FY23 second quarter service performance scores covering Jan. 1 through Feb. 10 included: *First-Class Mail: 90.9% of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter. *Marketing Mail: 94.3% of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter. *Periodicals: 86.2% of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 1.5 percentage points from the fiscal first quarter.

The Book Manufacturers’ Institute (BMI) released the February results for its monthly survey on capacity and lead times for soft cover and hard cover books. This month’s survey also featured an update to the questions, factoring in both digital and offset printing methods. In looking at digital printing, the average hard cover capacity is only 59%. That is well below the January overall capacity number. Lead time for digital hard cover books is only 21 days. Digital soft cover books are running at 68% capacity and 17 days lead time. Both of those numbers are less than the overall January numbers as well. According to responses regarding offset printing, hard cover manufacturers are running at 76% of their capacity, with a 40 day lead time. The average soft cover capacity usage is 82% which is higher than the January overall average. Offset soft cover lead time is 27 days, continuing the trend of overall soft cover lead times going down.

In recent years, a surge in the use of counterfeit postage has been found in the mail stream. The intentional use, or sale, of counterfeit postage is a crime because it seeks to obtain services without payment. This activity reflects an intentional effort to defraud the Postal Service of the funds it needs to provide services to the public. In response to this problem, the Postal Service is filing a federal register notice about changes to the Mailing Standards of the United States Postal Service, Domestic Mail Manual (DMM®), that will allow the Postal Service to treat items found in the mail stream bearing counterfeit postage as abandoned. “As the most trusted government agency in the nation, we will continue to work together with other law enforcement and government agencies to protect the sanctity of the mail,” said Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale.

Q4 2022 Highlights: * Angi Inc. revenue increased 6% year-over-year to $442 million, operating loss increased to $60 million (compared to a loss of $29 million in Q4 2021) and Adjusted EBITDA increased to $16 million (compared to a loss of $3 million in Q4 2021). * Dotdash Meredith Digital revenue was $260 million and Print revenue was $224 million. Pro Forma revenue decreased 26% due to 14% Digital declines and 36% Print declines. o Operating loss of $9 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $73 million in Q4 2022 reflect $21 million of restructuring charges and transaction-related items *Emerging & Other revenue decreased 16% year-over-year to $177 million, operating income increased 583% to $8 million and Adjusted EBITDA increased 2% to $12 million. Q4 revenue reflects: o The sale of Bluecrew on November 9, 2022, and 34% lower IAC Films revenue o 53% growth from Vivian Health and 3% growth from Care.com

The U.S. Postal Service announced its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2023 (Oct. 1, 2022 - Dec. 31, 2022). The Postal Service's operating revenue was $21.5 billion for the quarter, an increase of $206 million, or 1.0 percent, on a volume decline of 1.7 billion pieces, or 4.8 percent, compared to the same quarter last year. Marketing Mail revenue decreased $106 million, or 2.4 percent, on a volume decline of 879 million pieces, or 4.7 percent, compared to the same quarter last year. Revenue declined at a lesser rate than volume due to price increases. Marketing Mail has been challenged by commercial mailers’ increasing use of digital and mobile advertising, which was accelerated by the pandemic. Nevertheless, Marketing Mail has generally proven to be a resilient marketing channel, and its value to U.S. businesses remains strong due to customer returns on investment and better data and technology integration.

States apparently are getting tired of waiting for national legislation that would support local journalism. The Massachusetts legislature, to name one, is mulling a bill that would provide a tax credit to reimburse the cost of local newspaper subscriptions. To benefit from this, a local print or digital publication would have to primarily serve the local community and consist of content derived from primary sources and relating to news and current events. It would also have to employ at least one local news journalist who resides in the community.

Fourth quarter GAAP net income decreased 36% to $433 million and GAAP diluted earnings per share decreased 52% to $1.33 driven by continued declines in Ratings revenue and amortization of acquired intangibles. For the full year, reported revenue increased 35% to $11.18 billion. 2022 GAAP net income increased 7% to $3.25 billion and GAAP diluted earnings per share decreased 18% to $10.20.

FY23 second quarter service performance scores covering Jan. 1 through Feb. 3 included: *First-Class Mail: 91.8% of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of .8 percentage point performance from the fiscal first quarter. *Marketing Mail: 94.3% of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter. *Periodicals: 86.3% of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 1.7 percentage points performance from the fiscal first quarter.

The New York Times Company announced fourth quarter 2022 diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of $.43 compared with $.41 in the same period of 2021. Adjusted diluted earnings per share from continuing operations (defined below) was $.59 in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared with $.43 in the fourth quarter of 2021. Operating profit decreased to $93.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2022 from $94.1 million in the same period of 2021 as higher digital subscription revenues at The New York Times Group segment (“NYTG”) and the impact from six additional days in the quarter were more than offset by a one-time charge related to the Company’s withdrawal from a multiemployer pension plan and operating losses at The Athletic segment (“The Athletic”). Adjusted operating profit (defined below) increased to $141.8 million from $109.3 million in the prior year, as higher digital subscription revenues at NYTG and the impact from the additional six days more than offset operating losses at The Athletic. Adjusted operating profit at NYTG increased to $148.7 million from $109.3 million as higher digital subscription and other revenues more than offset lower digital advertising revenues.

*Revenues in the quarter were $2.52 billion, a 7% decrease compared to $2.72 billion in the prior year, reflecting a $171 million, or 6%, negative impact from foreign currency fluctuations. Adjusted Revenues decreased 3% *Net income in the quarter was $94 million compared to $262 million in the prior year *Total Segment EBITDA in the quarter was $409 million compared to $586 million in the prior year *In the quarter, reported EPS were $0.12 compared to $0.40 in the prior year – Adjusted EPS were $0.14 compared to $0.44 in the prior year

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for December 2022 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing. The report does not include PreK-12 revenue due to delays in data collection. Total revenues across all categories, excluding PreK-12, for December 2022 were down 10.0% as compared to December 2021, coming in at $995.9 million. Year-to-date revenues were down 6.4%, at $12.6 billion for the year of 2022. Trade revenues were down 6.2%, at $9.1 billion for the calendar year. Hardback revenues were down 13.9%, coming in at $3.2 billion; Paperbacks were up 1.1%, with $3.3 billion in revenue; Mass Market was down 25.5% to $181.6 million; and Special Bindings were down 8.1%, with $206.4 million in revenue. eBook revenues were down 6.6% as compared to 2021 for a total of $1.0 billion. The Downloaded Audio format was up 7.0%, coming in at $839.5 million in revenue. Physical Audio was down 29.8% coming in at $15.8 million.

As adopted by the Joint Explanatory Statement accompanying the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, the House of Representatives Report 117-79 states: First-Class Service Standards.—The Committee is concerned about further changes to the service standards for market-dominant mail products, particularly the Postal Service’s recent proposal to extend first-class service standards to as long as five days. The Committee believes this change would further erode public confidence in the USPS. The Committee directs the PRC to analyze the feasibility of restoring service standards for market-dominant products that were in effect on July 1, 2012, including an examination of the resources and structural and operational changes needed, and the impacts on market growth and revenue. If service standards are decreased from their January 2021 levels, the PRC shall also conduct a similar analysis of the costs and benefits of restoring USPS service and performance levels to their January 1, 2021, levels. The PRC shall report to the Committee on its findings within 1 year of enactment of this Act.

Gannett Co., Inc. announced that the Company used proceeds of $21.3 million from real estate sales completed in January 2023 to reduce its first lien debt by $22.3 million. Approximately $5.0 million of the proceeds were used to repurchase approximately $6.1 million of 6.00% first lien notes due November 1, 2026, representing a discount to par. The remaining $16.3 million of proceeds were used to repay amounts under its five-year senior secured term loan facility. “We continue to make meaningful progress in reducing our first lien debt, which will continue to lead toward an improved capital structure and stronger balance sheet. We expect to sell another $50 million to $60 million in real estate and other assets in 2023, the proceeds of which we expect to use to pay down debt. As a result, we expect to reduce our debt within the year by approximately $120 million through the sale of real estate and other assets, along with our scheduled quarterly amortization payments,” said Michael Reed, Gannett Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.

Publisher Lee Enterprises has discovered “material weaknesses” in its financial reporting and has not yet filed its annual report for the fiscal year ended September 25, 2022, the company states in a Form 8-K filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Management “did not maintain appropriately designed information technology general controls in the areas of user access for certain of its information systems that are relevant to the preparation of the Company's consolidated financial statements and system of internal control over financial reporting,” Lee says.

FY23 second quarter service performance scores covering Jan. 1 through Jan. 27 included: *First-Class Mail: 91.8% of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 0.9 percentage point performance from the fiscal first quarter. *Marketing Mail: 94.3% of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter. *Periodicals: 85.8% of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard an increase of 1.1 percentage points performance from the fiscal first quarter.

Like a post-holiday hangover that just won’t go away, many retailers are struggling with unsold products even after holding New Year sales. According to a new survey of 500 U.S. retailers from e-commerce inventory planning software provider Inventory Planner, 50% of respondents still have goods they cannot sell after post-Christmas and January discounting. Close to half (46%) of respondents say this is a “major concern.” More than half of U.S. retailers (53%) told Inventory Planner there would be ‘dangerous ramifications’ for their business if they failed to sell excess stock.

Penguin Random House’s bid to buy Simon & Schuster was always going to change the future of the world’s largest trade book publisher, but the remake is not happening along the lines former PRH CEO (and current CEO emeritus) Markus Dohle had originally planned. The ruling by Judge Florence Pan that stopped the acquisition set off a string of events that included Dohle’s resignation, the promotion of PRH US COO Nihar Malaviya to interim global CEO, and PRH US CEO Madeline McIntosh’s decision, announced last week, to step down once she has helped Malaviya complete the creation of a new organizational structure for PRH. Though the restructuring is still a work in progress, its goal is to reinvigorate internal competition for new titles among PRH’s many imprints while also providing multiple touch points for agents to pitch their books to different PRH editors.

Fourth Quarter 2022 - Net sales increased 9% to $149.2 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $137.4 billion in fourth quarter 2021. Excluding the $5.0 billion unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 12% compared with fourth quarter 2021. Operating income decreased to $2.7 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with $3.5 billion in fourth quarter 2021. Fourth quarter 2022 operating income includes approximately $2.7 billion of charges for changes in estimates related to self-insurance liabilities, impairments of property and equipment and operating leases, and estimated severance costs. These charges primarily impacted the North America segment. Net income decreased to $0.3 billion in the fourth quarter, or $0.03 per diluted share, compared with $14.3 billion, or $1.39 per diluted share, in fourth quarter 2021. All share and per share information for comparable prior year periods throughout this release have been retroactively adjusted to reflect the 20-for-1 stock split effected on May 27, 2022. Full Year 2022 - Net sales increased 9% to $514.0 billion in 2022, compared with $469.8 billion in 2021. Excluding the $15.5 billion unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the year, net sales increased 13% compared with 2021. Operating income decreased to $12.2 billion in 2022, compared with $24.9 billion in 2021. Net loss was $2.7 billion in 2022, or $0.27 per diluted share, compared with net income of $33.4 billion, or $3.24 per diluted share, in 2021.

For decades, tech watchers have been predicting the rise of the paperless society, where businesses and homes are fully digital, without a scrap of paper in sight. The reality is that while email and digital record-keeping have perhaps reduced the amount of paper in our lives, they haven’t done away with it entirely — which means we still need to create and maintain good paper management systems. At Domtar, we’re strong advocates for the use of paper in our daily lives for everything from record keeping to sustainable packaging. Studies have shown that paper is a sustainable alternative to single-use plastics, while other reports highlight the hidden environmental costs of digital communications. But did you know a robust paper management system that organizes paper statements, receipts, invoices and written budgets can also help you become more financially responsible? Here are four reasons why: You can see paper. Paper tells the truth. You learn more with paper. Paper offers security.

Costco Wholesale Corporation reported net sales of $16.84 billion for the retail month of January, the four weeks ended January 29, 2023, an increase of 6.9 percent from $15.76 billion last year. Lunar New Year/Chinese New Year occurred on January 22, 10 days earlier this year. The shift negatively impacted January’s Other International and Total Company sales by approximately 2% and 0.25%, respectively. For the 22 weeks ended January 29, 2023, the Company reported net sales of $99.00 billion, an increase of 7.5 percent from $92.10 billion last year.

Fourth Quarter 2022 Financial Highlights *Delivered sales of $3.8 billion, up 13.2%, or 17.2% on a daily, constant currency basis *Achieved reported operating margin of 14.3%, up 190 basis points, or 13.8% on an adjusted basis, up 135 basis points. Full Year 2022 Financial Highlights *Grew sales to $15.2 billion, up 16.9%, or 19.3% on a daily, constant currency basis *Realized reported operating margin of 14.5%, up 265 basis points, or 14.4% on an adjusted basis, up 255 basis points *Produced $1.3 billion in operating cash flow and returned $949 million to Grainger shareholders through dividends and share repurchases

The Commission had several significant accomplishments throughout the year. In addition to reviewing and approving planned rate and classification changes for Market Dominant and Competitive products, new product proposals, and formal complaint adjudications, the Commission: *Conducted rulemakings related to 1) service performance reporting requirements; 2) the letter monopoly; 3) rate incentives for Market Dominant products; and 4) the minimum appropriate share of institutional costs required to be borne by competitive products; *Issued advisory opinions on Postal Service proposals to 1) change service standards for Retail Ground and Parcel Select Ground and 2) revise the critical entry times (CETs) for some categories of Periodicals mail; and *Issued analytical reports on the Postal Service related to compliance with pricing and service standards; the financial health of the Postal Service; and evaluation of the Service’s performance goals and plan

UPS announced fourth-quarter 2022 consolidated revenues of $27.0 billion, a 2.7% decrease from the fourth quarter of 2021. Consolidated operating profit was $3.2 billion, down 17.9% compared to the fourth quarter of 2021, and down 3.3% on an adjusted basis. Diluted earnings per share were $3.96 for the quarter; adjusted diluted earnings per share of $3.62 were 0.8% above the same period in 2021. For the fourth quarter of 2022, GAAP results include a net benefit of $299 million, or $.34 per diluted share, comprised of a non-cash, after-tax mark-to-market (MTM) pension gain of $782 million, a one-time, non-cash, after-tax charge of $384 million resulting from accelerated vesting of restricted performance units in connection with a change in incentive compensation program design, a non-cash, after-tax charge of $58 million due to a reduction in the residual value of the company’s MD-11 aircraft and after-tax transformation and other charges of $41 million.

FY23 second quarter service performance scores covering Jan. 1 through Jan. 20 included: *First-Class Mail: 91.7% of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, an increase of 0.7 percentage points performance from the fiscal first quarter. *Marketing Mail: 93.9% of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter. *Periodicals: 85.3% of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard an increase of 0.7 percentage points performance from the fiscal first quarter.

Dotdash Meredith is cutting 7% of its staff, 274 jobs in all, across all departments. The cuts, announced in an email by CEO Neil Vogel on Thursday morning, were to take place the same day. In the email, Vogel said that the leaders and HR staff would meet with affected employees. Parent IAC recently disclosed that Dotdash Meredith suffered a 28% decline in revenue YoY in December. Driving this was an 18% falloff in digital revenue and 39% in print.

News Corporation announced today that the Company’s Board of Directors received a letter from K. Rupert Murdoch withdrawing the proposal to explore a potential combination of News Corp and Fox Corporation (“FOX”). In withdrawing the proposal, Mr. Murdoch indicated that he and Lachlan K. Murdoch have determined that a combination is not optimal for shareholders of News Corp and FOX at this time. As a result of this action, the Special Committee of the Board of Directors of News Corp has been dissolved. The Board would like to express its appreciation for the Special Committee’s efforts on this matter.

Savvas Learning Company, a K-12 next-generation learning solutions leader, is proud to announce that its Savvas Realize learning management system (LMS) has received the 2022 Supes’ Choice Award from the Institute for Education Innovation, a national school superintendent think tank. Savvas Realize, the K-12 education industry's most innovative LMS, was honored as the “best of the best” in the Learning Management System category. The Supes’ Choice Awards, which recognize the trailblazers and visionaries in today’s rapidly growing edtech industry, are the only edtech industry awards judged exclusively by school district superintendents. Winners in the award program’s 14 categories are selected based on their commitment to student outcomes, innovation and ingenuity, client support, interactivity, and engagement.

Cost-cutting and outright closures continue to afflict print publishing. For instance, The Fort Wayne (Indiana) Journal Gazette is eliminating its Sunday edition and placing that content in a new weekend edition that will appear on Saturdays. Last Friday, the paper announced, “All of the features readers have come to expect on Sundays – exclusive enterprise reporting, stand-alone Sports, Metro, Perspective, Business, Living and Classified/Home sections – will move to the Saturday Weekend Edition, along with color comics, puzzles, advice columns and the weekly advertising insert package."

FY23 second quarter service performance scores covering Jan. 1 through Jan.13 included: *First-Class Mail: 90.8% of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter. *Marketing Mail: 93.9% of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter. *Periodicals: 84.7% of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter.

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for November 2022 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing. The report does not include PreK-12 revenue due to delays in data collection. Total revenues across all categories, excluding PreK-12, for November 2022 were down 14.4% as compared to November 2021, coming in at $1.0 billion. Year-to-date revenues were down 6.0%, at $11.6 billion for the first eleven months of the year. Trade (Consumer Books) sales were down 13.7% in November, coming in at $863.4 million. In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of November, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were down 22.4%, coming in at $355.2 million; Paperbacks were down 5.4%, with $274.2 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 14.9% to $19.5 million; and Special Bindings was down 15.9%, with $20.0 million in revenue.

As one of the fastest-growing brands within our Gap Inc. franchise portfolio, Old Navy continues to build an international presence and attract new customers across the globe with fun, on-trend and fashionable products at a value for the family. Last year, the Old Navy franchise business was focused on expanding in Latin America through franchise partnerships, launching for the first time in Chile, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, and most recently, in Ecuador. These latest launches in the region underscore the brand’s commitment to Gap Inc.’s ‘Partner to Amplify’ strategy, which focuses on working with best-in-class companies who are experts in their markets to reach new and existing customers while supporting the business in a new and cost-effective way.

Costco Wholesale Corporation announced that its Board of Directors has reauthorized a common stock repurchase program of up to $4 billion. This program will expire in January 2027 and replaces the current $4 billion program (adopted in 2019 and scheduled to expire April 2023), under which approximately $1.4 billion had been purchased. The Board of Directors also declared a quarterly cash dividend on Costco common stock of 90 cents per share. The dividend is payable February 17, 2023, to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 3, 2023. Costco currently operates 847 warehouses, including 583 in the United States and Puerto Rico, 107 in Canada, 40 in Mexico, 31 in Japan, 29 in the United Kingdom, 18 in Korea, 14 in Taiwan, 14 in Australia, four in Spain, two each in France and China, and one each in Iceland, New Zealand and Sweden. Costco also operates e-commerce sites in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Korea, Taiwan, Japan and Australia.

The Book Manufacturers’ Institute (BMI) released the January results for its monthly survey on capacity and lead times for soft cover and hard cover books. This month showed both capacities and lead times continuing to decline. According to responses regarding hard cover books, the average manufacturer was running at 72% of their capacity, down from December’s 82%. The average lead time for completed hard cover books went down to 48 days from 50 days, continuing the trend. For soft cover books, capacity usage dropped to 75% compared to 82% last month. The average lead time dropped to 29 days from 33 days, continuing that trend as well.

Taking a groundbreaking approach to delivering government and civics curriculum, Savvas Learning Company today introduced two new, innovative social studies programs, Magruder’s American Government Interactive and Civics Interactive, that are developed to provide students with the most up-to-date content and current events. Magruder’s American Government Interactive © 2023, the new edition of its premier high school program, is the first social studies curriculum in the country with continuously updated digital resources, complementing a foundational textbook. Civics Interactive © 2024, the newest and first all-digital civics curriculum in the marketplace, is designed to actively promote civic engagement for young adults in grades 6-12.

S&P Global announced that it has entered into an agreement to sell its Engineering Solutions business to investment funds managed by KKR, a leading global investment firm and a longstanding customer of S&P Global, for $975 million in cash, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. S&P Global currently anticipates the divestiture to result in after-tax proceeds of approximately $750 million, which proceeds are expected to be used to fund share repurchases. The agreement follows S&P Global's announced intent in November 2022 to divest the business.

Between Nov. 26 and Dec. 30, the Postal Service accepted 11.7 billion mailpieces and packages into the network with an average delivery time of just 2.5 days.* The Postal Service also released FY23 second quarter service performance scores covering Jan. 1 through Jan. 6. Data for the reporting period shows the average time to deliver a mailpiece or package across the postal network was just 2.6 days. Quarterly data included: *First-Class Mail: 89.4% of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a decrease of 1.6 percentage points from the fiscal first quarter. *Marketing Mail: 93.6% of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter. *Periodicals: 84.5% of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, consistent with performance from the fiscal first quarter.

InTech magazine, the flagship publication of the International Society of Automation (ISA) will soon be all tech: it is ending its print edition and will now be published only in PDF format six times a year. It seems appropriate—if a little belated—that the ISA publication would go all-digital. The magazine found in a reader survey that 67% read InTech's digital edition, which is delivered via email. And 38% visit visit www.ISA.org/InTech to read there. But 46% never pick up a paper issue.

Savvas Learning Company, a K-12 next-generation learning solutions leader, is pleased to announce that it has been named to the 2023 GSV 150, a list of the world’s most transformative private companies in education. Savvas was chosen from more than 4,000 private companies revolutionizing the world of education technology, from Pre-K-12 to workforce learning. GSV Ventures evaluated these companies on five criteria — revenue scale, revenue growth, active learner reach, international reach, and margin profile — to determine the global GSV 150 list.

Learning technology company HMH and NWEA, a not-for-profit, research and educational services organization serving K-12 students, announced today they have signed an agreement for HMH to acquire NWEA. Upon closing, NWEA will operate as a division of HMH, with its current offerings, including its flagship assessment—MAP Growth—remaining under the NWEA brand. NWEA assessment solutions will be integrated with HMH curriculum on HMH’s platform to create a combined offering that links interim assessment to instruction. HMH is a portfolio company of Veritas Capital, a private investment firm that focuses on companies that provide technology and technology-enabled solutions to government and commercial customers worldwide. By combining NWEA’s assessments with HMH’s curriculum, HMH is expected to deliver a holistic solution for educators that helps them understand how students are growing academically and what areas need the most focus to maximize that growth. Most importantly, this solution will turn insights from assessments into content recommendations that help teachers address student-specific skill gaps and advance student learning.

Gannett is closing ThisWeek Westerville News & Public Opinion both in print and online, effective Jan. 26, according to the Gannett paper The Columbus Dispatch. According to the Dispatch, the decision is part of a broader digital transformation that will allow the company to concentrate its reporting strength on the Dispatch and Dispatch.com. “This decision helps ensure the success of the core Columbus Dispatch product,” said Edwina Blackwell Clark, executive editor of The Dispatch.

The book printing market is experiencing high levels of demand and a continued resurgence among consumers for physical books. While a good problem to have, it could be a problem nonetheless as we move into 2023. Kevin Spall, senior VP at Scholastic, offers a perspective on this from the publishing side, explaining: “Publishers are full, having overbought because demand was high and capacity was low. We bought inventory to be prepared. And now, as demand softens, we still have inventory. The need to reprint is less certainly than it was a year ago when the demand was just starting to spike, and those are not issues that are going to go away quickly.” Demand has soared in 2022, according to the Book Manufacturers Institute’s (BMI) "State of the Book Industry 2022” report. The printed book market remains on an upward trajectory, continuing to build on the momentum of 2020, when COVID-19 kept people at home and interest in reading surged.

To kick off the new year, Kohl’s is donating more than $500,000 to more than 20 nonprofits serving families in Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties through the Kohl’s Hometown Giving Program. The Kohl’s Hometown Giving Program, now in its fifth year, is an important part of the retailer’s local community support and provides another funding opportunity for nonprofits looking to expand and develop their programming to further enhance the health and wellness of families. “Kohl’s is such a big part of the greater Milwaukee area, so it’s especially important that we give back here through our philanthropic work in a significant way,” said Tara Geiter, Kohl’s director of community relations. “We’re proud to provide funding through Kohl’s Hometown Giving Program, among many other local initiatives, to help support our communities through the incredible, impactful work these nonprofits are doing year-round to enhance and improve family health and wellness.” Grants range from $5,000 to $25,000 and are made possible through the Kohl’s Cares® merchandise program, which sells children’s books and plush toys and donates 100 percent of the net profit to health and wellness organizations nationwide.

Total Company net sales for the two months ended December 31, 2022 increased 2.3% compared to the two months ended December 31, 2021. Total Retail segment net sales increased 1%, with comparable Retail segment net sales increasing 2%, partially offset by a 1% negative impact of foreign currency translation. The increase in Retail segment comparable net sales was driven by low single-digit positive growth in digital channel sales and low single-digit positive growth in retail store sales. By brand, comparable Retail segment net sales increased 15% at the Free People Group and 7% at the Anthropologie Group and decreased 10% at Urban Outfitters. Wholesale segment net sales decreased 22% driven by a decrease in Free People wholesale sales primarily due to a decrease in sales to department stores. Nuuly segment sales increased 150% due to a 153% increase in our subscribers during the two months ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the prior year period. For the eleven months ended December 31, 2022, total Company net sales increased 5.1% compared to the eleven months ended December 31, 2021. Comparable Retail segment net sales increased 4%, driven by high single-digit positive growth in retail store sales due to increased store traffic and low single-digit positive growth in digital channel sales. Wholesale segment net sales decreased 3%, primarily driven by a decrease in Free People Group wholesale sales primarily due to a decrease in sales to department stores, partially offset by an increase in sales to specialty accounts. Nuuly segment sales increased 176% due to a 187% increase in our subscribers during the eleven months ended December 31, 2022, as compared to the prior year period.

FY23 preliminary first quarter service performance scores covering Oct. 1 through Dec. 30 included: *First-Class Mail: 90.1% of First-Class Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a decrease of 2.1 percentage points from the fiscal fourth quarter. The current data reflects a year over year increase of 1 percentage point compared to the same period in the FY22 peak holiday season. *Marketing Mail: 94.0% of Marketing Mail delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a slight decrease of 0.8 percentage points from the fiscal fourth quarter. The current data reflects a year over year increase of 1.8 percentage points compared to the same period in the FY22 peak holiday season. *Periodicals: 84.7% of Periodicals delivered on time against the USPS service standard, a decrease of 2.1 percentage points from the fiscal fourth quarter. The current data reflects a year over year increase of 3.8 percentage points compared to the same period in the FY22 peak holiday season.