Print Sales Rose 5.8% in Christmas Week (publishersweekly.com)

FY23 second quarter service performance scores covering Jan. 1 through March 24, included: *First-Class Mail: 91.2% of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter. *Marketing Mail: 94.7% of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 0.7 percentage points from the fiscal first quarter. *Periodicals: 87.0% of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 2.3 percentage points from the fiscal first quarter.

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.”

At outlets that report to NPD BookScan, unit sales of print books were down 1% in the week ended Dec. 3, 2017, from the similar week in 2016. This was the second consecutive week in the holiday season that sales were lower than at the same time last year; the previous week saw a 2% decline from the similar week in 2016. The only major category in which sales rose was juvenile nonfiction: units were 5% higher than in the week ended Dec. 4, 2016. Harry Potter: A Journey Through a History of Magic by the British Library remained the category’s top seller, with more than 28,000 copies sold in the week. Among books that posted solid gains in the week were Laugh-Out-Loud Jokes by Rob Elliott, which sold more than 13,000 copies to land in fifth place on the category bestsellers list, and How to Draw 101 Animals by Dan Green, which was in sixth place with almost 13,000 copies sold. Both the adult categories had lower sales than in the similar week in 2016. Click Read More below for additional information.