Mediaweek (Vol 14, No 5): B&N and Paper Source, Modern Econ, Wiley Annual Report, McGraw Hill Sells +More

Efforts to modernize the teaching of economics (The Economist- subscription)

Students say that inequality is the most pressing economic problem of the day, according to a paper by Samuel Bowles of the Santa Fe Institute and Wendy Carlin of University College, London. But in many textbooks, they argue, the topic is merely appended to the core curriculum. In 1993 a study found race and gender bias in introductory textbooks.

McGraw Hill in $4.5B Deal (Reuters)

Platinum Equity would acquire textbook publishing and educational technology company McGraw Hill for $4.5 billion from Apollo Global Management Inc (APO.N), the companies said on Tuesday.

Founded in 1888, New York-based McGraw Hill generates over $1 billion in annual revenue from its digital products, which include learning tools and platforms for schools and colleges, the companies said in a joint statement.

Since Apollo acquired McGraw Hill in 2013, the company has grown its digital portfolio from less than a quarter of its total revenue to over 60% now, the companies said. It completed six digital-focused takeovers during this time.

The Training is Coming from Inside the CMS (NYTimes)

The work was exhaustive and time intensive. And, because the team spent so much time training reporters and editors on how to use Oak, that left less time to train them to master different story formats, move swiftly during breaking news, make stories more visual and other skills needed in the new tool.

To help make Oak training more efficient, the N.D.S. and Oak teams launched a project aimed at building guidance — such as tooltips, helper text and best practices — directly into Oak. The goal: Give reporters and editors the help they need, in the places where they work, at the moments they need it most.

Barnes & Noble owner to buy Paper Source out of bankruptcy (Trib)

The acquisition will let Paper Source “emerge from Chapter 11 with the support of a well-capitalized owner committed to the development and growth of the business,” Elliott said in a news release Tuesday.

The purchase price was more than $91.5 million, including $40 million in cash and $51.6 million in loans, according to bankruptcy court records.

The Thought Police Come for Individual Lines of Dialogue in Novels (National Review)

Tying an author to the views expressed by fictional characters represents a breathtaking new advance for the cause of asininity in our culture. Hilderbrand’s response should have been to remind all readers that Norman Lear is not Archie Bunker, and her publishing house Little, Brown should have clarified that it does not submit its published books for re-editing by the mob.

Wiley released 4thQ numbers (Wiley)

FISCAL YEAR 2021 SUMMARY

• GAAP results: Revenue of $1,942 million, Operating Income of $186 million, EPS of $2.63, and Cash Flow from Operations of $360 million
• Adjusted results (at constant currency): Revenue +4%, EBITDA +16%, and EPS +27%
• Free Cash Flow of $257 million, up 48% from prior year
• Digital products and tech-enabled services now at 82% of total revenue, up from 80% a year ago

 Four Myths about Building a Software Business (McKinsey)

The attraction is obvious: the value that leading companies have captured by shifting to digital business models. Moreover, nearly two-thirds of companies expect that the digitization of their core businesses will be (or already is) essential to remaining economically viable. Only about 8 percent of companies believe that their current business models will remain viable if they don’t digitize. But making the shift to digital requires not only upgrading your IT and tech infrastructure, but also transforming your entire business model through creating, or even becoming, a software business (in whole or part), scaling a software offering, or using software as the core of your competitive advantage.

But while getting software into the core of your business model—or launching entirely new software businesses—might seem an obvious play in the current business environment, that doesn’t mean it will be easy. In reality, there are few successful cases of nonsoftware companies building software businesses (Exhibit 2) and many notable failures, including from otherwise high-performing companies. Of the approximately $500 billion in total global software revenues in the year 2019, nonsoftware natives captured only 20 percent. Nontechnology players, for their part, brought in only 6 percent (Exhibit 3).

**********

See more headlines from past MediaWeek posts - going back to 2006.

Adobe Summit - Evangelists For Publishing

There were some interesting take-always from Monday's Adobe Summit. 

The Adobe $1.5B acquisition of Workfront was one of largest Adobe has made and in doing so, the company was placing a bet on simplified, structured collaboration on the one hand and content and marketing complexity on the other.  Adobe has recognized that managing and recording the content creation process is increasingly important within all organizations as much as achieving effective marketing. Managing artifacts, content items and other similar materials are, and will, continue to consume increasing amounts of staff time as content is deployed everywhere and where measurement of the impact and use of this content is critical.

Workfront is now the workflow solution within Adobe Experience Manager: Using this framework marketing managers connect strategy to execution and can ensure the business is driving to the desired outcomes as it deploys content and creates uniquely personalized experiences for consumers. As user experience is enhanced with more and more personalized content and a widening of the access points to content, the amount of activities and transactions around this messaging will massively increase as these experiences are pushed (or pulled) to consumers. Managing all this activity requires robust workflow and tools which is where Workfront inside Adobe Experience Manager realizes its strength.

Within Workfront, staff map out their marketing campaigns and assign responsibilities which may be completed in any of the Adobe applications. These tasks have approval processes and 'jobs' are routed for review, approval and publishing and each activity is logged in Workfront. As campaigns are executed, managers can review how the entire campaign came together and what the results were. Adobe is calling this the "marketing system of record - a unified solution for sharing ideas, managing content creation and automating complex processes".

While Adobe saw the value of Workfront as supporting marketing and creative functions, within Book publishing the Workfront solution has also been used by publishers to replace spreadsheets and other tools within the editorial and production processes. Even as a 'generic' workflow product,  WorkFront is a strong competitor to the software solutions provided by industry players. National Geographic and Royal Society of Chemistry are two publishers using Workfront. Since Adobe products are embedded in publishing we will likely see an increase in the number of Workfront deployments and this should worry the incumbent software players in our space.

The other interesting news item concerned data privacy. Here Adobe is betting that third-party cookies which store our activities on the internet as we visit websites will disappear (or at least will not be used to identify our traffic). A new concept named the 'consumer data platform' whereby product companies and marketeers build a closer relationship with consumers by better utilizing the first-party data they already own to establish a coherent brand experience. This is explained in a good post here

Where it gets interesting is the Adobe spin. At the event, Adobe suggested a capability to leverage information the customer has chosen to share so that personalized experiences can be created and delivered to the consumer. Adobe has enabled "Segment Match" capabilities which will allow brands with similar interests to share data and to build collaborative engagement and expand their reach with consumers who have cross-over interests. A good example of this would be a travel publisher and an airline. This is in early days and we will see how this develops but for publishers with a broad array of content the opportunities to build partnerships based on real data could be an opportunity too important to miss out on. Just another reason why Adobe, already embedded in publisher workflows could see more expansion within publishing.

For more information check out the Adobe Summit Video.

 

 *******

Michael Cairns is a publishing and media executive with over 25 years experience in business strategy, operations and technology implementation.  He has served on several boards and advisory groups including the Association of American Publishers, Book Industry Study Group and the International ISBN organization.   Additionally, he has public and private company board experience.   He can be reached at michael.cairns@infomediapartners.com

Thinking About Selling your Publishing Business?

 

A re-post originally from June 29, 2010.

There are various approaches to selling a business and selling a publishing business is no different. The circumstances surrounding the decision to sell can greatly influence how smoothly the process goes; however, as with many things, the amount of preparation that goes into the process will ultimately determine whether there is a successful outcome.

As a seller, your immediate task is to eliminate questions, cynicism and doubt about your business in the minds of potential buyers. No matter how excited the potential purchaser seems to be about your company, they are going to be skeptical about key information. Their job is to (cynically) use anything negative to undercut a purchase price; your job is to be open and effectively back up any questions they will have with facts. (Bear in mind that adequately addressing these issues to their seeming satisfaction early in the process doesn't mean the purchaser won't raise them again during negotiations, so keep your story straight and simple).

If, as an owner, you always believed you would sell the business, then you should have a reasonable understanding when you would like this to happen. As a prelude to this event, you will want to focus on a number of key areas.

First, your financial statements: If Aunt Sally has been doing your taxes for the life of the company and you have never had periodic management accounts, then you are not in a position to achieve full value for your company. Treat Aunt Sally with respect but get yourself an accountant and a bookkeeper to put the numbers in order. At least a full year's audited financials and management accounts should be considered the basic financial reporting requirement when done by a qualified financial accountant. (They do not need to be full-time staff).

Second, if Aunt Sally is just one of several family members taking a salary in the company, you may want to think about their continued involvement in the run up to the sale. A buyer will want to know the actual operating cost of the business and you, as a seller, want to provide the best possible view of the business (that is, without extra expenses). Now, if the family member(s) has a legitimate and key role, then you may have other issues to address (such as their position with the company post-sale).

Third, many buyers will focus on future revenue growth. Do you have formal contracts or handshake deals? Is revenue dependent on one source? The buyer is going to second-guess your revenue projections; therefore, if there are any 'soft spots' it will undercut their confidence in the business overall. Saying so and so has always bought from us is not as valuable as being able to say 'we have a negotiated five-year deal' and we are currently in year two. If your revenue growth is rock solid - even if it is based on a small number of authors, commercial accounts or subscribers but supported in each case contractually - that will place you in a stronger position.

Fourth, your accountant will also create a balance sheet for the company and the key items concerning a buyer are those things that deal most immediately with cash. As a seller, you need details about your inventory turn, accounts receivable collections and accounts payable. Assuming you have prepared for the sale of the business more than twelve months in advance, you should have a clear picture of these items. Just because an item is listed as a company asset doesn’t mean a potential buyer is going to agree as to its value.

Other balance sheet items that require attention are fixed assets, which may include the building in which the company is located. Sometimes a seller wants to keep the building (if they own it) in which case you and your accountant will need to determine the best way to handle this. Bear in mind that the property could be the most valuable asset owned by the company. Similarly, the company may own patents and intellectual property that must be properly accounted for and (for the benefit of the acquirer) properly documented.

In summary, get your accounts audited, create a 'clean' income statement, deal proactively to get your revenue sources locked down and establish formal procedures to manage your cash flow and balance sheet items.

Obviously, the value of a business is stated in black and white in its financial statements but to the potential buyer they will be just as interested in the products you're selling and their future value as they are in your accounting policies. You must have clear ownership rights to any content or technology that represents a primary asset(s) of the company. If contracts aren't transferable, if certain rights are retained by content producers or if you 'collected' data to create your products without proper authority, these issues and others like them should be addressed and resolved before you market your company. If there is any doubt in the mind of a buyer that they will be able to carry the business forward, this will either scuttle a deal or significantly reduce your purchase price. And don't think they won't find out.

Sixth, your organization's human capital is important to the business for continuity reasons (if not for other reasons). Don't believe that you can keep the selling process a secret because even if your employees don't know everything, they will make up the rest. As a seller, you must maintain momentum and, for that, you need to maintain decent employee morale.

Bonuses and incentives can play a role, as can simple communication. Unfortunately, you can't control what the purchaser chooses to do with the business and placing restrictions on post-sale activities - even if you can get away with this - will only reduce your take. Key employees are important to the purchaser and they will want to know who these people are. The purchaser may want some guarantee that these key employees will remain with the business for some stated period after the sale and will be willing to pay the employees a bonus to stay.

As an owner, you may have provided equity to employees over the years, which would give them a piece of any sale. Often these deals can be 'casual' which is not what a buyer wants to hear. The last place a buyer wants to find him or herself is in the middle of an ownership dispute, so, no matter how painful this process may be, get those agreements formalized in advance of a sale.

Finally, as a seller you will want to practice speaking about your company so you are effective in communicating to potential buyers why acquiring your company represents good strategy. Your understanding of your market, your competitors' market positioning and market trends and opportunities all represent key components of your company's selling attributes - and reasons why a purchaser will see opportunity in acquiring your company. Work to prepare a briefing document of your company which you can use in presentations and discussions. Importantly, at industry events, seek out speaking and panel discussion opportunities where you can both present your company and your understanding of the market, as well as learn about what other similar companies are doing in your marketplace. Not everyone is comfortable with this type of communication; however, during a sales process the buyer is going to rely a lot on your perspective about the business, and the more comfortable you are, the better your views will come across. The only way to become a better and more effective communicator is through practice.

In summary, any hiccup in the process of acquiring your company could result in a buyer or buyers either getting cold feet or simply moving on to something else. There are lots of companies drawing acquisition attention and, having gained attention, you don't want to lose it and fall to the bottom of the pile. By the time you regain their interest, circumstances could have changed significantly and no longer exist to your advantage or worse - the opportunity maybe permanently lost to you. 

 

Michael Cairns served on the board of the Association of American Publishers and has served as President and CEO of several library services and education and information publishing companies. He is currently a consultant and board advisor to global publishing companies.

Ingram Sell VitalSource to Francisco Partners

Big news in education publishing:

From their press release:

Ingram Content Group® (“Ingram”) today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to sell VitalSource Technologies LLC to Francisco Partners, a leading global investment firm that specializes in partnering with technology businesses. 

Under Ingram’s leadership, VitalSource was transformed from a small venture serving a niche market to a global leader in digital content distribution. Ingram first acquired VitalSource in 2006 with an eye to grow it into a larger digital learning platform that could serve the higher ed market and more. This was part of a larger effort by Ingram to help the book industry leverage technology to transform the way content is accessed and in turn, the way the book industry works.

"We are very proud of the extraordinary value-add VitalSource offers the academic and professional communities. VitalSource has grown into one of the leading digital curriculum delivery and learning platform providers with proven scalability and reliability at a time where digital content and online learning is very much in demand,” said Ingram Content Group President & CEO Shawn Morin. “Francisco Partners is committed to furthering the VitalSource mission of improving learner outcomes and accelerating our commitment to developing innovative, forward-thinking solutions and platforms that open doors to affordable and impactful learning experiences to students and professionals around the world.”

 More to follow.

PersonaNonData Magazine: Amazon++, Copyright, Shakespeare + Other Articles

More articles of interest from my flipboard magazine:

Articles:

• New Statesman: Should Books be Free?
• Billboard: Bandcamp changes the discussion about payments
  
• Vox: Amazon's Union
• UC/Elsevier Journal deal
• Dohle - RandomHouse: It's the best time ever
• WAPO: Want to Borrow that Book?
• Stratechery: Relentless Jeff Bezos

Plus an archive of many more of interest to media folks

 

Non-fungible Transactions, What Are They? This Solves It.

New Price Fixing Suit Goes After Publishers and Amazon for Print Prices

Earlier this year, the law firm Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro (Hagens) filed suit alleging the price fixing and collusion among Amazon.com and the five largest trade publishers which, the suit alleges, caused consumers to pay higher prices.

Now the same law firm is alleging a similar crime with respect to print book prices.  In the press release, the law firm states, 

“We believe we have uncovered a classic antitrust price-fixing scheme akin to exactly what Amazon and the Big Five book publishers have been accused of in the past,” said Steve Berman, managing partner of Hagens Berman and attorney representing the proposed class of booksellers. “The Big Five and Amazon have sought to squeeze every penny they can from online and retail booksellers through a complex and restrictive set of agreements, and we intend to put an end to this anticompetitive behavior.” 

The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on Mar. 25, 2021, and states that Amazon colluded with the Big Five U.S. book publishers – Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster – to restrain competition in the sale of print trade books, or non-academic texts such as fiction and non-fiction material.  

Back in 2011, this law firm also sued Apple accusing them of fixing e-book prices at artificially high levels and in that case Apple agreed to settle for $400 million. Hagens has a colorful history as these links (1, 2, 3) suggest but it also was recognized in 2020 by Law360 as Class Action Practice Team of the year. 

It remains to be seen how these cases will be adjudicated over the next few (likely) years.  As noted in an earlier post, Connecticut is also taking a look at Amazon and eBook pricing according to the NYTimes.

 

Barnes & Noble Education: 3Q Results Show COVID Impact

Barnes & Noble Education reported their third quarter results on March 9th, showing a predictable decrease in revenues due to Covid.  Third quarter sales ($411MM) were off 18% versus 2020 which contributed to a year to date negative revenue ($1,211MM) variance of 24%.  EBITDA for the period showed a loss of $(48)MM versus $(1.7)MM in 2020. The year to date loss is $(87)MM versus income of $2.1 in 2020.  The company indicated they took a write down of $27MM for store fixtures.

It is worth noting that revenue results for 3Q 2020 were off 8% for the quarter and 6% year to date versus 2019 showing that the COVID impact has been significantly worse in recent periods.  In the 2019 3Q filing, revenues for the quarter were $550mm which indicates revenue has fallen $140mm over two years.  Year to date revenues in 2019 were $1.6B versus $1.2B in 2021.

(See Follett release below).

As this chart shows however, recent investors might be happy with share performance:

 

Additional details from their press release: 

Operational highlights for the third quarter 2021:

•Entered into a long-term strategic omnichannel merchandising partnership with FLC, forging an alliance with the two online and offline leaders in the licensed sports and emblematic merchandise category. Under the terms of the agreement, Fanatics and Lids together made a $15 million strategic equity investment in BNED

•BNC First Day® year-over-year revenue increased 107%, benefiting from the accelerated move to digital courseware.

•Reached agreements with 31 campus stores to date, which includes new business accounts, to support the BNC First Day® Complete program in Fall Term 2021, representing over 160,000 in total undergraduate enrollment; up from 12 campus stores and 43,000 in total undergraduate enrollment in Fall Term 2020.

•Continue to work with a significant number of additional campuses to secure agreements to launch First Day Complete for Fall Term 2021.

•Gained over 210,000 gross subscribers for the bartleby® suite of services year to date, with DSS revenue increasing 11.8% for the same period.

•Announced agreement with Wolfram|Alpha to develop a math solver as a new feature in the Company’s bartleby suite of solutions. Powered by Wolfram|Alpha’s best-in-class computation engine, the math solver will allow students to access an interactive digital calculator that provides real-time, step-by-step explanations for even the most advanced math problems.

•Continued to attract new clients and generate new business growth, signing over $84 million in net new business to date this fiscal year and expanding BNED’s footprint by 54 BNC institutions and 31 K-12 schools.

 

Related news from Higher Ed retailer Follett:  Web Sales Show Rapid Growth

Newsletter: Media News Update

*|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|*

Our World Our clients are thinking critically about how they will emerge from the challenges of 2020 to operate more efficiently and effectively in the future.  We've helped our clients evaluate and experiment with new business models, technology improvements and employee relations which will enable them to emerge better prepared and stronger over the next few years. At Information Media Partners we are always happy to take a call (908 938 4889) or email to discuss your particular challenge. Check out the following publishing and media articles of interest: Publishing & Industry News Clips Report: Open access models may be unsustainable for publishers (PND) The report won’t speculate on what options may be considered by publishers when this UKRI policy is adopted; but, this policy may have devastating effects on publishers, particularly smaller, association or membership-based publishing in niche markets. It is also unclear how much researchers, academics and libraries may benefit since in the totality of academic research this policy might immediately impact only a small amount of published content. Libraries will still continue to license large fee-based content to support their constituencies. What the report points out is the potentially disproportionate negative impact on UK based publishers and that some would ‘go out of business’.  Read the full report here The Management Lessons in David Simon's Homicide (Strategy + Business) What can we learn from this acute environment? For one, culture matters. The foundation of the work that gets done in the book is a powerful culture built on tradition and values, which the detectives transmit and reinforce in one another. It is a ferociously masculine culture, insular and to a great extent Catholic, expressed in gallows humor, and exalting duty and strength. Being a cop in Baltimore is so dangerous that a tradition has evolved for when someone returns to work after being shot in the line of duty: The officer gets to pick any assignment he’s qualified for. As Simon demonstrates, this culture sustains the detectives in the face of nearly overwhelming challenges. But it can also be a problem. “Police-involved shootings” are investigated with an eye toward making potential problems go away. The culture also means that the advent of women as detectives is unwelcome to the men, even as they occasionally accept one. Digital subscriptions for content businesses are growing across the board (TheNewStatesman) In a survey conducted for the Reuters Institute’s Digital News Report 2020, 64 per cent of readers in the UK cited “distinctive journalism” as their primary reason for subscribing to any publication, and 35 per cent of those readers said that they subscribe for particular writers they like. This agrees with what our readers tell us about why they subscribe: for Stephen Bush, Anoosh Chakelian, Jeremy Cliffe, Emily Tamkin, Sarah Manavis and Ailbhe Rea, among many others.    Our investments in technology and data journalism are paying off, as is our expansion into international coverage, led by Jeremy Cliffe. Our coverage of the US election in particular was widely praised for its insight and accuracy. Raising Pell: How Industry Support and Federal Grants Improve Prison Education (PND) The Obama Administration recognized that a coordinated and organized approach from the Department of Education and Bureau of Prisons would improve prison education programs. In the years since, quality education programs – where they exist – remain concentrated and reach less than 10% of incarcerated individuals. Allowing Pell Grants to be used by this population is an important step; however, if educational programs are a hodge-podge of well-intentioned but uncoordinated initiatives, they will only ever be partially successful (if success means delivering an efficacious education program to all who seek it). Black Kids and White Dominated Literature: A Do It Yourself Model (The Conversation) Although much of American children’s literature published near the turn of the last century – and even today – filters childhood through the eyes of white children, The Brownies’ Book gave African American children a platform to explore their lives, interests and aspirations. And it reinforced what 20th-century American literature scholar Katharine Capshaw has described as Du Bois’ “faith in the ability of young people to lead the race into the future.” Most likely inspired by The Brownies’ Book, several Black weekly newspapers went on to create their own children’s sections. While the children’s publishing industry may have shut out Black voices and perspectives, the editors of these periodicals sought to fill the void by celebrating them, giving kids a platform to express themselves, connect with one another and indulge their curiosities. Why are schools cancelling Shakespeare? (WAPO) Why should students be forced to read Shakespeare, as some teachers on Twitter are wondering? Why, indeed? God forbid they should try to muddle through a sentence by Vladimir Nabokov, Jane Austen, Leo Tolstoy or, my high school favorite, William Faulkner. I loved Faulkner not because he was easy to read but because I had an unforgettable teacher whose passion shined light on the beauty and the sound and the fury of words. Not that I’m a literary snob, mind you. I also read all of Harold Robbins’s trashy novels in junior high, much to the furrowed brow of my mother. One night, while I was reading “The Carpetbaggers” by flashlight under my covers, I overheard her say to my father: “Should we be letting her read those books?” The Implosion of America Dirt (NYMag).  It didn't stop it being one of the years biggest books. On the publisher’s side, Miller and Don Weisberg, then the president of Macmillan, did most of the talking. The book’s editor, Amy Einhorn, was mostly silent. The executives expressed interest in the activists’ suggestions, but they also wanted to discuss the tone of the online discourse. Miller comes from a generation that prizes “civility,” one employee noted. “He could be accused of tone policing,” added another. Gurba, who had received a barrage of menacing emails since publishing her essay, was disturbed that Miller seemed to be “equating the criticism Jeanine was receiving with the death threats I was receiving,” she said. As Miller and Gurba began to argue over this, one Macmillan staff member blurted out that Cummins had never received any actual death threats. “Everybody just went dead silent,” Gurba recalled.  Magazines are turning into Books (CNN) While many magazines have shrunk or folded in recent years, some publishers see opportunity in bookazines. They are less dependent on advertising — a once reliable source of revenue that continues to be eaten up by tech platforms like Facebook (FB) and Google (GOOG). The issues are big, sometimes exceeding 100 pages, but publishers can fill pages with stories and photos from their archives, making them less costly to produce. And they can seize on current trends like keto diets or cultural moments such as the passing of beloved celebrities and other public figures. "To me, [bookazines] represent a really nice pandemic treat," said Aileen Gallagher, associate professor of magazine, news and digital journalism at Syracuse University. "We're all still stuck in our houses and the only place we're really going is the grocery store. It's like, 'Oh, here's this thing that will entertain me for a little while that I will invest $10 in.'"  More from my Flipboard magazine Information Media Partners Consulting Where we have been spending our consulting time recently... A prominent association publisher asked us to help redefine their fulfillment and distribution options A large library association asked us to facilitate a series of meetings with a key retail partner We conducted a finance function re-engineering review and defined options for new software and process improvement You can review more of our project citations by following this link The coming year will be challenging and you will need help. Please get in touch to discuss a project and/or your long-term management needs.  (michael.cairns@infomediapartners.com) Blog Email Information Media Partners Twitter Copyright © 2020 Information Media Partners, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.