Gruppo editoriale Mauri Spagnol is a privately held publishing group and the third largest publisher in Italy. It controls 9 publishing houses: Corbaccio, Garzanti Libri, Guanda, Longanesi, Nord, Ponte alle Grazie, Salani, TEA, Vallardi, as well as ProLibro, and holds 50% of Superpocket. It launched Duomo Ediciones in Barcelona, Spain, in 2008.
The largest shareholder of GeMS is Messagerie Italiane, Italy’s leading book and periodical distribution group, which currently serves 230 publishers and 4,000 points of sale.
Claiming to be the fastest growing group in Italian publishing, GeMS has sold 10 million books directly, and another 6 million copies under licence agreements through third parties.
GeMS was founded in its current form in October 2005, following an agreement between the Mauri and Spagnol families, as a new holding company named Gruppo editoriale Mauri Spagnol. Gruppo editoriale Mauri Spagnol aims to “enable the individual publishing houses to invest in joint projects, create stronger product lines and enhance the visibility of the group’s authors, as well as to both streamline and develop synergies in their central functions, while leaving each one of them complete editorial freedom.”
Key Company Developments in 2011 & 2012
Financial:
This ranking includes revenues from publishing and book distribution, and exculdes periodicals.
After a period of rapid growth until 2010, and a first reported negative development from 2009 to 2010, due to a newly introduced reporting structure, all the group’s activities had to confront an overall shrinking book market and a general economic crisis in Italy.
Ownership, mergers & acquisition, internal organization:
The Gruppo Messagerie, acting as a holding structure, oversees book and magazine publishing and distribution, claiming that some 30 percent of the Italian book trade is serviced by the group under its president Achille Mauri.
Stefano Mauri, President and CEO of the editorial arm, GeMS, was appointed Vice-President for the group in January 2013 to oversee strategic developments. Meanwhile, a foundation has been created to celebrate the 30-year anniversary of the La Scuola per Librai Umberto e Elisabetta Mauri (Umberto and Elisabetta Mauri Booksellers’ School) in Venice.
Gruppo Espresso acquired 51% of of Mo-Net S.r.l. from Messagerie for its online movie service www.mymovies.it.
International:
Duomo Ediciones, an imprint in Barcelona, Spain, is publishing the Spanish language edition of Granta.
Digital:
In 2010, GeMS became a founding member, together with Feltrinelli and RCS Rizzoli, of Italian ebook platform Edigita, offering services in the domains of ebook distribution, digital marketing and conversion. Retail partners include bol.it, ibs.it, illibraio.it, ebook.it and ‘book republic’.
Bestselling Authors & Titles:
Recent bestselling authors include Charlotte Link, Paul R. Krugman, and Danielle Trussoni ().
GeMS's various imprints have built strong catalogues of domestic and international authors, establishing a significant presence among Italy’s bestselling titles, with authors such as Tess Gerritsen, Patrick Süskind, Jean M. Auel, William Golding, and Jostein Gaarder.
Key Points for Analysis & Conclusions:
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Earlier Developments:
2008:
GeMS–as Gruppo editoriale Mauri Spagnol recently chose to be labelled–opened its first venture outside of Italy with the creation of Duomo Ediciones in Barcelona. As founder Stefano Mauri explained in a statement: “We are very interested in the Spanish market. It has two large publishing groups and many medium-sized quality publishers in a revitalized country that is looking toward the future, whose readers’ tastes are quite similar to those of the Italians; in the past few years, also, Spain has produced some of the most important international best-sellers.” First titles were to be published in 2009.
2009:
GeMS released La Coccinella and Bollati Boringhieri and, according to Nielsen data, the bestselling first novel in Italian fiction (Donato Carrisi, Il suggeritore, Longanesi); the bestselling first novel in foreign fiction (Glenn Cooper, La biblioteca dei morti, Nord); and the bestselling first work in nonfiction (Gianluigi Nuzzi, Vaticano S.p.A., Chiarelettere).
Grupo Mauri Spagnol acquired Bollati Boringheri, a publisher specializing in the humanities with a strong tradition of authors such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Alfred Einstein.
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