Walmart Releases Q3 FY22 Earnings

Shutterfly announced an agreement to acquire Spoonflower, a global marketplace connecting makers and consumers with artists worldwide, in an accretive acquisition for approximately $225 million of enterprise value subject to certain working capital and other adjustments. The acquisition will enable Shutterfly to more broadly serve the fast-growing home decor marketplace by adding Spoonflower wallpaper, fabric, linens, bedding and other home decor soft goods to its product assortment and connecting Shutterfly’s 21 million active users to Spoonflower’s artists and design community. The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions, is expected to close in the third quarter of 2021. “We are excited to welcome Spoonflower to the Shutterfly family of brands,” said Hilary Schneider, Chief Executive Officer of Shutterfly. “Millions of consumers use Spoonflower to make and upload their own designs on premium fabric, wallpaper and home decor, ignite their entrepreneurial spirit by launching small businesses or express their personal style by shopping the marketplace of more than one million designs. Driven by its passionate creative community and a visionary management team, Spoonflower has also experienced explosive growth over the last 18 months amid the thriving DIY consumer movement. It’s a highly complementary strategic fit for Shutterfly and a win/win for consumers, employees, and members of our creative community alike.” 

James Patterson has achieved many milestones in his long and ultra-successful career as an author, and in early April he hit another: he became the first author to sell more than 100 million copies across all print formats since BookScan—now known as Circana BookScan—started recording unit sales of print books in 2004. Patterson easily topped the print sales accrued by Dr. Seuss, whose books have sold 83 million copies since 2004. Patterson’s top-selling print book as measured by BookScan is Honeymoon, which edged out 3rd Degree for the #1 spot. Like many of his bestsellers, those two are parts of series, and books in the Women’s Murder Club and Alex Cross series have fared particularly well. His top 10 bestselling titles sold just about 12 million copies, meaning that the rest of Patterson’s oeuvre racked up sales of 88 million copies in total.

As part of its human-centered approach to AI in K-12 education, learning technology company HMH today announced new OpenAI-powered integrations within Writable, its award-winning writing practice and assessment solution for grades 3-12. Within HMH’s connected literacy solution, Writable’s new GenAI capabilities increase the impact teachers can have by engaging more students with targeted feedback and motivating better writing in the moment. This approach to AI is teacher-guided, allowing teachers to incorporate AI-suggested feedback and scores into their instruction. This saves valuable time teachers can use to invest in student connections. “At HMH, we believe technology should be applied with purpose to deepen the human connections that accelerate learning outcomes,” says Jack Lynch, CEO at HMH. “Today’s announcement represents a thoughtful step forward in the transformative journey of using generative AI to enhance student learning and give teachers time back to do what only they can do, which is really connect with their students on a human level.”