As part of his year-end address to U.S. employees earlier this month, Holtzbrinck Publishers CEO John Sargent said all trade divisions "had substantial growth" in 2005, with solid gains in profits as well. Strong sales for The World Is Flat, a number of Janet Evanovich titles, new sudoku books and backlist sales of South Beach Diet and Digital Fortress led the sales gains, Sargent said. Last year's sales also got a last-minute boost from Oprah's choice of Night, which FSG shipped just before the books closed for last year.
Final results for the entire Holtzbrinck operation won't be available for several months. In 2004, the company reported that the U.S. generated sales of 383 million euros ($735 million), about 20% of Holtzbrinck's total revenue. In addition to its trade operations, Holtzbrinck's U.S. holdings include educational and professional publishers. Worldwide trade book sales in 2004 were 553 million euros ($1.1 billion).
