Bestsellers Offset Weak E-book Sales at Penguin Random House
In its interim update for the first nine months of 2015, Pearson reported that Penguin Random House “had a solid third quarter performance.” The company benefited from a number of bestsellers, including The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins; Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman; Grey by E L James; and Lee Child’s Make Me. The strong bestseller performance helped to offset weak e-book sales, Pearson said.
Pearson, which holds a 47% stake in PRH, said the company continues to make progress with the integration of the Penguin and Random House operations and that PRH “remains on track to realize benefits in 2016 and in the long term.” Earlier this year, Pearson shot down speculation that it was prepared to sell its share of PRH to Bertelsmann which controls 53% of the company, with Pearson CEO John Fallon saying Pearson will keep it interest in the trade publishing company to at least 2017.
