Costco Wholesale Corporation Reports Third Quarter and Year-to-Date Operating Results for Fiscal 2018

Workers express little interest in seeing learning and development (L&D) activities taken over by artificial intelligence (AI), according to new survey data from Wiley. Nearly six in ten respondents (59%) in the latest Wiley Workplace Intelligence report, Artificial Intelligence in Learning and Development: Five Surprising Facts You Need to Know, say they prefer to see an instructor—in-person or virtual—direct their workforce development learning, while only 7% prefer AI-directed learning. In addition, the vast majority (87%) of respondents say they want the L&D content to be developed by a subject matter expert as opposed to AI technology (12%). “When it comes to learning and development, employees crave a human connection,” said Dr. Mark Scullard, senior director of product innovation at Wiley. “They want a person to create and lead their instruction, even if it’s in an online setting.”

Meredith Corporation's category-leading brands—PEOPLE, Allrecipes, Better Homes & Gardens, SHAPE, Southern Living, Entertainment Weekly, FOOD & WINE and Travel + Leisure—have achieved momentous performances in audience rankings, according to the latest Magazine Media 360° Brand Audience Report produced by the Alliance for Audited Media (AAM) for June 2020, which covers 93 magazine brands and 21 publishing companies. PEOPLE, one of the world's leading entertainment media brands, ranks No. 1 in Total Brand Audience across platforms with 87.6 million, followed by Allrecipes, America's largest digital food media brand, at No. 2 with 62.5 million and Better Homes & Gardens at No. 7 with 39.4 million.

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%).