Gains in Scholastic’s children’s book publishing and distribution, as well as international groups, offset declines in the company’s entertainment and educational solution units, resulting in a 1% increase in revenue in the quarter ended November 30, 2025, with sales rising to $551.1 million. Lower costs, which included a reduction in discretional overhead expenses in the children’s book publishing and distribution segment as well as lower distribution costs, helped to boost operating income to $82.9 million from $74.7 million a year ago, an 11% increase.
In the children’s publishing group, trade sales increased 7%, to $110.4 million, Scholastic reported in its financial announcement, helped by the release of the 14th title in the Dog Man series, Big Jim Believes, and continued success in the Hunger Games and Harry Potter franchises. Book fairs revenues were $242 million, up 5% from the prior year period, Scholastic reported, driven by increased fair count and revenue per fair. Book clubs, however, continued to struggle with sales down 14%, primarily reflecting lower sponsors, the company reported.
International revenues rose 4% in the quarter, to $89.5 million, due primarily to the success of Scholastic’s global franchises, led by the latest title in the Dog Man series.
The education solutions business continued to struggle in the quarter, with sales falling 13%, to $62.2 million. In its announcement, Scholastic attributed the decline to “a challenging funding environment for schools and school districts, which has impacted spending on supplemental curriculum materials,” coupled with the reduction in Scholastic’s s product portfolio. Scholastic is continuing to create a more “focused” product, marketing, and sales operation, the company said, “with the long-term goal of benefiting from an expected market recovery, while regaining market share in core product segments.”
The company’s newest group, entertainment, is also its smallest, and revenue in the segment fell 10%, to $15.1 million, due to lower production and distribution revenue. Despite the slow quarter, Scholastic president and CEO Peter Warwick said believes the division provides the company with a “significant opportunity” to extend its content across various channels and formats and said a number of projects are in the works.
With the fiscal year now half over, Scholastic still expects revenue to be in line with, or modestly above, the prior year, “reflecting solid growth within its children's book publishing and distribution segment, offset by lower year-to-date sales in education solutions.” For the first six months of fiscal 2026, sales were down 1%, to $776.7 million, but the operating loss was cut to $9.3 million from $13.8 million in the comparable period in fiscal 2025.
The financial results in the quarterly filing do not include proceeds from the sale of Scholastic’s headquarters and distribution center earlier this month.
