HarperCollins didn’t merit a word in parent company News Corp.’s announcement concerning year end results with the $33 billion company focused on explaining that the hacking scandal has not had an impact on its operations.
In a prepared statement, HC said it “exceeded its plan for the year,” although there was no indication if sales and earnings rose or fell compared to fiscal 2010 when it had sales of $1.27 billion and operating profit of $88 million. According to HC, the children’s division had its second best year ever in fiscal 2011 helped by higher e-book sales. E-book sales accounted for about 12% of all U.S. last year. Canada also had an exceptional year.
HC is part of News’ publishing group which had sales of $8.8 billion in fiscal 2011. During the year-end conference call, News chairman Rupert Murdoch said he had no intention of selling the group which is mainly comprised of newspapers plus HC. Since the hacking scandal broke, there has been speculation that News would sell the newspaper division which in turn would have meant that HC would be looking for a new home.
Commenting on a report in Publishing Trends that about 40 people have left HC since June, a HC spokesperson said the publisher has experienced “normal turnover” while also realigning some job functions. She added HC is continuing to hire staff to meet its needs.
