Digital Revenue up 33% at Hachette US, Now 30% of Total Revenue
The French publishing conglomerate Lagardère released their year end financial reports on Wednesday, and even though there was a noticeable lack of specific info on digital a few details were released.
Lagardère reported that total revenue for all units dropped to €7.2 billion euros in 2013, down 1.3% from 2012. The net income was €1.3 billion, with most of that amount being attributed to selling off a subsidiary.
The official press release doesn’t have any details on digital revenue or ebooks, surprisingly, but Lagardère’s US subsidiary Hachette Book Group released a few details in an email yesterday.
Overall revenue was up. Digital revenues were up 33% in 2013, reaching a new high of 30% of total revenue. From the tone of the email it would seem that Hachette success was attributed less to good business and more to having picked the right best sellers:
HBG profit “was significantly higher than 2012, thanks to several bestsellers,” states Lagardère’s press release. CEO Michael Pietsch said, “following a challenging 2012, 2013 was a strong year for HBG, with 6% growth in net sales and higher growth in profit.” HBG’s digital sales were up 33% over the prior year, and represent 30% of the company’s overall sales. HBG broke its bestseller record in 2013, with 206 print and 84 ebook titles on the New York Times bestseller list, including 52 #1 bestsellers. The major releases driving the company’s sales for 2013 include THE CUCKOO’S CALLING by Robert Galbraith (J.K. Rowling), THE LONGEST RIDE by Nicholas Sparks, ALEX CROSS, RUN by James Patterson and David Ellis, DAVID AND GOLIATH by Malcolm Gladwell, THE HIT by David Baldacci, THE GOLDFINCH by Donna Tartt, and I AM MALALA by Malala Yousafzai.
Comments
fjtorres March 13, 2014 um 10:54 pm
One thing to remember about brags relating to the number of "bestsellers" is that with print sales declining, the bar to reach "bestseller" status is lower that in times past.