Pearson said to be biggest global publisher
So—among global book-publishing conglomerates—who’s the biggest of ‘em all? Many would say Bertelsmann. Wrong! At least if you go by a Bookseller.com item.
Excerpt: “Pearson is now the largest global publisher of books, according to a worldwide ranking of international publishers. An analysis of publisher revenue shows that Penguin’s parent has overtaken ThomsonReuters, with Reed Elsevier moving up to second place, while Random House’s owner Bertelsmann has slipped to fifth position.
“Pearson is one of only two companies in the top 10 list to have significantly grown sales organically over 2008 as the worsening recession has forced companies into either restructurings or divestments. Pearson’s sales grew 5%, behind Reed Elsevier’s 9% growth. Both were dwarfed, however by Spain’s Planeta, which saw annual revenue up 76%, following the acquisition of France’s second largest publisher, Editis.”
So next time you fret over DRM and pricing policies and all that, look beyond Bertelsmann.
Related: A downloadable PDF with details., as well as a Wikipedia item on Pearson.
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