Learning technology company HMH today announced it has acquired award-winning software company Writable, building on a longstanding partnership between the organizations that includes the integration of Writable’s research-backed writing assessment and practice solution with HMH’s core ELA offerings for grades 3-12. With the acquisition of Writable, HMH will also establish HMH Labs, a new incubation team focused on the development and customer experience of emerging technologies, including generative AI, in support of HMH’s high-tech, high-touch vision for K-12 learning. Led by Writable CEO and co-founder Andrew Goldman, who will become Executive Vice President of HMH Labs, the group will expand upon and support HMH’s focus on innovative technology and continue to develop Writable.

*Net sales of $8.1 billion, down 1.7% versus the fourth quarter of 2022. Digital sales decreased 4% versus the fourth quarter of 2022. Brick-and-mortar sales were roughly flat versus the fourth quarter of 2022.*Comparable sales, on a 13-week basis, were down 5.4% on an owned basis and down 4.2% on an owned-plus-licensed basis. *Highlights of the company's nameplates include: Macy’s comparable sales, on a 13-week basis, were down 6.0% on an owned basis and down 4.7%, on an owned-plus-licensed basis. *Bloomingdale’s comparable sales, on a 13-week basis, were down 1.5% on an owned basis and down 1.6% on an owned-plus-licensed basis. *Bluemercury comparable sales, on a 13-week basis, were up 2.3% on an owned basis. *Gross margin for the quarter was 37.5%, up from 34.1% in the fourth quarter of 2022.

"In 2023, we made excellent progress executing on our strategy to drive our digital transformation, resulting in total digital revenues exceeding 41% of total revenues in the fourth quarter, and amounting to nearly $1.1 billion for the year. Over the past year, we’ve expanded our digital audience, improved engagement, grown the monetization of our audience, and driven significantly improved financial results over the prior year. Our digital-only subscription revenues surpassed $150 million in 2023, with total digital-only average revenue per user reaching a new high. Also, our partnership strategy increased our overall digital monetization, and importantly, we expect to generate $20 million in high margin revenue from our partnerships in 2024," said Michael Reed, Gannett Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer. "In 2023, we achieved full year growth in both Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow, representing an important change in trajectory compared to last year's declines. We also remained focused on improving our capital structure and, with over $140 million in debt repayments in 2023, we were able to significantly reduce our leverage during the year. As these results show, we are building momentum toward a sustainable digital growth business, with a strong balance sheet."

Leading adventure travel operator REI Co-op added 10 trips as part of its expansion to meet demand of its most popular destinations and introduced new itineraries to California’s wine country, Maine’s 100-Mile Wilderness, the Pacific Northwest and more. At the same time, REI purchased 20 acres near the Grand Canyon to build its latest signature camp, which will open in spring 2025. “For more than three decades, we’ve led trips to the some of the most remote and storied locales in the U.S. and Canada. Each REI adventure trip is an immersive experience that our guests will remember for a lifetime,” said Mark Seidl, divisional vice president of REI Experiences. “Our expansion reflects the trust instilled in our brand to offer unmatched small group adventure travel from coast to coast.”

Learning technology company HMH announced HMH Classcraft, which facilitates immersive and dynamic learning experiences that help teachers deliver engaging, standards-aligned, high-impact and responsive instruction in real time. Classcraft addresses some of the most pressing and time-consuming issues facing educators today—the challenge of managing myriad digital solutions and hours of time spent planning, finding the right resources, and delivering instruction to support all levels of learners within the classroom. “Teaching is an art, and increasingly, educators must wade through a complex world of point solutions to do their jobs. This takes time and focus away from meaningful classroom connection. With Classcraft, we are simplifying the educator experience with easy-to-use, integrated classroom management capabilities,” said Jim O’Neill, HMH Executive Vice President and General Manager, Core Solutions.

In addition to reviewing and approving proposed rate changes for Market Dominant and Competitive products, new product proposals, and formal complaint adjudication, the Commission performed new activities as dictated by the Postal Service Reform Act (PSRA) and beyond. In FY 2023, the Commission: *Issued a Flats Operation Study with principal findings as required by the PSRA *Published reports that (1) reviewed the Postal Service's compliance with pricing and service standards, (2) provided an in-depth analysis of the Postal Service’s finances, and (3) evaluated whether the Postal Service met its performance goals as required under the law *Successfully implemented several of its strategic goals in its 2023-2028 Strategic Plan. In particular, the Commission completed a comprehensive stakeholder analysis that informed new activities currently underway surrounding the Commission’s engagement with stakeholders and the general public *Initiated a Public Inquiry Docket to examine the recent and planned network changes associated with the Postal Service’s Delivering for America Plan *Presided over rulemakings related to Commission processes and activities

MLPS (Medical Leaflet = Patient Safety), a subgroup of the European Carton Manufacturers Association (ECMA), is releasing a study today, shedding light on the potential economic costs associated with the proposed use of Print on Demand (PoD) leaflets in the pharmaceutical legislation revision. With the European Commission’s proposal allowing countries to decide on the format of medical leaflets, MLPS underscores the necessity of understanding the financial implications of this decision. The study, commissioned by MLPS, addresses a critical question left unresolved in the proposed Directive: the enormous total cost implications of implementing PoD leaflets alongside electronic Product Information (ePI). The study’s conservative quantification provides stakeholders with valuable insights into the economic impacts of PoD leaflets. The estimated total cost of PoD leaflets across Europe-27 ranges from €1.680 billion to €3.495 billion annually, depending on whether leaflets are printed in black or four-color ink. It is unclear who will bear these costs, which are currently borne by the pharma industry.

S&P Global announced an agreement to acquire Visible Alpha, the financial technology provider of deep industry and segment consensus data, sell-side analyst models and analytics from high-quality, exclusive sources. The acquisition will create a premium offering of fundamental investment research capabilities on S&P Global Market Intelligence's Capital IQ Pro platform. The combination of Visible Alpha with S&P Capital IQ Pro, the flagship S&P Global platform for research and analysis across institutional and corporate markets, reflects S&P Global's continued commitment to be the foremost provider in this space. Founded in 2015, Visible Alpha is a financial technology firm that provides consensus estimates and analytics from in-depth sell-side analyst models, research reports and corporate access events and distributes the data through a variety of distribution channels including a web-based platform, APIs and Feeds. Visible Alpha enhances the investment research process by extracting meaningful value from key sell-side data and analytics, including full working models from partnerships with approximately two hundred of the world's premier investment research organizations.

Adobe introduced AI Assistant in beta, a new generative AI-powered conversational engine in Reader and Acrobat. Deeply integrated into Reader and Acrobat workflows, AI Assistant instantly generates summaries and insights from long documents, answers questions and formats information for sharing in emails, reports and presentations. AI Assistant is bringing generative AI to the masses, unlocking new value from the information inside the approximately 3 trillion PDFs in the world. AI Assistant leverages the same artificial intelligence and machine learning models behind Acrobat Liquid Mode, the award-winning technology that supports responsive reading experiences for PDFs on mobile. These proprietary models provide a deep understanding of PDF structure and content, enhancing quality and reliability in AI Assistant outputs.

RTL Group subsidiary Fremantle is acquiring Asacha Media Group, a European production group based in Paris. The sellers are the company’s founders and managers and the investment company Oaktree Capital Management. Asacha owns majority shares in a total of eight award-winning production companies in France, Italy and the U.K., which produce series, films, shows, reality formats and documentaries for a wide range of clients. Under the terms of the agreement, Fremantle has the option to acquire the outstanding shares in the eight production companies over the next few years. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2024. The acquisition of Asacha Media Group follows Fremantle’s recent acquisition of an 80-percent majority stake in the Singapore-based production company Beach House Pictures, which closed on February 8. Under the agreement, Fremantle has the option to fully acquire Beach House after 2027. For both acquisitions combined, RTL Group will invest over €200 million.

Walmart and VIZIO announced they have entered into an agreement for Walmart to acquire VIZIO for $11.50 per share in cash, equating to a fully diluted equity value of approximately $2.3 billion. The acquisition of VIZIO and its SmartCast Operating System (OS) would enable Walmart to connect with and serve its customers in new ways including innovative television and in-home entertainment and media experiences. It would also create new opportunities to help advertisers connect with customers, empowering brands with differentiated and compelling opportunities to engage at scale and to realize greater impact from their advertising spend with Walmart. The combination would be expected to further accelerate Walmart’s media business in the U.S., Walmart Connect, bringing together VIZIO's advertising solutions business with Walmart’s reach and capabilities. These benefits would be further strengthened by the growth of connected TV platforms and Walmart’s industry-leading TV panel sales.

Bauer Media Group has posted its annual circulation figures for its UK Publishing business for 2023. The figures show that Bauer’s portfolio of brands retained their significant newsstand sales while continuing to expand their digital presence. Commenting on the results, Chris Duncan, Bauer Media’s CEO of UK Publishing said: “We are extremely proud to see Bauer retain its position as the UK’s biggest publisher of consumer magazines with a set of results that demonstrate the wide reach of our brand portfolio, both in print and digitally. Our continued position as the leader across many markets is a true testament to our teams’ ability to produce content that consistently attracts highly engaged and loyal audiences.” “A heartfelt thanks goes out to all our hardworking teams, retailers and advertisers, and our millions of loyal readers. Bauer remains committed to working with our partners to continue to innovate and evolve our exceptional content in 2024.”

Shoe Carnival acquired Rogan’s Shoes, the retailer announced Feb. 13. The deal was worth $45 million, it said in a statement. Shoe Carnival is No. 335 in the Top 1000. The Digital Commerce 360 database ranks North America’s leading retailers by online sales. The footwear retailer expects to see benefits from the acquisition in its 2024 fiscal year. Adding Rogan’s to Shoe Carnival’s portfolio will generate approximately $84 million in sales and $10 million in operating income in 2024, the retailer said. That doesn’t include transaction and integration costs. Rogan’s is 53 years old, with 28 locations across Wisconsin, Illinois and Minnesota. The acquisition makes Shoe Carnival the market leader in Wisconsin and establishes a store base in Minnesota.

Two weeklies based in Colorado Springs are set for relaunch only a couple of months after being closed. Business partners J.W. Roth and Kevin O’Neil have acquired the rights to publish the Colorado Springs Independent and Colorado Springs Business Journal. The partners have formed a for-profit business, Pikes Peak Media Company, to produce the titles.

Fourth Quarter 2023 Highlights *Fourth quarter net sales increased 16%; Adjusted net sales increased 6% *Fourth quarter net sales were highlighted by a 12% increase in Drinkware net sales and a 44% increase in International net sales; International adjusted net sales increased 39% *Fourth quarter EPS of $0.90 compared to loss per share of $0.32 in the prior year quarter; Adjusted EPS of $0.90, growth of 15%. Fiscal Year 2023 Highlights *Full year net sales increased 4%; Adjusted net sales increased 3% *Full year EPS increased 88% to $1.94; Adjusted EPS decreased 5% to $2.25 *Cash increased 87% to $439 million compared to Fiscal 2022

Despite numerous headwinds, “we achieved our second-best year ever judged by our principal measure of profitability, falling short by 2% of the record results of 2022,” writes Steven R. Swartz, president & chief executive officer, in his annual letter. Swartz adds, “A sluggish digital advertising environment, the typical cyclical effect on television station advertising in a nonelection year and continued cord-cutting in television led to profit declines in all of our consumer media sectors: Newspapers, Magazines and Television."

In the age of digital dominance, a surprising and heartwarming trend defies the wave—millennials’ and Gen Z’s preference for physical greeting cards. Even though these generations are digital natives, recent studies and surveys reveal that many prefer the tangible charm and personalization of paper greeting cards over their e-counterparts. According to a recent poll from online card and gift giant Shutterfly1, more than half (54%) of Americans say they still mail their greeting cards versus sending via digital and social platforms. The new survey of 2,000 U.S. adults split evenly by generation revealed that two out of three prefer to receive physical cards as opposed to digital ones, including younger respondents who are millennials (62%) or are part of Gen Z (59%). Personalization was a big deal to survey respondents, preferring to include family, vacation, or pet photos with cards.

Online retail sales grew 25.47% year over year in January, according to CNBC and the National Retail Federation’s Retail Monitor. The year’s online sales started slightly better than 2023 ended, with January sales up 0.68% month over month, according to the NRF. Meanwhile, total retail sales also grew in January (2.34% year over year), according to the Retail Monitor. Month over month, January sales were nearly flat, decreasing just 0.16%, the new report showed.

Passed (in France) in 2020, the Anti-Waste Law For A Circular Economy (AGEC) dictates that receipts will be printed at the customer’s request, except in special circumstances. Since then, several “start-ups” have aligned themselves to electronic receipts. Taking advantage of the new law, which has been postponed several times, they have developed communication campaigns highlighting the environmental interest of not using paper receipts. Faced with this flood of greenwashing, Two Sides France submitted two case complaints that seemed fitting for the Advertising Ethics Jury. On January 31st 2024, the jury agreed with Two Sides on those cases. Aside from the fact that it’s hard to see how, if a consumer doesn’t need a paper ticket, giving them a digital ticket would be more virtuous, the communications from these companies frequently resort to clichés commonly employed to endorse digital “solutions.” Consequently, an excess of statements has emerged featuring generic ideas and sweeping statements praising the merits of avoiding paper, while omitting the environmental consequences of digital alternatives, claiming forest conservation, and asserting the positive aspects of an eco-friendly digital receipt allegedly in compliance with the above mentioned AGEC law.

The Company reported fourth quarter 2023 reported revenue of $3.152 billion, an increase of 7% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. Fourth quarter GAAP net income increased 34% to $579 million and GAAP diluted earnings per share increased 38% to $1.83 driven primarily by strong Ratings growth and lower merger-related costs. Excluding the impact of Engineering Solutions (ES), revenue growth would have been 11% year over year. Adjusted net income for the fourth quarter increased 19% to $988 million and adjusted diluted earnings per share increased 23% to $3.13. For the full year 2023, reported revenue increased 12% year over year to $12.497 billion. 2023 GAAP net income decreased 19% to $2.626 billion and GAAP diluted earnings per share decreased 19% to $8.23, driven primarily by a gain on sale of assets in 2022 and restructuring costs in 2023.

The U.S. Postal Service announced its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2024. The net loss for the quarter totaled $2.1 billion, compared to a net loss of $1.0 billion for the same quarter last year. Results for the quarter were negatively impacted primarily by non-cash workers’ compensation expenses due to actuarial revaluation and discount rate changes, the amortization of unfunded retiree pension liabilities, and the continued effect of inflation on operating expenses. Controllable income for the quarter was $472 million, compared to controllable income of $187 million for the same quarter last year, reflecting that the positive impacts of the Delivering for America plan are beginning to be realized. Total operating revenue was $21.6 billion for the quarter, an increase of $115 million, or 0.5 percent, compared to the same quarter last year. Revenue for the overall Shipping and Packages category increased $240 million, or 2.7 percent, on a volume increase of 98 million pieces, or 5.1 percent, compared to the same quarter last year. Marketing Mail revenue decreased $235 million, or 5.4 percent, on a volume decline of 2.4 billion pieces, or 13.5 percent, compared to the same quarter last year.

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $22.08 billion for the retail month of January, the five weeks ended February 4, 2024 an increase of 4.5 percent from $21.13 billion last year. For the 22 weeks ended February 4, 2024, the Company reported net sales of $104.94 billion, an increase of 6.0 percent from $99.00 billion for the 22 weeks of fiscal year 2023 ended January 29, 2023.

Key Fourth Quarter Highlights • The Company added approximately 300,000 net digital-only subscribers compared with the end of the third quarter of 2023, fueled by bundle and multi-product subscriber additions • Total digital-only average revenue per user (“ARPU”) grew 3.5 percent year-over-year to $9.24 primarily as a result subscribers graduating from promotional to higher prices and price increases on tenured non-bundled subscribers • Higher digital subscribers and ARPU drove year-over-year growth in subscription revenues from digital products of 7.2 percent • Digital advertising revenues decreased 3.7 percent year-over-year largely as a result of the five fewer days in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to 2022 as well as declines in revenue from our podcasts and creative services • Operating costs decreased 4.8 percent year-over-year and adjusted operating costs (defined below) decreased 0.7 percent, largely as a result of lower cost of revenue, partially offset by higher salesand marketing and product development costs • Operating profit of $129.0 million, a 38.7 percent increase year-over-year, with adjusted operating profit (defined below) of $154.0 million, an 8.5 percent increase year-over-year primarily as a result of higher digital subscription and other revenues as well as lower adjusted operating costs, partially offset by lower advertising revenues

*Second quarter revenues were $2.59 billion, a 3% increase compared to $2.52 billion in the prior year, driven by growth at the Digital Real Estate Services, Dow Jones and Book Publishing segments *Net income in the quarter was $183 million, compared to net income of $94 million in the prior year *Second quarter Total Segment EBITDA was $473 million, compared to $409 million in the prior year

Total revenues across all categories for November 2023 were down 0.5% as compared to November 2022, coming in at $1.0 billion. Year-to-date revenues were up 0.6%, at $11.7 billion for the first eleven months of the year. November: Trade (Consumer Books) revenues were down 0.2% in November, coming in at $858.0 million. In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of November, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were up 2.0%, coming in at $368.8 million; Paperbacks were down 1.9%, with $262.5 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 53.4% to $9.1 million; and Special Bindings were up 13.8%, with $22.7 million in revenue.

Today Media, a publisher of regional lifestyle magazines, business publications and websites in several East Coast markets, has acquired Bethesda magazine and the news site MoCo360 from Z-Pop Media, the company announced on Friday. Terms were not disclosed. Bethesda and MoCo360, which cover Montgomery County in suburban Maryland, are “a great fit” for Today Media, says Rob Martinelli, CEO of Today Media. Based in Wilmington, Delaware, Today Media publishes in four East Coast markets, including New York's Westchester County and the Hudson Valley, Delaware and suburban Philadelphia.

Savvas Learning Company, a next-generation K-12 learning solutions leader, today announced that it has acquired Outlier.org, an edtech startup that has created a portfolio of high-quality, turnkey, online college-level courses that enable high school students to earn dual credit while never having to leave their school building. Outlier.org combines cinematic video and charismatic professors with the best in modern, evidence-based teaching techniques to virtually transport the student to a college lecture hall. Its diverse catalog of award-winning courses in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences are taught by hand-picked, world-class instructors from NASA, MIT, Harvard, Yale, and other top institutions.

FY24 second quarter service performance scores covering January 1 through January 26, included: *First-Class Mail: 82.7 percent of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a decrease of 3.2 percentage points from the fiscal first quarter. *Marketing Mail: 92.2 percent of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a decrease of 1.5 percentage points from the fiscal first quarter. *Periodicals: 80.2 percent of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter.

Domtar now offers the Cougar® Paper Trails printing primer to help professionals and novices find the optimal paper for their project. The Cougar® brand of uncoated paper has long been known by printers, marketers and creative professionals as the ideal medium for personal exploration and storytelling. And now, the Cougar Paper Trails printing primer offers a valuable resource to anyone new to the print industry. “We are proud to offer a new generation of advertisers, printers, designers and creatives of all kinds a user-friendly primer,” says Meredith Collins, channel marketing manager at Domtar. “Cougar Paper Trails is an easy-to-understand guide to the important characteristics of paper and the printing and finishing techniques that make creative work shine.”

Gannett Co., Inc. and the USA TODAY Network today announced a multi-year agreement to become the official content partner of the Big Ten Conference, the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States As part of the agreement, syndicated content from across USA TODAY Network’s local network of more than 200 publications will be featured on BigTen.org. This includes content from The Columbus Dispatch, The Des Moines Register, Detroit Free Press and The Indianapolis Star among several others. USA TODAY will also continue to produce souvenir covers to commemorate the winners of the Big Ten Championship Games in football and men’s and women’s basketball. These covers are presented to athletes on the field or court after the final whistle. This tradition began last year with the Big Ten Football Championship Game and continued this year with the “A-MAIZE-ING” headline celebrating Michigan’s win in the conference title game.

Fourth Quarter 2023 *Net sales increased 14% to $170.0 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $149.2 billion in fourth quarter 2022. *Operating income increased to $13.2 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $2.7 billion in fourth quarter 2022. *Net income increased to $10.6 billion in the fourth quarter, or $1.00 per diluted share, compared with $0.3 billion, or $0.03 per diluted share, in fourth quarter 2022. Full Year 2023 *Net sales increased 12% to $574.8 billion in 2023, compared with $514.0 billion in 2022. Excluding the $0.1 billion unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the year, net sales increased 12% compared with 2022. *Operating income increased to $36.9 billion in 2023, compared with $12.2 billion in 2022. *Net income was $30.4 billion in 2023, or $2.90 per diluted share, compared with a net loss of $2.7 billion, or $0.27 per diluted share, in 2022.

Fourth Quarter 2023 Highlights *Delivered sales of $4.0 billion, up 5.1%, or 5.5% on a daily, organic constant currency basis *Achieved reported operating margin of 13.9%, down 40 basis points, or 14.6% on an adjusted basis, up 80 basis points *Announced plans to open a new 1.2 million square-foot distribution center near Houston, Texas in 2026. Full Year 2023 Highlights *Grew sales to $16.5 billion, up 8.2%, or 9.5% on a daily, organic constant currency basis *Realized reported operating margin of 15.6%, up 110 basis points, or 15.7% on an adjusted basis, up 130 basis points

Grainger announced plans to open a 1.2 million-square-foot distribution center (DC) in Hockley, Texas in 2026. The new "Houston Texas Distribution Center" will provide additional capacity for the company to continue delivering best-in-class, next-day complete orders to customers. Grainger plans to break ground this spring. Grainger's Houston Texas Distribution Center is expected to house more than 250,000 industrial supply items, such as hand and power tools, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment, fluid power solutions, lighting, power transmission equipment, and motors. The company anticipates the new facility will employ approximately 400 team members within a year of opening in 2026.

Postal Regulatory Commission Vice Chairman Thomas G. Day and Commissioner Ashley E. Poling recently toured two U.S. Postal Service processing facilities to witness, first-hand, ongoing network changes made by the Postal Service as part of its Delivering for America plan. Guided by a senior postal official on January 17, Vice Chairman Day and Commissioner Poling toured the Postal Service’s newly constructed Regional Processing and Distribution Center in Palmetto, GA. The tour took place from 10 p.m. to 1:30 a.m.—peak hours for some of the busiest processing intervals and a key period for incoming and outgoing transportation. As of that date, package processing was operational, but the letter and flats operations were still undergoing installation. On January 19, the two Commissioners visited the Postal Service’s first Sortation and Delivery Center in Athens, GA. During their 6 a.m. tour, they observed the Postal Service’s delivery unit package sortation operations along with the routine preparation of mail delivery carriers for their daily routes. They also viewed the new charging infrastructure for future electric postal delivery vehicles.