It is expected that Penguin Random House will complete the acquisition of Simon & Schuster in the second quarter; HarperCollins completed the purchase of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s commercial division on June 30. Illustration: Finance images. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Books & Media posted $42.7 million in revenue for the first quarter, up 12% year-over-year. Currently, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has closed its New York office pending the completion of the sale. For its part, HarperCollins posted a 45% increase in profits in the first quarter, with revenue up 19% from the first three months of 2020. Revenue came in at $490 million, while EBITDA hit $80 million. Susan Panuccio, chief financial officer of News Corp (parent company of HarperCollins), said the increase in sales was driven by the general commercial and children’s books industry in the US and UK. Panuccio revealed that printed books accounted for 62% of sales in the quarter. In terms of format, sales of e-books increased by 38% and audiobooks increased by 42%. In a short financial update, Bertelsmann (the parent company of Penguin Random House) said that Penguin Random House was one of several divisions of the company that posted double-digit growth in the first quarter compared to the same period of 2020. Simon & Schuster is currently decommissioned, pending acquisition completion. Simon & Schuster’s parent company, Viacom CBS, had $185 million in revenue, up 8.8% from the first quarter of 2020. Jonathan Karp – CEO of Viacom CBS – reported that the biggest increase came from the international division. publisher economy, where revenue increased 21%. In which, sales of audio books increased sharply (17%). Some outstanding books in 2020. Photo: Nytimes. Hachette Book Group is one of the 5 largest trade publishers in the US. In the first quarter, Hachette’s revenue grew 9.1% year-on-year. Michael Pietsch, Hachette CEO, said the increase was driven by sales of hardcover books. Hachette’s distribution business, he noted, has seen double-digit growth. Hachette’s total revenue reached 509 million euros (about 619 million dollars). In addition to the increase in book sales in the US, Hachette’s sales also increased in France and the UK, offsetting declines in the Spanish and Latin American markets. Hachette’s digital books performed well in the first quarter, but e-books only accounted for 9% of total sales. The share of audiobook sales fell to 4.6% from 5.9% in the first three months of 2020. Despite the growth compared to 2020, US publishing units are cautious about developments in the coming time. As more professions reopen, consumers have more options besides reading.

By acquiring Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, HarperCollins will be better able to compete in the publishing industry. Photo: Richard Drew / Associated Press. Robert Thomson – CEO of News Corp – said welcome: “We welcome the talented team of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to HarperCollins, especially at a time when so many people in many places are reading and listening to books. “. “We look forward to new and exciting opportunities as we chart a stronger future together,” said Brian Murray, President and CEO of HarperCollins. He thinks that merging two publishing companies, each with a long list of literary works, will be the focus of team cohesion. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt owns a list of more than 7,000 titles and has many important works in the lifestyle and children’s segments. Many famous books by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt help to generate high profits such as: Curious George, The Polar Express, Little Blue Truck and The Little Prince … HarperCollins will acquire the English rights to JRR Tolkien’s novels and films, including Hobbit guy and The Lord of the Rings . Illustration by JRR Tolkien in the upcoming edition of The Lord of the Rings. Photo: The Tolkien Estate/Harper Collins. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s audiobook business is also thriving, which is expected to boost HarperCollins’ audiobook sales. Before that, the sheet New York Times commented that by acquiring Houghton Mifflin, HarperCollins will be better able to compete as the publishing industry is being dominated by “big players”. In recent years, the book business has witnessed the consolidation of a number of large publishing units. In 2020, ViacomCBS agreed to sell Simon & Schuster to Penguin Random House for more than $2 billion. The deal attracted the attention of antitrust regulators and raised concerns among booksellers, authors and agents. The deal of these two book giants is not yet completed. HarperCollins is the second largest publisher of consumer books in the world. In the first quarter of the year, HarperCollins saw revenue growth of 19% year over year. Headquartered in New York, HarperCollins has publishing operations in 17 countries. This unit has more than 120 publishing brands around the world. Each year, this unit publishes about 10,000 books, print and digital catalogs more than 200,000 works.