eMarketer: U.S. e-commerce to grow over 30%; Best Buy, Target to see biggest surges (chainstoreage.com)

IAC company Dotdash announced the completion of its acquisition of Meredith Holdings Corp., owner of world-class brands such as PEOPLE, Better Homes & Gardens, FOOD & WINE, Allrecipes, Southern Living, InStyle and REAL SIMPLE, in an all cash transaction at a purchase price of $42.18 per share. The new Dotdash Meredith combines celebrated and iconic brands with digital DNA to create America’s largest digital and print publisher—a top 10 internet property[1] able to deliver intent-driven content and experiences at scale. The company, headquartered in New York City and led by CEO Neil Vogel, will be its own reporting segment within IAC. “Today marks the start of a big new opportunity at IAC—conceived by the ambitious minds of Neil Vogel and the Dotdash team and made possible in collaboration with our talented new colleagues from Meredith—to define a new future in publishing,” said Joey Levin, CEO of IAC. “Dotdash Meredith has a bright future ahead.”

The Association of American Publishers (AAP) today released its StatShot report for May 2023 reflecting reported revenue for Trade (Consumer Books), Higher Education Course Materials, and Professional Publishing. Total revenues across all categories for May 2023 were flat as compared to May 2022, coming in at $846.8 million. Year-to-date revenues were up 0.7%, at $4.7 billion for the first five months of the year. Trade (Consumer Books) revenues were down 1.6% in May, coming in at $661.3 million. In terms of physical paper format revenues during the month of May, in the Trade (Consumer Books) category, Hardback revenues were down 0.3%, coming in at $233.5 million; Paperbacks were down 3.6%, with $239.5 million in revenue; Mass Market was down 41.2% to $6.1 million; and Special Bindings were down 21.5%, with $10.2 million in revenue.

•Total revenue was $122.7 billion, an increase of $5.1 billion, or 4.4%. Excluding currency2, total revenue was $120.7 billion, an increase of $3.2 billion, or 2.7%. •Walmart U.S. comp sales1,2 increased 2.1%, and comp traffic increased 0.8%. •Sam's Club comp sales1,2 increased 3.8% led by comp traffic growth of 5.6%. Tobacco sales negatively impacted comp sales by approximately 140 basis points •The company generated $5.2 billion in operating cash flow. Click Read More below for additional information.