S&S revenue down, earnings up in 2016

Simon & Schuster has recorded a drop in revenue in 2016 and an increase in earnings, reports Publishers Weekly.

Parent company CBS reported that the publisher’s revenue was US$767m ($A999m) in 2016, down 1.8% from the previous year. Operating income was up 4.4% to US$119m (A$155m).

The decline in revenue in 2016 was partly attributed to a strong fourth quarter in 2015, when Stephen King’s The Bazaar of Bad Dreams was a bestseller for the company.

S&S CEO Carolyn Reidy said she was satisfied with the modest drop in revenue given the flat market overall, noting that publishers needed to either ‘add a new business or take market share away’ from other publishers in order to achieve significant revenue growth.

S&S’s best performing division in 2016 was audio, with digital audio sales helping to offset some of the decline in ebooks. Children’s and international divisions were also strong, but sales in the adult group were down.

Category: International news