HarperCollins parent company News Corp. released results for the second quarter ended December 31, but didn’t provide any information on the performance of its book unit. Results in the publishing segment, where HC sales are hidden, were dominated by the impact of the closing of The News of the World.
In a brief statement, HC said that HC UK and Zondervan had a good quarter but that HarperCollins US and international markets “had challenging comparisons to the prior year.” In the quarter, HC added, “print books accounted for 90% of revenues worldwide.”
HC has still not closed on the purchase of Thomas Nelson, first announced in late October. A spokesperson said no date has been set for the closing, noting that “we are still undergoing the regulatory review period, but we expect the review will be concluded in due course.”
Book publishing did come up in the conference call with analysts, but only in the context of textbook publishing. News Corp. has been expanding into the education field, but president Chase carey said that doesn't mean they are looking for a big acquisition. "I guess with the education business I'll start up by saying we're not buying -- we're not buying Pearson or McGraw-Hill. The education business, we're very much in an early-stage building mode," Carey said.
