Wiley was founded in 1807 and competes in three markets represented by its core divisions of Research, Professional Development, and Education. The Research segment produces scientific, technical, medical and scholarly journals, reference works, books, and database services such as Wiley Online Library, the company’s online publishing platform that delivers access to 7 million articles from approximately 1,600 journals and 16,000 e-books.
The Professional Development segment publishes digital and print books and provides employment talent solutions, online learning, assessment and training services, and test prep and certification. The Education segment provides print and digital content and education solutions including online program management services for higher education institutions and course management tools for instructors and students.
The company is based primarily in the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and Australia.
Analysis & Key Developments
Results for fiscal year 2016 were released in time for this ranking and are included in this report, while though most other companies are listed with their 2015 results.
In 2016, Wiley’s adjusted revenues accounted for 1.7 billion USD, down from 1.82 billion USD in 2015. Revenues declined 2%, but were flat excluding currency changes as well as the shift to time-based journal subscriptions. Among other divisions the print businesses (Education, Professional Development, Research) closed with a declining performance and revenues from print books dropped from 25% to 23%. The percentage of revenues from digital products increased to 63%, compared to 60% in 2015.
Financial
Wiley’s corporate revenue for fiscal year 2015 increased 1% to 1.82 billion USD, up from 1.78 billion USD in 2014. The growth mainly reflects incremental revenue from the acquisitions of CrossKnowledge Group, Ltd. and Profiles International. Both companies were acquired during the second quarter of 2015.
Additional growth from Education was partially offset by lower print book revenue in all core businesses. Growth in the Education segment came from custom products and workflow solutions, Education Services, the sale of a large journal backfile license, journal subscriptions, funded access revenue, growth in online test preparation and the licensing of research publication content.
Research revenue of 1.04 billion USD was flat with the prior year, but increased 2% excluding the unfavorable impact of foreign exchange. The increase was driven by journal subscriptions, other journal revenue and funded access, partially offset by declines in print and digital books and other research revenue.
Professional Development revenue increased 12% to 407 million USD. The increase is attributed to incremental revenue from the talent solution acquisitions.
Education revenue increased 2% to 375 million USD. The growth was mainly driven by Education Services (Deltak), Custom Products, Course Workflow Solutions (WileyPLUS) and Digital Books, and was partially offset by a decline in print textbooks.
Internal Organization
President and CEO Stephen M. Smith announced he would retire due to previously-disclosed medical reasons as of June 1, 2015. The company's board elected the former executive v-p and COO Mark Allin to succeed.
International
The company’s publications and services are sold throughout most of the world through operations primarily located in Europe, Canada, Australia, Asia, and the United States. Approximately 25% of Wiley’s corporate revenue was generated in non-U.S. markets. Wiley’s collaboration with China dates back to 1979, when the publishing group became the first American publisher active in the country. Today, the company has offices in Beijing and Shanghai. The partnership extends across all divisions and includes the organization of corporate training programs, journal author workshops and licensing. The company is active in Russia in software development and architecture, digital content production and system testing services.
Digital
The company’s e-books are available online through Wiley Online Library, WileyPLUS, Wiley Custom Select and other proprietary platforms. E-books are delivered to intermediaries including Amazon, Apple and Google for resale to individuals in various industry-standard formats for licensees of all types, including foreign language publishers. E-books are also licensed to libraries through aggregators.
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