S&S CEO Jonathan Karp said that refinements made to its metadata have improved sell-through, boosting the bottom line.
Catching up with PW's Andrew Albanese
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Simon & Schuster has reported that revenue rose 17% and operating income soared 85% in the first quarter ended March 31, 2022, according to Andrew Albanese, Publishers Weekly senior writer.
The remarkable business news for S&S comes while the publisher contends with the US government efforts to block its proposed acquisition by Penguin Random House. In November, the Department of Justice sued to block the merger, asserting it would harm authors and consumers.
The company’s various divisions all saw double-digit sales increases in the quarter, led by the international group, where sales rose 30%. The children’s division was up 16%, driven led by S&S’s growing list of graphic novels.
“In a call with analysts to discuss the Q1 report, S&S CEO Jonathan Karp said that refinements the publisher have made to its metadata has improved its sell-through, boosting the bottom line,” Albanese tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.
“That’s going to be doubly important during this period of inflation along with printing crunches and paper shortages and other supply chain challenges,” Albanese adds. “Karp said S&S has already had to move some of its third quarter titles into the fourth quarter.”
Every Friday, CCC’s “Velocity of Content” speaks with the editors and reporters of “Publishers Weekly” for an early look at the news that publishers, editors, authors, agents and librarians will be talking about when they return to work on Monday.
