Neither the pandemic nor more industry consolidation among the biggest players resulted in a shake-up in the order of the world’s largest publishers in 2022, according to PW’s global annual ranking, which is compiled by industry consultant Ruediger Wischenbart. The top 10 publishers in 2021 were all in the same place they were in 2022, led by the STM and legal publisher RELX Group, which had a 10% increase in revenue in the year, to $6.33 billion. Overall, the revenue of the top 10 publishers rose 10% in 2022 over 2021, reaching $ 38.9 billion last year, from $35.4 billion in 2021. By comparison, revenue of publishers in the 11th to 20th spots was roughly flat.
HarperCollins remained the largest U.S.-based publisher, in seventh place, followed by Wiley. Both companies are ranked on the basis of sales in fiscal 2022. Both have already wrapped up their fiscal 2023s, which will determine their placement in next year’s global ranking. HC had a difficult fiscal 2023, which ended June 30 and saw sales fall to below $2 billion. Wiley’s sales fell 3% in its fiscal 2023, which ended in April, and the company announced that it was streamlining its operations to focus on the research and learning markets. As a result, it will sell assets that generated $393 million in revenue in fiscal 2023.
Simon & Schuster, whose acquisition by the private equity firm KKR was completed October 30, jumped from 23rd place to 20th, thanks to another strong year in which sales rose 18%. McGraw Hill’s new owners, Platinum Equity, didn’t release sales for 2022, so the company is ranked based on 2021 figures.
Changes to the world’s largest publishers list have long been driven by acquisitions, and the biggest dealing currently brewing is the completion of Vivendi’s purchase of Lagardère, parent company of Hachette Livre group. To win the approval of the European Commission, Vivendi sold its Editis book publishing subsidiary to Czech billionaire Daniel Krˇetínský, who is also the largest shareholder in Fnac Darty, France’s largest chain bookseller. Vivendi is expected to complete the Lagardère purchase soon.
