Kohl’s and Volta Industries, Inc. announced they will bring 100 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations to 50 additional Kohl’s stores this year, marrying Kohl's expansive customer reach with Volta’s electric vehicle charging experience. With this expansion, Kohl’s customers will have access to 275 charging stations at more than 150 Kohl’s locations across 22 states. Kohl’s store locations offering the convenience of EV charging can be found with the store locator tool on Kohls.com. “Kohl’s has a number of sustainability goals that we seek to make progress against including climate change and the transition to a low-carbon transportation system. These goals not only support environmentally conscious transportation solutions, but mark a reflection of the expectations that our associates, customers and communities have for our role in achieving long-term sustainability,” said Steve Thomas, Kohl’s Chief Risk & Compliance Officer. “Bringing additional electric vehicle charging stations to our store network with a partner like Volta adds an important sustainability touchstone and added convenience for Kohl’s employees and shoppers.”

*Operating cash flow increased 69% to $67.2 billion for the trailing twelve months, compared with $39.7 billion for the trailing twelve months ended March 31, 2020. *Net sales increased 44% to $108.5 billion in the first quarter, compared with $75.5 billion in first quarter 2020. Excluding the $2.1 billion favorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 41% compared with first quarter 2020. *Operating income increased to $8.9 billion in the first quarter, compared with operating income of $4.0 billion in first quarter 2020. *Net income increased to $8.1 billion in the first quarter, or $15.79 per diluted share, compared with net income of $2.5 billion, or $5.01 per diluted share, in first quarter 2020.

Big gains in sales of adult and young adult titles drove up unit sales of print books by 24.3% in the week ended April 24, 2021, over the comparable week in 2020 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. At this time last year, sales were beginning to recover from early pandemic declines, and were almost flat with the comparable week in 2019. Unit sales last week were about 13.5 million, and were approximately 11.1 million in each of the two previous years. In adult nonfiction, all the subcategories—with the exception of humor and crafts/hobbies/antiques/games—had sales increases over the week ended April 25, 2020, led by sales of travel books, where units soared nearly 348% after crashing last spring. Five of the top 10 bestsellers in the category were released last week, with World Travel by the late Anthony Bourdain and his longtime collaborator Laurie Woolever landing in the top spot, selling more than 50,000 copies. George Bush’s Out of Many, One was in the fourth spot, selling almost 28,000 copies, followed by Cook This Book by Molly Baz, which sold about 22,000 copies.

Since 2008, the Carbon Balanced Paper initiative has been responsible for balancing 190,000 tons of CO2 and preserving high conservation value land. MIDLAND is now offering Carbon Balanced Paper in North America, administered by the Sustainable Paper Group, and in partnership with the World Land Trust (WLT), an international conservation charity. This is a well-established and successful program in Europe with over 3,000 organizations taking positive action by choosing carbon balanced paper to preserve the most critically endangered places on earth, acre by acre. The launch in North America will help organizations reduce the carbon footprint of their printed media and meet their commitments toward carbon reduction by addressing the unavoidable carbon emissions from the paper manufacturing process. At the same time, choosing Carbon Balanced Paper allows organizations to simply and effectively differentiate themselves as market leaders in environmental responsibility. “MIDLAND is excited to announce the first major Carbon Balanced Paper initiative in North America. Many of our customers have stated objectives to reduce their net carbon impact, and Carbon Balanced Paper is an effective and credible tool to help them achieve these important sustainability goals.”, states David Goldschmidt, President of Midland’s National division.

Fiscal 2021 third quarter revenues declined 5 percent to $665 million. Key performance indicators included: *21 percent increase in National Media Group digital advertising revenues. Sessions grew 17 percent, led by PEOPLE, Allrecipes, Southern Living, and Martha Stewart. Meredith continues benefiting from its proprietary technology platform that brings together content, unique taxonomy, and first party data. *31 percent increase in National Media Group licensing/digital and other consumer driven revenues. Performance was driven by Apple News+, strong sales of Better Homes & Gardens-branded products at Walmart, and performance marketing via retail partners. *6 percent increase in non-political spot advertising and retransmission revenues. Non-political spot advertising growth was the first since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and was driven primarily by the professional services, gaming, and home categories. *19 percent decline in combined magazine advertising, subscription, and newsstand revenues. Advertising performance was impacted primarily by lower than expected performance in the food & beverage and prescription drug categories. Subscription revenue performance reflects a stable 36 million rate base and Meredith's ongoing strategy to engage subscribers directly. This strategy reduces revenue and increases profitability by fostering a stronger and more profitable relationship with subscribers, including the opportunity for rate increases over time. Newsstand performance was impacted primarily by lower demand and fewer issues published.

1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc. reported that it had received a new authorization from its Board of Directors increasing funds available for stock repurchase to $40 million. The new authorization replenishes and increases a previous $30 million authorization that had approximately $4 million remaining after the Company had returned approximately $26 million to shareholders by repurchasing shares over the past two years. Chris McCann, CEO, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM, Inc., said, “We believe our stock is a very compelling investment and repurchasing our shares enables us to return additional value to our shareholders.”

Total consolidated revenues increased 70.1 percent, or $195.4 million, to $474.2 million, compared with total consolidated revenues of $278.8 million in the prior year period, driven by ecommerce growth of 83.2 percent. Revenue growth in the quarter included contributions from PersonalizationMall.com which the Company acquired in August 2020. Excluding the contribution from PersonalizationMall.com total net revenues increased 55.7 percent, compared with the prior year period. Gross profit margin for the quarter increased 40 basis points to 38.9 percent, compared with 38.5 percent in the prior year period. Operating expenses as a percent of total revenues improved 340 basis points to 39.0 percent, compared with 42.4 percent in the prior year period. Excluding the impacts of the Company’s non-qualified deferred 401k compensation plan and one-time transaction costs, operating expenses, as a percentage of total revenues improved 430 basis points to 38.8 percent in the quarter.

S&P Global reported first quarter 2021 results with revenue of $2,016 million, an increase of 13% compared to the same period last year. Net income increased 18% to $755 million and diluted earnings per share increased 19% to $3.12 primarily due to revenue growth in every segment and productivity programs and lower T&E across the Company. "Since the beginning of the pandemic, the essential nature of our products has demonstrated the resiliency of our business model. As the global economy recovers, we continue to launch innovative new products to help our customers with the ratings, benchmarks, data, and insights they need to navigate the changing markets," said Douglas L. Peterson, President and Chief Executive Officer of S&P Global. "As to the pending merger with IHS Markit, the shareholders of both companies overwhelmingly approved the transaction and we continue to work with global regulators in anticipation of closing the merger in the second half of 2021."

Field & Stream, a 125-year-old magazine devoted to physical effort outdoors, is embracing 21st-century technology. Editor-in-chief Colin Kearns writes in a post that “Field & Stream is going to be a digital magazine.” Countless publications have already taken that step. But Kearns explains what it will mean to Field & Stream readers, a hearty breed judging by the pub's content. “For starters, instead of having issues delivered to your mailbox, they’ll conveniently come to where you already consume so much F&S content every day — to your phone, tablet or computer,” Kearns writes.

As part of its 10-year plan to achieve financial sustainability and service excellence, the Postal Service announced key network infrastructure investments to meet the evolving mailing and shipping needs of American public and business customers ahead of the 2021 holiday season. These initiatives and investments include: *An accelerated investment and procurement of 138 package processing sorters that will be operational ahead of the 2021 peak holiday season. *The leasing of an additional 45 annex facilities located near processing centers in key locations to support surges and overflow of packages. *The movement of mail processing operations at 18 facilities previously paused in 2015.

The Association of American Publishers released its StatShot report for February 2021 reflecting reported revenue for all tracked categories, including Trade (Consumer Books), K-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses. Total revenues across all categories for February 2021 were up 24.7% as compared to February 2020, coming in at $964.5 million. Year to date revenues were up 16.4%, at $2.2 billion for the first two months of the year. click read more below for details

Bertelsmann is using its sound operational and financial health as a starting point to further develop its successful strategy. In doing so, the international media, services and education company is now pursuing five priorities, which Bertelsmann Chairman and CEO Thomas Rabe presented to key executives at the Group’s second purely virtual management meeting on Thursday. The goal is to trigger another growth spurt for Bertelsmann. This is to be achieved by creating national media champions, expanding the global content businesses, Bertelsmann’s global services businesses, the online education division, and the worldwide network of holdings. More than 600 executives from all eight business divisions and the Corporate Center took part in the digital meeting. They come from 30 countries; more than a third of them are women. Besides Thomas Rabe, Bertelsmann Executive Board members Markus Dohle, Rolf Hellermann and Immanuel Hermreck, as well as ten other top executives, most of them members of the Bertelsmann Group Management Committee, presented their strategic priorities and plans.

The Postal Regulatory Commission released its Financial Analysis, an examination of the U.S. Postal Service’s (Postal Service) financial results and 10-K Statements for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020. Despite an increase in Competitive products revenue, the Commission’s overall analysis supports the conclusion that the Postal Service is on a highly unstable financial path. Total net operating losses were $3.6 billion in FY 2020, continuing the trend of significant operational losses. When non-operating expenses are included, such as non-cash workers’ compensation costs and accruals to retirement accounts, the net operating loss of $3.6 billion becomes a total net loss of $9.2 billion. The net operating losses are predominantly due to persistent declines in Market Dominant mail volume and higher operating expenses. click read more for details

This year’s Book Industry Study Group annual meeting, held virtually April 23, focused on issues around book publishing’s impact on the environment, the continuing effect of the pandemic on the supply chain, and the industry’s response to both. The program opened with a keynote by Sheri Aldis, chief of publishing at the United Nations, which focused on the need for “global cooperation” to address sustainability and on the role of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), a set of 17 interconnected objectives based around science, economic development, and social well-being considered necessary to create a decent standard of life. Among the SDGs are (1) no poverty, (2) zero hunger, (4) quality education, (5) gender equality, (7) affordable and clean energy, and (13) climate action.

Since 2008, the Carbon Balanced Paper initiative has been responsible for balancing 190,000 tonnes of CO2 and preserving 19,000 acres of high conservation value land. Carbon Balanced Paper (CBP) is launching in North America, administered by Sustainable Paper Group in partnership with international conservation charity World Land Trust (WLT). This is a well-established and successful program in Europe with over 3,000 organizations taking positive action by choosing Carbon Balanced Paper. The launch in North America will enable brands and organizations in the United States and Canada to carbon balance any paper product, helping them to meet growing commitments to carbon reduction and carbon neutrality and to simply, yet effectively, differentiate themselves as market leaders in environmental responsibility.

Highlights * Encouraging start to the year despite challenging market conditions, with underlying revenue growth of 5% reflecting good progress as we reposition Pearson for sustainable growth with a strong direct to consumer focus. * Global Online Learning up 25%, with strong growth in Virtual Schools due to enrolment growth in the current school year in Partner Schools as well as in US district partnerships; modest growth in OPM due to ongoing impact of discontinued programs. * Global Assessment down 2%, as strong recovery in Professional Certification and US Clinical Assessment was more than offset by US School Assessment, where revenue was down significantly due to the challenging comparative and reuse of material from cancelled exams. * North American Courseware up 1% as Canada benefited from the continued sales shift to digital and a school funding increase which more than offset a 1% decline in US Higher Education Courseware. We continued to see good momentum in the US business with growth in total units sold into colleges, growth in digital sales and registrations, and returns continuing to trend lower. Growth in eBooks more than offset declines in print and bundle units, showing signs of secondary market recapture. * International down 2% with a decline in English as COVID-19 continued to impact our courseware and franchise business in Latin America, notwithstanding slight improvement in Pearson Test of English volume and courseware recovery in China. BTEC revenue was lower due to FE College closures and lower resit fees due to 2020 exam cancellations. This was partially negated by strong courseware sales in Europe and South Africa. *We continue to expect our performance to be in line with our 2021 outlook, as outlined on 8 March 2021 at our full year results.

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc announces that it has signed a sale and purchase agreement for the acquisition of certain assets of Red Globe Press (“RGP”), the academic imprint, from Macmillan Education Limited, a part of Springer Nature Group. The consideration is £3.7 million, of which £2.1 million will be satisfied in cash at completion and up to £1.6 million will be paid on or post-completion, subject to assignment of certain contracts. RGP specialises in high-quality publishing for Higher Education students globally in Humanities and Social Sciences, Business and Management, and Study Skills. RGP has a backlist of more than 7,000 titles and publishes more than 100 new titles per year, with content including digital platforms, textbooks, research-driven materials and general academic publishing. The acquired RGP titles are a good strategic fit, strengthen Bloomsbury’s existing academic publishing, and establish new areas of academic publishing in Business and Management, Study Skills and Psychology. RGP’s three digital products will be migrated to Bloomsbury Digital Resources’ own platform and its content added to Bloomsbury Collections. The business will operate within Bloomsbury’s Academic and Professional division.

February bookstore sale fell 22.3% compared to 2020, according to preliminary estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The decline is higher than the 16.7% drop bookstore sales experienced in January compared to the first month of 2020. Bad weather and more store lockdowns as Covid-19 cases spread are likely reasons for the higher decline in sales. In the month, sales were $446 million, down from $573 million in February 2020. For the first two months of 2021, bookstore sales were $1.24 billion, down 18.7% from the comparable period last year. For the entire retail sector, February sales rose 2.9% and sales were up 5.3% for the first two months of 2021 over 2020.

HH Global continues to go from strength-to-strength with the opening of a new operating location in Indonesia. The fast-paced economy of SEA coupled with our growing client requirements made the expansion for HH Global into Indonesia strategically important. Following on from the successful acquisitions of InnerWorkings and Genii, we continue to grow organically in APAC and extending our services into Indonesia supports this approach. Jakarta adds to the 50+ locations across the world that HH Global are now physically present and adds to our existing 10 operating locations in APAC. Our location in Indonesia will provide the full range of HH Global’s service offerings from consulting, design, retail, print production, events, logistics, packaging and promotional merchandise.

Kohl’s Corporation announced that it has entered into a settlement agreement with Macellum Advisors GP, LLC, Ancora Holdings, Inc., Legion Partners Asset Management, LLC, and 4010 Capital, LLC, which collectively own 9.3% of Kohl’s outstanding common stock, including options. As part of the agreement, two new independent directors nominated by the Investor Group, Margaret Jenkins and Thomas Kingsbury, will join the Kohl’s Board of Directors, as of the close of the 2021 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. An additional independent director identified by Kohl's, and agreed to by the Investor Group, Christine Day, will join the Board at the same time.

Kohl’s is proud to receive the 2021 ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year Sustained Excellence Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy. This year marks the 10th consecutive year that the EPA has recognized Kohl’s with the Sustained Excellence award, the highest honor bestowed by the ENERGY STAR program and selection from a network of thousands of ENERGY STAR partners. “Kohl’s has been a longtime partner of the EPA on our journey to continually implement the best practices available in energy efficiency across our store network and facilities to reduce our carbon footprint and do our part to fight climate change,” said Steve Thomas, Kohl’s chief risk and compliance officer. “This recognition is a tangible way to show our associates, our customers, our communities and our business partners the work that our teams do ‘behind-the-scenes’ to operate our business efficiently and conscientiously.”

REI Co-op released its 2020 financials and annual impact report, highlighting strong financial performance and its values-based approach to leading through a global crisis—and beyond. Despite unforeseen challenges in 2020, the co-op made bold investments in the future of its business: selling its headquarters buildings to imagine an entirely new future of office work, taking the co-op carbon neutral, investing in retail pay, making a commitment to racial equity that will impact every area of the company, and rolling out innovative new offerings like virtual outfitting and Curbside Pickup within a matter of weeks. “We entered 2020 with incredible momentum, after more than a decade of record growth. Then, the entire world came to a halt. We regrounded ourselves in our values, making choices that at times came at great cost to our business. But we took the long view and continued to put our people first, quickly pivoting to find new ways of serving our customers and community,” said REI President and CEO Eric Artz. “That approach turned out to be the right thing for our people and for our business, and allowed us to enter 2021 not just in a position of financial strength, but proud of who we were when the times were least certain.” The co-op reported no profits in 2020 but ended the year in a strong cash position and debt-free, after investing millions in its impact work: combatting the climate crisis, fighting for racial equity and supporting its network of nonprofit partners. Now REI is launching the next chapter of that work, inviting its broader co-op community to take action.

Unit sales of print books rose a remarkable 29.2% in the first quarter of 2021 over the same period in 2020 at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. Though some of that gain was due to the slump in sales that occurred in mid-March last year, most of the increase was due to the surge in book buying that began last spring and carried over into 2021. All six major categories tracked by BookScan had double-digit increases, and all four print formats posted gains. Units rose 24.6% in adult nonfiction, the industry’s largest category. Sales in the home and gardening subcategory, which began to take off late last April, remained strong into the first quarter of 2021, up 54.1% in the period. Sales of general nonfiction increased 44.7%, while sales in the self-help and biography/autobiography/memoir areas rose 38.8% and 35.7%, respectively. The long-awaited revival in travel books has not arrived yet, with unit sales down nearly 25%. Print sales of adult fiction increased 34.7% in the quarter. Graphic novels led the way, with sales soaring almost 146%. Big gains were also seen in fantasy (up 48.4%), science fiction (40.6%), and romance (29.9%).

Urban Outfitters, Inc. announced a personnel change at the Anthropologie Group. Hillary Super has stepped down as Global Chief Executive Officer. Her last day was Friday, April 9th. We thank Hillary for her service over the past four years and wish her well in the future. Beginning today, Tricia D. Smith, has joined the Anthropologie team as the new Global Chief Executive Officer. Ms. Smith brings with her impressive retail experience earned over 26 years spent within the Nordstrom merchant organization where she was Executive Vice President, General Merchandise Manager of Women’s, Young Contemporary, Designer, and Specialized Apparel. In 2019, Tricia left Nordstrom to become Executive Vice President, Chief Merchandising Officer, of Tilly’s. Separately, URBN is pleased to report that total Retail segment comparable net sales thus far during the first quarter of Fiscal 2022 have increased by high single-digits versus Fiscal 2020. In North America, better sales were driven by double-digit ‘comp’ results at both the Free People and Urban Outfitters brands while Anthropologie sales have improved substantially but remain slightly negative.

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $18.21 billion for the retail month of March, the five weeks ended April 4, 2021, an increase of 17.6 percent from $15.49 billion last year. For the thirty-one weeks ended April 4, 2021, the Company reported net sales of $111.37 billion, an increase of 15.7 percent from $96.25 billion during the similar period last year.

Kohl’s announced the opening of its sixth e-commerce fulfillment center in Etna, Ohio (10201 Schuster Way) to support the company’s continued online demand and digital sales acceleration. The 1.2 million square-foot facility is Kohl’s largest, most efficient fulfillment center and will be dedicated to processing, filling and shipping Kohls.com orders. The next-generation facility leverages automation and technology to make processing and delivering Kohls.com orders faster and more efficient. Construction of the facility began in 2019, was temporarily paused in 2020 due to the pandemic, and resumed in 2021. “Over the past five years, Kohl’s digital sales have grown more than 100 percent. Our investment in a highly efficient sixth e-commerce fulfillment center will meaningfully grow our peak fulfillment capacity,” said Paul Gaffney, Kohl’s senior executive vice president, chief technology officer and head of supply chain. “The new facility makes Kohl's more efficient at fulfilling orders via automation and modern technology, puts Kohl’s products geographically closer to our customers, and ultimately gets our great products to our customers faster.”

Last week Penguin Random House reported that it had a 23.3% increase in profits in 2020 over 2019 on a 4.6% gain in revenue, capping a remarkable year for America’s five biggest trade publishers that report financial results. Despite the disruptions caused by the pandemic, all five had annual increases in both earnings and sales. Higher sales of e-books and digital audiobooks and solid gains of backlist titles helped drive the revenue and profit gains. Online sales also rose in the year, offsetting soft sales through bookstores due to pandemic-induced lockdowns. According to PRH parent company Bertelsmann, PRH US had a particularly good year and drove the overall gains for the publisher. PRH US accounted for just over 58% of PRH’s total revenue, or roughly $2.59 billion. In 2019, the U.S. represented 56% of PRH revenue (about $2.2 billion).

In an increasingly digital world, Keep Me Posted recognizes that many of us still prefer to receive bills, medical records and other important, confidential communications in paper format. Many consumers report difficulties in using new payment technologies and many require paper communications. This can include older adults, disabled people, low-income earners (who can’t afford costly broadband internet) and those with no home internet (often located in rural areas) or computers. Even for those who prefer digital communications, storing or accessing sensitive documents online could lead to disaster in the event of data breaches and identity theft which are becoming more common every year. Yet each day, more companies are forcing us to go paperless and even charging us inflated fees for online access to critical personal and financial documents. One study also revealed that new utility customers paid significantly later when they received bill invoices by email. If this happens, you might be charged late fees and harassment from debt collectors – and even your credit rating could suffer. In a recent survey, 90% of people said they’d like to have the right to choose how they receive communications (printed or electronic). It’s time to make our voices heard.

Online fraud did not take a break for the pandemic. Just the opposite, crimes and complaints are exploding across all categories measured by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC just released its Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book 2020, a comprehensive catalog of consumer reports about fraud, identity theft, online exploits and scams, along with other consumer protection topics. It provides nearly 100 pages of data and analysis of consumer abuses registered directly with the FTC and across its network of federal, state and local partners in consumer advocacy, protection and law enforcement. The FTC data show that identity theft more than doubled from 2019 to 2020, representing nearly one-third of all types of complaints, with a record high 1.4 million and growing. Billions of dollars were lost, with seniors faring far greater financial harms on a per case basis. Incidents in subcategories like fraudulent use of identities for government benefits rose a stratospheric 2,920% year over year. And criminals are increasingly exploiting digital communications via text, email, social media, websites and apps to hunt and harm victims. more at source: https://keepmepostedna.org/1387615-more-reasons-we-need-paper-options-identity-theft-is-exploding/

The modern media landscape has not been kind to many industry magazines, and many are no longer around at least in print form including Surfer, Surfing, Transworld Skateboarding, Transworld Surf, and Powder. But the Surfer’s Journal has defied all those negative trends and currently has the most subscribers it has ever had. The business model started by owners Debbee and Steve Pezman 30-years ago has proven to be ahead of its time. An emphasis on editorial quality allows it to charge more for subscriptions and rely more on its readers for revenue while working with a small number of high quality sponsors that sign on for a long-term commitment.

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for January 2021 reflecting reported revenue for all tracked categories, including Trade (Consumer Books), K-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses. Total revenues across all categories for January 2021 were up 10.3% as compared to January 2020, coming in at $1.2 billion. Trade (Consumer Books) sales were up 21.3% in January, coming in at $689.5 million. In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of January, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were up 25.5%, coming in at $244.2 million; Paperbacks were up 17.9%, with $227.5 million in revenue; Mass Market was up 39.9% to $19.5 million; and Board Books were down 3.4%, with $17.2 million in revenue.

Torstar Corporation announced it has entered into a long-term partnership with Cineplex whereby Torstar will acquire publishing and exclusive theatre distribution rights of Cineplex Magazine, Canada’s leading entertainment publication. A mainstay of both the Canadian movie and publishing scenes for more than 20 years, Cineplex Magazine delivers exclusive interviews with A-list stars, the inside scoop on coming movies, and compelling photos from current films, movie sets and red-carpet events. Torstar will continue both print and digital publications of the magazine under the brand Star Cineplex. The two companies will work together to deliver exclusive content to movie fans and entertainment lovers across Canada.

WBA had fiscal 2021 second quarter sales from continuing operations of $32.8 billion, an increase of 4.6 percent from the year-ago quarter, and an increase of 3.5 percent on a constant currency basis1, reflecting strong International segment growth, aided by the company's joint venture in Germany, and the United States segment. Operating income from continuing operations was $832 million in the second quarter, compared with $1.1 billion in the same quarter a year ago. Adjusted operating income from continuing operations was $1.2 billion, a decrease of 22.5 percent on a reported currency basis and a decrease of 22.9 percent on a constant currency basis. Total net earnings attributable to WBA, including discontinued operations, increased 8.4 percent compared with the same quarter a year ago to $1.0 billion, reflecting a gain from the sale of a portion of the company's equity method investment in Option Care Health and a lower effective tax rate driven by discrete items, partly offset by lower operating income. Net earnings from continuing operations in the second quarter increased 6.3 percent compared with the same quarter a year ago to $922 million. Adjusted net earnings from continuing operations decreased 12.1 percent to $1.1 billion, down 12.8 percent on a constant currency basis, compared with the same quarter a year ago.

Bertelsmann’s Group revenues declined moderately last year by 4.1 percent to €17.3 billion (previous year: €18.0 billion). The organic decline in revenues amounted to 1.7 percent. The advertising-financed businesses and print businesses in particular recorded corona-related revenue declines in the first half of the year. In the second half of the year, almost all divisions were back in the black, especially in the final quarter. The proportion of digital businesses was further expanded, and stood at 53 percent. Operating EBITDA reached a new record level of €3.1 billion (previous year: €2.9 billion). Thanks to a strong operating performance, especially from the Penguin Random House publishing group and the services subsidiary Arvato, as well as capital gains from real estate sales, the operating result rose above the €3 billion mark for the first time. Group profit increased by 34 percent to €1.5 billion (previous year: €1.1 billion) – its highest level since 2006, and above the billion-euro mark for the sixth consecutive year.

Learning technology company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to divest HMH Books & Media, its consumer publishing business, to HarperCollins Publishers, a division of News Corp for a cash purchase price of $349 million. The divestiture enables HMH to focus singularly on K–12 education and accelerate growth momentum in digital sales, annual recurring revenue and free cash flow while paying down a significant portion of its debt.

The Postal Regulatory Commission issued its 2020 Annual Compliance Determination assessing the pricing and service performance of the Postal Service in fiscal year 2020 (39 U.S.C. Section 3653). The Commission is required to issue its ACD 90 days after the filing of the Postal Service’s Annual Compliance Report (ACR). Key issues identified in the ACD include: *Ten Market Dominant products did not cover their costs in FY 2020, and two of the five Market Dominant classes (Periodicals and Package Services) were also non-compensatory. *Operational and financial problems with flat-shaped products persisted, as these products had a negative contribution of more than $1 billion, and despite previous Commission directives, the Postal Service does not have a satisfactory plan to correct this. *Due to a number of internal and external factors, 17 of 22 Market Dominant products failed to meet their service standards, the worst service performance results since the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act of 2006 mandated the establishment of service standards and tracking of performance against those standards. more detail at: https://www.prc.gov/sites/default/files/pr/ACD%202020_FINAL.pdf

The United States Postal Service filed notice with the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) today seeking to transfer Bound Printed Matter (BPM) Parcels to the Competitive Product list, and simplifying the delivery time for Priority Mail Express (PME). The changes to PME will take effect no earlier than May 23, 2021. The BPM Parcel change will take effect on a date yet to be determined, and is subject to approval by the PRC. Currently, PME has three guaranteed delivery time windows within the 1 – 2 business day service standards: 10:30 a.m. (in select locations, for an extra fee), noon, or 3 p.m. The new single guaranteed delivery time will be 6 p.m. on the committed delivery day, regardless of package origin and destination. The price of using PME as a shipping option will not change. The current price for PME flat rate envelope starts at $26.35. Additional pricing information can be found on our website. BPM parcels contain advertising, promotional, directory or editorial material such as catalogs, books and other printed material, and can weigh up to 15 pounds. The contents must be securely bound by permanent fastening such as staples, spiral binding, glue, or stitching. The Postal Service has requested that the PRC change the classification of BPM parcels from a Market Dominant product to a Competitive product.

News Corp announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire the Books & Media segment of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH Books & Media). The business will be operated by HarperCollins Publishers, a News Corp subsidiary. HMH Books & Media is home to one of the most extensive and successful backlists in the publishing industry, with a history of strong profitability. Backlists have proven to be a sustainable and growing source of revenues, high margins and cash flow for publishers, particularly evergreen properties with broad, enduring and global appeal. In calendar year 2020, over 60% of HMH Books & Media revenues were generated by its formidable backlist. Among the most popular of the more than 7000 titles in the HMH Books & Media backlist are: The Lord of the Rings trilogy and other titles by J.R.R. Tolkien; 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell; and All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren, among many others. HarperCollins currently has rights to J.R.R. Tolkien’s works in the British Commonwealth.

Lifestyle magazines Departures and Centurion, which went to high-income holders of American Express platinum and centurion cards, are the latest casualty in the print world as Meredith laid off most of the staff and halted publication of the seven-times-a-year print titles. Said an AmEx spokesperson, “We regularly evolve our premium card offerings and have made the decision to transition the Departures and Centurion US magazine benefits to a new digital-first editorial platform.” Departures’ May/June, Spring Home + Design issue and the quarterly Spring/Summer Centurion Magazine will be the final print issues in their current form published by Meredith Corporation.

Aligned to Gap Inc.’s Power Plan 2023, the company is focused on growing its purpose-led, billion-dollar lifestyle brands by leveraging the power of its portfolio and the power of its platform. With this, Gap Inc. has entered into an agreement to sell Janie and Jack, a leader in premium children’s fashion, to Go Global Retail, an investment platform in the fashion and consumer brand sector. Go Global Retail intends to acquire the entire Janie and Jack business, including the e-commerce platform, all store leases, and assets. Commenting on the transactions, Gap Inc. Head of Strategy, Sally Gilligan, said, “As part of Gap Inc.’s Power Plan 2023, and exemplified by this transaction, we are prioritizing strategic focus and resources behind the growth and potential of our billion-dollar brands in Old Navy, Gap, Banana Republic and Athleta.”