Triple-Digit Digital Growth Drives Random House Profits in 2011
Publishers Lunch has the story (Random House Profit Increases as Bertelsmann Plans To Reshape Company In Next 5-10 Years):
Bertelsmann released its full-year earnings statement for 2011, and for Random House the numbers correspond to the trend at other large houses: Revenue fell €79 million or 4.3 percent to €1.749 billion compared to last year, while EBIT rose 6.9 percent to €185 million, compared to €173 million the previous year. The company also recorded “record triple-digital-percentage” digital revenue growth and a “surging demand” for Random House ebooks helped by the “increasing availability of lower-priced e-reading devices and tablets” that offset declines in print sales. [emphasis Digital Book World's] (2011 was also the year Random House switched to agency model pricing in the US.) Without reporting actual percentages of digital revenues, ceo Markus Dohle said in a letter to staff that “physical books…account for approximately 85 percent of our worldwide revenues.”
Read more at Publishers Lunch, including about how Random House e-book revenues in 2011 accounted for 11% of overall sales and how Random House parent company Bertelsmann AG plans on reinventing itself over the next five-to-ten years.
