $49.6 million compared to net income of $37.6 million last year.

When U.K. bookseller James Daunt took over as CEO of Barnes & Noble a year ago, after a sale that landed it in private hands, he faced the formidable challenge of rescuing the chain from troubles largely of its own making, in the shadow of Amazon's prowess in the segment. At the time of the sale, annual revenue at Barnes & Noble hadn't grown for seven years, declining, in fact, by some $700 million since 2015. As Amazon powered on as a top bookseller, Barnes & Noble cycled through a series of CEOs and strategies.

In preparation for the 2020 holiday season, Ulta Beauty, Inc. (NASDAQ: ULTA) today announced its decision to close all stores on Thanksgiving, November 26, 2020. “The holiday season is when Ulta Beauty and our guests shine brightest,” said Mary Dillon, chief executive officer. “Keeping our associates at the heart of our decisions always, we are adapting this season’s plans to reflect our immense gratitude for their commitment to serving our stores, our guests and our communities throughout this unprecedented year. It’s our hope that everyone takes time this Thanksgiving to see the beauty in togetherness with loved ones.”

John Wiley and Sons Inc. announced a strategic partnership with PwC’s Academy Middle East, the talent and skills development business of PwC Middle East, to provide virtual Certified Public Accountant (CPA) exam preparation in the Middle East region, including UAE, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon and Qatar. This partnership will address the need to continually upskill, especially as the world contends with the economic impact of COVID-19. PwC Middle East’s 23rd Annual CEO Survey shows that 80% of CEOs consider a shortage of skills in the workforce a potential threat to their organization’s growth prospects, while 70% of CEOs recognize that they must maximize the potential of existing staff through upskilling programs. The global pandemic has highlighted the need for resilience in today’s workforce and accelerated transformation that was already underway. This shift presents a critical opportunity for workers to utilize this time to upskill and reskill, with 96% of adults believe that learning new skills and retraining will improve their future employability, according to PwC’s 2020 New World New Skills survey.

Consumers spent $211.5 billion online during the second quarter of 2020, with e-commerce sales up 31.8% from the previous quarter, according to figures released by the Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce. E-commerce sales in the quarter accounted for 16.1% of total retail sales. The data showed that total retail sales decreased 3.6% in the same period. Compared to the year-ago period, second quarter 2020 e-commerce sales increased increased 44.5% while total retail sales decreased 3.6%.

• Second quarter comparable sales grew 24.3 percent, the strongest the Company has ever reported. • Store comparable sales increased 10.9 percent. Digital comparable sales grew 195 percent, accounting for 13.4 percentage points of Target's comparable sales growth. ° Stores fulfilled more than 90 percent of Target's second quarter sales. ° Same-day services (Order Pick Up, Drive Up and Shipt) grew 273 percent and accounted for approximately 6 percentage points of total Company comparable sales growth.

*Strengthened financial position during the quarter, ending with $2.4 billion in cash *Disciplined management of expenses and inventory resulted in positive operating cash flow *Second quarter net sales decrease (22.9%) *Second quarter diluted earnings per share of $0.30; adjusted loss per share(2) of ($0.25)

Meredith Corporation's category-leading brands—PEOPLE, Allrecipes, Better Homes & Gardens, SHAPE, Southern Living, Entertainment Weekly, FOOD & WINE and Travel + Leisure—have achieved momentous performances in audience rankings, according to the latest Magazine Media 360° Brand Audience Report produced by the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) for June 2020, which covers 93 magazine brands and 21 publishing companies. PEOPLE, one of the world's leading entertainment media brands, ranks No. 1 in Total Brand Audience across platforms with 87.6 million, followed by Allrecipes, America's largest digital food media brand, at No. 2 with 62.5 million and Better Homes & Gardens at No. 7 with 39.4 million.

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for June 2020 reflecting reported revenue for all tracked categories, including Trade (consumer publications), K-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses. Total revenues across all categories for June 2020 were approximately $1.4 billion, a decline of 4.1% as compared to June 2019. Year-to-date sales were $5.7 billion, a decline of 4.2% as compared to the same period last year. Trade sales were up 24.4% year-over-year, coming in at $700.3 million. Year-to-date (January-June 2020) Trade sales were $3.6 billion, an increase of 2.8%, as compared to the same period in 2019.

I am announcing today the expansion of our current leadership taskforce on election mail to enhance our ongoing work and partnership with state and local election officials in jurisdictions throughout the country. Leaders of our postal unions and management associations have committed to joining this taskforce to ensure strong coordination throughout our organization. Because of the unprecedented demands of the 2020 election, this taskforce will help ensure that election officials and voters are well informed and fully supported by the Postal Service. I want to assure all Americans of the following: *Retail hours at Post Offices will not change. *Mail processing equipment and blue collection boxes will remain where they are. *No mail processing facilities will be closed. *And we reassert that overtime has, and will continue to be, approved as needed.

The United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission of a temporary price change to take effect Oct. 18, 2020. The planned temporary price adjustments are in response to increased expenses and heightened demand for online shopping package volume due to the coronavirus pandemic and expected holiday ecommerce. As a result of these changing market conditions, the Postal Service is planning a time-limited price increase on all commercial domestic competitive package volume from Oct. 18 until Dec. 27, 2020. Retail prices and international products will be unaffected. The planned price increase would go into effect at 12:00AM Central on Oct.18, 2020 and remain in place until 12:00AM Central Dec. 27, 2020.

The Home Depot® reported sales of $38.1 billion for the second quarter of fiscal 2020, a 23.4 percent increase from the second quarter of fiscal 2019. Comparable sales for the second quarter of fiscal 2020 were positive 23.4 percent, and comparable sales in the U.S. were positive 25.0 percent. Net earnings for the second quarter of fiscal 2020 were $4.3 billion, or $4.02 per diluted share, compared with net earnings of $3.5 billion, or $3.17 per diluted share, in the same period of fiscal 2019. For the second quarter of fiscal 2020, diluted earnings per share increased 26.8 percent from the same period in the prior year.

Driven by strong sales from a host of new titles, unit sales of print books jumped 24.8% in the week ended Aug. 8, 2020, over the comparable week in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The biggest gain came in the young adult fiction segment, where unit sales skyrocketed 168.8% over the week ended Aug. 10, 2019. The category received a huge boost from the release of Stephenie Meyer’s Midnight Sun, which sold more than 524,000 copies in its first week. The juvenile fiction segment had an 18.8% gain over 2019, led by a new Jeff Kinney title, Rowley Jefferson’s Awesome Friendly Adventure, which sold nearly 46,000 copies in its first week. Two new releases drove up sales in the adult nonfiction category 23.1% over 2019.

Following the House Antitrust Subcommittee’s capstone digital markets hearing, “Online Platforms and Market Power, Part 6: Examining the Dominance of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google,” three groups representing thousands of authors, publishers, and booksellers in the United States – the Association of American Publishers, Authors Guild, and American Booksellers Association – have sent a joint letter to Subcommittee Chairman David Cicilline (D-R.I.) enumerating a series of anti-competitive tactics that permit Amazon to exercise extraordinary market dominance over the advertising and sale of books in digital markets. Its practices against both book suppliers and book customers have threatened the vitality of the American publishing industry and rendered any meaningful competition from other publishers, booksellers, or emerging platforms impossible. “The Subcommittee’s work has shown that Amazon holds an outsized position of power and control in our country, giving it the ability to interfere with the free flow of information, ideas and literature on a large scale,” the letter tells the Chairman. The full letter can be viewed at: https://publishers.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Joint-Letter-to-Rep-Cicilline-081720.pdf

Commenting on the January to June results, Chris Duncan, CEO of UK Publishing, said: “Bauer Media continues to be at the forefront of the UK consumer magazine industry, publishing audited circulation figures as a matter of record and providing full transparency for our commercial partners. We are reporting ABCs for the full, uninterrupted January to June 2020 period which reflect the unique circumstances in which we have traded. While our traditional supply-chain experienced massive disruption during lockdown, the demand for our products remained strong and even increased in some markets. We saw home delivered and digital copies grow through our subscriptions channels, and sales in independent shops rise as more of our readers sought out copies closer to home.

Tribune Publishing, owner of New York's Daily News and Capital Gazette, among other titles, announced it will permanently close the newsrooms of both newspapers. Staffers will work offsite. The Daily News will close its newsroom at 4 New York Plaza in Lower Manhattan with no plans for a future physical office, The New York Times reports. Workers have until Oct. 30 to collect items left in the office.

Brooks Brothers has agreed to be acquired for $325 million by Sparc Group, a venture backed by the mall giant and apparel-licensing firm Authentic Brands Group. As part of the agreement, Sparc Group, which has previously acquired Aéropostale, Forever 21, Nautica and recently bid on Lucky Brand, has committed to keeping at least 125 Brooks Brothers stores open. The retailer has about 200 stores in North America. The sale is subject to bankruptcy court approval. The 200-year-old Brooks Brothers, the nation’s oldest apparel company, filed for bankruptcy in July. While the pandemic has taken a heavy toll on sales as its stores went dark, the retailer has been struggling for some time under a heavy debt load, increased competition and the move to more casual workwear.

Details on the Company’s Chapter 11 process and go-forward strategy are as follows: The Company expects to close a significant portion, if not all, of its brick-and-mortar stores and, in connection therewith, the Company has launched a store closing and liquidation process. The Company, however, will continue to operate its business in the ordinary course in the near term; and The Company is evaluating any and all strategic alternatives, including the potential sale of its eCommerce business and related intellectual property.

Time Out will likely cease printing most of its 40 magazine editions based in cities worldwide. The company plans to continue printing the magazine in London, Madrid and Barcelona, Time Out Group CEO Julio Bruno told the Financial Times. However, the group is “unlikely” to resume printing in the US and Portugal, according to the report. Other territories are “under review by management.”

REI Co-op announced it is pursuing a sale of its newly completed corporate campus in the Spring District neighborhood of Bellevue, Washington with the intention of shifting to a less centralized approach to its headquarters presence in the Seattle area. Rather than a single location, REI’s “headquarters” would span multiple locations across the region, and the company will lean into remote working as an engrained, supported, and normalized model for headquarters employees, offering flexibility for more employees to live and work outside of the Puget Sound region and shrinking the co-op’s carbon footprint.

Fiscal 2020 fourth quarter revenues were $611 million, a decline of 22 percent from the prior year period, due primarily to (1) COVID-19 related advertising cancellations and delays that reduced revenues by an estimated $136 million; and (2) Previously announced magazine portfolio adjustments designed to improve profitability that reduced advertising and consumer related revenues by approximately $40 million. Fiscal 2020 fourth quarter earnings from continuing operations was $6 million, compared to a loss of $4 million in the prior year period. Fiscal 2020 full year revenues were $2.8 billion, a decline of 11 percent from the prior year due primarily to (1) COVID-19 related advertising cancellations and delays, and impact to consumer related activities that reduced revenues by an estimated $154 million; (2) Previously announced magazine portfolio adjustments of approximately $126 million; and (3) $79 million lower political advertising revenues in Meredith's Local Media Group, as expected in a non-political year. These declines were partially offset by $31 million retransmission growth. Fiscal 2020 full year loss from continuing operations was $209 million, compared to earnings from continuing operations of $129 million in the prior year, due primarily to non-cash impairments of goodwill, intangible, and lease-related assets.

The nearly 50-year-old kitchenware retailer, which filed for bankruptcy in July and said it would close over 50 of its 121 stores, has been sold for nearly $89 million to a joint venture between e-commerce investment firm CSC Generation and Marquee Brands LLC. The sale, which is still subject to bankruptcy court approval, was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. According to court documents, the joint venture plans to keep at least 50 Sur La Table stores open.

The Postal Regulatory Commission marks 50 years of public service in its mission to ensure transparency and accountability of one of our Nation’s most valued treasures rooted in the Constitution — the U.S. Postal Service. President Richard M. Nixon signed into law the Postal Reorganization Act of 1970 on August 12 of that year. This momentous legislation would transform the Post Office Department into a newly independent Postal Service the following year. Yet the law immediately created the Postal Rate Commission as the 1970 Act ended the role of the U.S. Congress in setting stamp prices. Later, with passage of the Postal Accountability & Enhancement Act of 2006, the agency was renamed the Postal Regulatory Commission as part of significantly expanding its responsibilities. For half a century, the Commission has been the regulatory anchor providing legal and economic oversight of the one agency that touches the lives of all Americans in every community nearly every day, at their homes and offices. Ever since Congress and President Nixon created it on August 12, 1970, the Commission has consistently conducted its work in an open and accessible way, with full transparency and an opportunity for robust input by the public. The agency's operations on behalf of its fellow citizens foster a vital and efficient universal mail system.

As districts grapple with decisions on what the fall will look like for teachers and students amid the surging COVID-19 pandemic, Learning Company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt today announced new professional learning opportunities for educators nationwide. This follows the recent launch of Teacher’s Corner™, a new online space for continuous professional learning through HMH’s digital teaching and learning platform, Ed: Your Friend in Learning and another solution within HMH’s suite of professional learning offerings. HMH’s all-new live online professional learning will help districts navigate the unique challenges facing them this back-to-school season, including addressing student learning gaps, training for remote teaching, supporting social-emotional needs and improving equity and access. Professional learning consultants, who are teachers themselves, provide a digital ‘shoulder to shoulder’ experience partnering with educators via live online courses and coaching through HMH’s award-winning Coaching Studio™ platform, with a focus on each district’s needs and goals.

Meredith Corporation launches its Meredith Data Studio, a suite of advertising solutions leveraging the company's vast, proprietary, first-party data and predictive insights capabilities to help inform its partners' marketing, product and business strategies. The offerings feature full-service data solutions, predictive analytics, paid consulting and self-service tools, all powered by Meredith's 360 platform, an end-to-end audience insights and activation platform designed for managed or self-service access, as well as predictive capabilities to analyze billions of intent signals and engagements to trends and purchase intent in order to deliver precisely targeted audience and contextual advertising. "As a brand-led organization that reaches nearly 95% of American women, Meredith possesses rich, exclusive data with massive scale in content-rich environments. Using those assets, we've built an exclusive, in-depth 12,000+-term taxonomy, a proprietary identity graph and over 12 billion intent signals to achieve an unmatched, comprehensive and timely understanding of women and their purchase intent – the holy grail for our partners," explains Alysia Borsa, Chief Business & Data Officer, who oversees Meredith Data Studio.

The new organization will align functions based on core business operations and will provide more clarity and focus on what the Postal Service does best; collect, process, move and deliver mail and packages. The new organizational structure is focused on three business operating units: *Retail and Delivery Operations — basic mission: Accept and deliver mail and packages efficiently with a high level of customer satisfaction. This organization will be led by Kristin Seaver. *Logistics and Processing Operations –— basic mission: Process and move mail and packages efficiently to the delivery units, meeting service standards. This organization will be led by David Williams. *Commerce and Business Solutions — basic mission: Leverage infrastructure to enable growth. This organization will be led by Jacqueline (Jakki) Krage Strako.

Financial and Business Highlights: *Gross revenue was $203.3 million in the second quarter of 2020, a decrease of 28.4% compared to $283.9 million in the second quarter of 2019. *Gross profit was $48.4 million, or 23.8% of gross revenue in the second quarter of 2020, compared to $68.4 million, or 24.1% of gross revenue, in the same period of last year. *Net loss for the second quarter of 2020 was $(7.9) million, or $(0.15) per diluted share, compared to net loss of $(0.5) million, or $(0.01) per diluted share in the second quarter of 2019. Year-to-date net loss was $(10.8) million, compared to $(2.6) million in the same period of 2019.

Chatham Asset Management, LLC announced that Tony Hunter will become Chief Executive Officer of The McClatchy Company, following the local news company's emergence from Chapter 11 and the completion of its Court-approved sale to Chatham, in September. Mr. Hunter will succeed Craig Forman, McClatchy's CEO, who along with the current board and Chairman Kevin McClatchy, will leave the company upon McClatchy's emergence from its court-supervised reorganization.

Since going online and rebranding as Time In in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, Time Outis releasing its first print issue on August 11, dedicated to the memory of Time Out’s founder Tony Elliott. Elliott launched Time Out as an eight-page listings guide he handed out himself in London 52 years ago. He died in July from lung cancer. Since launching in London in 1968, the brand has expanded to include 328 cities in 58 countries, and continues to expand its Time Out Market experience with locations in Lisbon, Montreal, New York, Chicago, Boston and Miami.

Another week with double-digit gains in all but one category led to a 15.1% jump in unit sales of print books from the comparable period in 2019 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The juvenile nonfiction segment had the biggest gain over the week ended Aug. 3, 2019, with units spiking 40%. The usual suspects were atop the category bestseller list in the week—Big Preschool Workbook was #1, selling nearly 33,000 copies, followed by Crystal Radke’s My First Learn-to-Write Workbook, which sold more than 28,000 copies. Last year at this time, Big Preschool Workbook sold nearly 14,000 copies. Print unit sales were up 18.9% over 2019 in the adult nonfiction category.

The Postal Service reported total revenue of $17.6 billion for the third quarter of fiscal 2020, an increase of $547 million, or 3.2 percent, compared to the same period last year. Compared to the same quarter last year, Marketing Mail revenue declined by $1.4 billion, or 37.2 percent, on a volume decline of 6.4 billion pieces, or 36.4 percent. First-Class Mail revenue decreased by $373 million, or 6.4 percent, on a volume decline of 1.1 billion pieces, or 8.4 percent. Secular declines in mail have continued to negatively affect mail revenue and volume, and those declines have been significantly exacerbated by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, Shipping and Packages revenue increased by $2.9 billion, or 53.6 percent, on a volume increase of 708 million pieces, or 49.9 percent, compared to the same quarter last year. In the near term, the Postal Service anticipates that these trends will continue given the surge in e-commerce as many Americans stay home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Postal Service has and will continue to serve its customers during this crisis through the delivery of medicine, essential consumer staples, benefits checks, and important information, but does not expect its package revenue growth over the medium to long term to make up for its losses in mail service revenue caused by COVID-19.

The New York Times Co’s second-quarter results beat Wall Street estimates, as its digital unit, which includes news, podcasts and crosswords, overtook the legacy print business for the first time. The Times, which competes for ad dollars with big players like Facebook Inc (FB.O) and Alphabet Inc’s (GOOGL.O) Google, has been shifting towards a subscriber-backed model in an effort to cut its reliance on advertising. The shift has paid off for the publisher that expects third-quarter digital subscription revenue to rise about 30%. “We posted our best-ever results for new digital subscriptions, and for the first time in our history total digital revenue exceeded print revenue..,” outgoing Chief Executive Officer Mark Thompson said in a statement.

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $13.04 billion for the retail month of July, the four weeks ended August 2, 2020, an increase of 14.1 percent from $11.43 billion last year. For the forty-eight weeks ended August 2, 2020, the Company reported net sales of $149.66 billion, an increase of 8.8 percent from $137.56 billion during the similar period last year.

• Second quarter revenues of $767.0 million rose 89.7% as compared to the prior year, reflecting the Acquisition. ◦ Same store pro forma revenues (as defined and reconciled below) decreased 28.0%, due to unfavorable impacts resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic and general trends adversely impacting the publishing industry. • Digital advertising and marketing services revenues were $168.8 million in the second quarter, or 22.0% of total revenues. • Over $160 million in annualized synergy measures were implemented by the end of the second quarter, with approximately $41.2 million in savings recognized in the quarter.

Q2 2020 Headlines: •Net sales declined 35% to $251 million in the second quarter, and declined 24% to $441 million on a year-to-date basis •Billings1 declined 39% to $297 million in the second quarter, and declined 34% to $428 million on a year-to-date basis •HMH has further improved its leading win rate in the Texas Literature adoption with virtually all decisions made •Significant growth in digital platform usage with 486% increase in student assignments over the last twelve months as schools adjust to remote learning environment •Strong growth of 127% in SaaS billings as digital transformation accelerates

Total reported sales for the second quarter of 2020 were $2.2 billion, a decrease of 17% compared to the second quarter of 2019. The decrease in revenue was primarily the result of lower sales in the Business Solutions Division (BSD) and CompuCom Division driven by impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic, combined with lower sales in the Retail Division driven by lower volume and fewer retail stores in service. Product sales in the second quarter were down 15% relative to the prior year period. Service revenue was down 26% in the quarter related to lower comparable sales at CompuCom and sales of service in our BSD and Retail Divisions, all of which were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. On a consolidated basis, service revenue represented approximately 14% of total Company sales in the second quarter of 2020. The Company reported an operating loss of $456 million in the second quarter of 2020, compared to an operating loss of $15 million in the prior year period. GAAP operating results in the second quarter included $466 million of charges including $401 million of non-cash asset impairment charges, and $65 million in merger and restructuring costs. Asset impairment charges of $401 million in the second quarter of 2020 included $363 million related to impairment of goodwill and other intangible assets at CompuCom and in the Company’s contract business combined, largely related to the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on current businesses conditions. Asset impairment charges also included $25 million related to the impairment of operating lease right-of-use (ROU) assets associated with the Company’s retail store locations, with the remainder primarily relating to the impairment of fixed assets. Merger and restructuring costs of $65 million include $6 million associated with the Business Acceleration Program (“BAP”), $51 million associated with restructuring charges related to the recently announced Maximize B2B Restructuring Plan, and $7 million in merger, acquisition and integration-related expenses.

The McClatchy Company announced that the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has approved the sale of substantially all of McClatchy's assets, including all 30 of McClatchy's news organizations, to Chatham Asset Management LLC. Chatham emerged as the successful bidder during an auction held on July 10, 2020. As previously disclosed, Chatham will acquire substantially all of McClatchy's assets for approximately $263 million in a credit bid of McClatchy's first-lien debt, plus new money consideration of approximately $49 million in cash. The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. McClatchy expects to complete the transaction in September.

The U.S. Postal Service is implementing major changes to its delivery operations, effectively eliminating OT for carriers and informing them to leave undelivered items for the next day. This is all part of a cost-saving campaign under new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, who estimates it will save the cash-strapped agency $200 million per year. Postal workers and unions as you might expect are not happy with the changes, which run counter to their mission to provide timely deliveries. A spokesman said the USPS is “developing a business plan to ensure that we will be financially stable and able to continue to provide reliable, affordable, safe and secure delivery of mail, packages and other communications to all Americans as a vital part of the nation’s critical infrastructure.”

1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. announced that it has completed its acquisition of PersonalizationMall.com®. Chris McCann, CEO, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc., said, “The addition of PersonalizationMall.com to our unique business platform, including our all-star family of brands, significantly enhances our ability to help our customers engage and stay connected with the important people in their lives. Like our leading brand positions in Gourmet Food and Flowers, the broad assortment of products and customization processes offered by PersonalizationMall.com makes it a leader in the growing market for personalized gifts.”

Consumers are getting snookered in new and more devious ways online. And they know it, although often not until after the fact, judging by a study released last week by specialty insurer Hartford Steam Boiler (HSB) conducted by Zogby Analytics. Of consumers polled, 23% had their identity stolen in 2019 -- a 5% increase over 2016 and 2018, the study says. And these victims spent 27 hours dealing with the fallout, mainly correcting personal information and monitoring their credit. Overall, 77% are at least somewhat concerned about identity theft occurring while they are shopping on a public Wi-Fi connection. Moreover, 34% suffered a cyber attack last year, with viruses or malware the most common damage for 72%.

Meredith Corporation announced that it is teaming up with The Kroger Co.'s media advertising business, Kroger Precision Marketing (KPM), to offer a new integrated media service that will help CPG brands make advertising more shoppable. Meredith's offering provides brand advertisers access to Kroger's first-party purchase data and custom audience segments to power media campaigns across its portfolio of 40+ trusted, iconic food and lifestyle brands, including Allrecipes, REAL SIMPLE, EatingWell, PEOPLE, Better Homes & Gardens and Southern Living. The new integration marks the first time that brand advertisers on Meredith properties will be able to apply closed-loop sales data from Kroger to their campaigns. The service launches at a time when brands need to re-engage consumers whose shopping patterns have been disrupted. Meredith and Kroger Precision Marketing, by matching premium content with sales data, are positioned to influence product discovery, meal planning, product trial, and shopping routines.

Following a survey of its workforce over the last few weeks gauging employee experience with working remotely and reaction to the prospect of returning to its Manhattan offices, Penguin Random House US has confirmed that it will not return to its offices "until sometime next year," CEO Madeline McIntosh wrote in a letter to staff, adding that the publisher will return "when it’s safe and when it’s practical," whenever that may be. "Clearly, we miss being together and would want to quickly get back to the offices if it meant we could safely return to in-person meetings and conversations. But just as clearly, most of us feel that the current state of virus risk means that it would not be comfortable or responsible to come back together in our office spaces anytime soon," McIntosh wrote. "On the bright side, the vast majority report that, overall, working remotely is going quite well, and some are feeling they prefer it as a long-term solution."

The retailer stated on its website that “It’s time to say goodbye.” “Every brand has a story and ours has taken an unexpected turn. “We may be saying goodbye before too long so we’re taking 70 percent off everything. Thanks for being part of our family & history,” they said. A week later, they seem to have made the decision to shut down operations, at least for the foreseeable future. They argue COVID-19 have led them down a path they didn’t expect, confirming both their physical stores and their e-commerce are closed and that they aren’t able to take orders, marking the end of a 3-decade story.

The horrible situation that airlines are in is having quite an impact for many suppliers. For example, American Airlines’ nut supplier has a huge surplus, and is selling them directly to consumers. Inflight magazines are in an equally rough situation. They’re typically run by third parties, and rely on advertisers to pay the bills. With the number of travelers way down, circulation of these magazines is also way down. Well, it looks like United Airlines and INK Publishing have a creative solution for this… Well, Hemispheres magazine is making a comeback in August, but it won’t be available on United Airlines flights. As reported by Ramsey Qubein, United Airlines will be making its inflight magazine an elite perk, known as “Hemi at Home.” US-based United Global Services, Premier 1K, and Premier Platinum members, will start receiving copies of Hemispheres magazine at their mailing address on file.

Nearly two quarters into the U.S. economic recession, advertising appears to be outpacing the U.S. economy, according to an analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) and Standard Media Index (SMI). The BEA Thursday released estimates that real GDP (gross domestic product) contracted 32.9% during the second quarter of the year, following a contraction of 5% during the first quarter. By comparison, the U.S. ad economy contracted only 27.4% during the second quarter and 1.4% during the first quarter of the year. That analysis is based on the U.S. Ad Market Tracker, a collaboration of SMI and MediaPost that indexes at market growth monthly.

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released the StatShot Annual report for Calendar Year 2019, estimating that the U.S. book publishing industry generated $25.93 billion in annual revenue, up by 1.1% as compared to 2018. In terms of units the report estimates that 2.76 billion units were sold. All figures represent publishers’ net revenue from tracked categories (trade, higher education course materials, PreK-12 instructional materials, professional books, and university press), in all formats, from all distribution channels. Overall publishing industry revenue was essentially flat, coming in at $25.93 billion for the year, which was a 1.1% increase as compared to $25.63 billion in 2018.

On July 27, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) put a new rule into effect that allows employee benefit plan administrators to use an electronic “notice-and-access” disclosure system as the default method of communication, making it much more difficult for millions of Americans who currently receive critical, paper-based information about their 401k, pension and retirement plans to access this information. This includes information called for under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), including quarterly benefits statements, plan summaries and plan changes. This new rule puts many at a disadvantage, particularly the 10% of Americans who say they do not use the internet. According to a 2019 Pew Research Center survey, the size of this group has changed little in recent years, despite ongoing government and social service programs to encourage internet adoption in underserved areas. Among those most disadvantaged by this new rule are senior citizens, (27% of whom do not use the internet), low-income families, people with disabilities and those living in rural or other areas with little or no access to the internet.

*Operating cash flow increased 42% to $51.2 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $36.0 billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2019. *Free cash flow increased to $31.9 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $25.0 billion for the trailing twelve months ended June 30, 2019. *Net sales increased 40% to $88.9 billion in the second quarter, compared with $63.4 billion in second quarter 2019. Excluding the $582 million unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 41% compared with second quarter 2019. *Operating income increased to $5.8 billion in the second quarter, compared with operating income of $3.1 billion in second quarter 2019. *Net income increased to $5.2 billion in the second quarter, or $10.30 per diluted share, compared with net income of $2.6 billion, or $5.22 per diluted share, in second quarter 2019.

Staffers at Hearst Magazines digital and print properties voted overwhelmingly yesterday to unionize with the Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE). The election, which happened by mail ballot, follows Hearst management’s refusal to voluntarily recognize its staff’s efforts to unionize in November of last year. Roughly 500 Hearst employees make up the new bargaining unit and work across editorial, video, design, photo and social. The unionized staff seeks to address issues that include diversity, transparency, compensation and editorial standards through its contract.

Pursuant to the terms that will apply to borrowing under the CARES Act, the Postal Service will provide the Department of the Treasury with certain information regarding our costs, revenues, and overall financial position. This includes providing Treasury, under strict terms of confidentiality, with those contracts that generate the most revenue for the Postal Service. Providing this information is merely an acknowledgment of the fact that Treasury has been designated by Congress as the lender for the Postal Service, and it therefore has a legitimate interest under certain circumstances in understanding those factors that affect our current and projected financial position. Other conditions, such as the requirement that borrowed funds only be used for operating expenses, and not for capital expenses, were expressly mandated by Congress in the language of the CARES Act. Contrary to insinuations made in the Washington Post article, nothing in these terms confers upon Treasury any role whatsoever in Postal Service pricing, management, or strategy.

The U.S. Postal Service announced a loyalty program designed to help smaller businesses, according to a press release obtained by Total Retail. Registered business users of USPS Click-N-Ship will earn credits by purchasing postal products they're already using for their shipping needs. Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express postage purchased online through Click-N-Ship will generate credits that can then be applied to future purchases of these products. Click-N-Ship business account users will earn $40 credits for every $500 spent on Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express labels. The program will launch nationally on Aug. 1. Existing business accounts will be auto-enrolled in the program. New Click-N-Ship business account users will earn a one-time $40 Welcome Bonus for the first $500 spent on Priority Mail and Priority Mail Express postage. In addition, the Postal Service is offering a one-time $20 Introductory Bonus for any registered Click-N-Ship business user for $500 spent in August and September this year.

UPS announced second-quarter 2020 consolidated revenue increased to $20.5 billion, a 13.4% increase from the second quarter of 2019. Net income was $1.8 billion for the quarter; adjusted net income was $1.9 billion, 8.8% above the same period in 2019. Operating profit was $2.2 billion, and adjusted operating profit was $2.3 billion, up 7.4% compared to last year’s second quarter. Diluted earnings per share was $2.03 and adjusted diluted earnings per share was $2.13, up 8.7% from the same period last year. GAAP results included a pre-tax transformation charge of $112 million, equivalent to $0.10 per share. In the prior year period, GAAP results included a pre-tax charge for transformation costs of $21 million, equivalent to $0.02 per share.