Buoyed by the November 2024 acquisition of Union Square from Barnes & Noble, revenue at Hachette Book Group rose 11% in 2025 over the previous year, parent company Lagardère reported. Excluding the purchase, sales still rose 3% over 2024.
Total publishing sales for Lagardère rose 4.5% over 2024, to €3.0 billion, (about $3.5 billion at current exchange rates) and profits increased 0.6%, to €312 million ($367 million). Sales in the U.K. also rose by 3% and increased 2% in France. Sales in Spain/Latin America dropped 6%, according to Lagardère. The U.S. and Canada accounted for about 28% of the conglomerate's total publishing revenue.
HBG CEO David Shelley pointed to numerous titles across HBG’s various imprints for driving sales. Among the books highlighted by Shelley were Gone Before Goodbye by Reese Witherspoon and Harlan Coben (Grand Central); Nightshade by Michael Connelly (Little, Brown), The Housemaid by Freida McFadden (Grand Central), Return of the Spider by James Patterson (Little, Brown), and The Twilight Saga Deluxe Hardcover Collection and Twilight: Deluxe Collector’s Edition by Stephenie Meyer (LBYR).
Ever since Shelley has taken over as CEO, he has pushed various HBG employee initiatives, including two that fly in the face of President Trump’s war against DEI. In his note about results, Shelley pointed to HBG’s diversity program, Changing the Story, which he called a “business pillar,” and said that in 2025 the publisher launched the inaugural Changing the Story Festival, sponsored the Latinx Storytellers Conference.
Other efforts launched by HBG last year included its $200,000 investment into the Raising Readers Initiative, which is the publisher’s campaign to combat the significant decline in children’s reading for fun and entertainment.
Shelley said he is looking for a strong start to 2026, helped by the March release of James Patterson and Viola Davis’ March release of Judge Stone. In all, Patterson will deliver 15 books to HBG this year.
