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Random House
In a diffi cult economic environment, Random House, the world’s
leading trade-book publishing group, generated stable revenues
in 2009 and maintained its operating EBIT. Revenues amounted
to €1.7 billion (previous year: €1.7 billion, +0.1 percent),
while the operating profi t reached €137 million (previous year:
€137 million). Th e return on sales remained at 8.0 percent. At the
end of the year, Random House, with its more than 120 individual
publishing imprints, had a total of 5,432 employees (December
31, 2008: 5,779)
In 2009, Random House confronted the widening eff ects of
the global recession by enhancing its author and retailer partnerships
and taking advantage of emerging digital publishing
opportunities. Th anks to commercially strong publishing programs,
cost reductions in all core divisions, and exchange-rate
eff ects, the company maintained its income even year on year.
In most markets, Random House was able to increase its market
share of physical and electronic books. Th e restructuring of the
U.S. publishing units, which was initiated in 2008, was successfully
implemented in the year under review. In February 2009,
Random House’s U.S. division acquired the nonfi ction publisher
Ten Speed Press and integrated it into the Crown Publishing
Group.
Th e year’s biggest success was Dan Brown’s “Th e Lost Symbol,”
published in mid-September which in its hardcover, audio,
and e-book editions sold fi ve million copies for Random House
North America alone and almost three million copies for the U.K.
Group. Stieg Larsson’s Millennium series proved to be very successful
and sold more than seven million copies in Germany and
the U.S. in hardcover and paperback. Random House Mondadori
benefi ted from the half-million copy hardcover sales of the new
Ildefonso Falcones novel in Spain and Latin America.
In the U.S., Random House publishing houses placed 238 titles
on the “New York Times” bestseller lists, including 28 at #1.
Random House Group U.K. reinforced its outstanding presence
on the “Sunday Times” bestseller lists, with 34 titles at #1.
In German-speaking countries, Verlagsgruppe Random House
provided booksellers with several million-copy titles and a dominant
share of “Der Spiegel” nonfi ction bestsellers.
Year on year, Random House publishing companies registered
triple-digit percentage increases in e-book sales in the U.S., U.K.,
Germany and Canada. While e-book downloads currently represent
under two percent of the company’s total revenues, it is
the company’s fastest-growing business segment, and gaining
market share through its digital publishing is a primary goal of
Random House’s corporate strategy.
Bertelsmann Annual Report 2009
Revenue Breakdown
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0
€1.7 billion
0.5 %
1.0 %
Exchange rates Portfolioand
other
effects
(1.4) %
Organic growth
€1.7 billion
2008 Change
2009
Random House authors won a number of prestigious awards in
2009, including three Pulitzer Prizes: Elizabeth Stroud won the
award for “Olive Kitteridge” (Fiction), Jon Meacham for “American
Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House” (Biography) and
Douglas A. Blackmon for “Slavery By Another Name” (Nonfi ction).
Other major honors bestowed upon Random House books
included two National Book Awards in the U.S., the coveted
Canadian Scotiabank Giller Prize, and the “Best Read” at the
British Book Awards.
Revenues by Region in percent*
12.5 Other countries
52.9 U.S.
* Without intercompany revenues
15.5 Germany
19.1 Other
European countries
65