Hearst Newspapers Acquires Puzzle Games Platform Puzzmo

Financial and Business Highlights •Record gross revenue was $288.4 million in the third quarter, an increase of 3% compared with $280.0 million in the third quarter of 2016. Year-to-date gross revenue was $835.3 million, a 2% increase compared with $820.3 million in the prior period. •Record gross profit (net revenue) was $72.5 million, or 25.1% of gross revenue in the third quarter, a 7% increase compared to $67.8 million, or 24.2% of gross revenue, in the same period of last year. Year-to-date gross profit (net revenue) was $207.0 million, or 24.8% of gross revenue, an increase of 6% compared to the prior-year period. •Net income was $7.5 million or $0.14 per diluted share in the third quarter, compared to net income of $4.3 million or $0.08 per share in the third quarter of 2016. Year-to-date net income was $17.5 million or $0.32 per diluted share, compared to net income (loss) of $(0.7) million or $(0.01) per diluted share in the same period of 2016. Click Read More below for additional information.

If 2020 was anything but business as usual in the world of direct mail, 2021 is most certainly cut from the same cloth. From lockdowns in the beginning of the year to – what appears to be – a sharp economic rebound, the COVID-19 economic roller coaster is ever-present in the acquisitional direct mail markets. At the time of this post, we have seen paper supplies become constricted and schedules move out, all while marketers appear to be clamoring to reach their consumers (flush with cash and new-found freedoms) in reliable and effective ways. Direct mail contractors that understand today’s paper market, forge and maintain strong alliances with their vendors, and understand the importance of a schedule will be far better equipped to fair the tumultuous seas of 2021. For a decade, mills have been shuttering doors one-by-one to try to control the supply-demand equation. Today, however, mill operating rates are well above 95%, have put all its customers on allocation (which prevents hoarding and is typically a function of historic usage), and have little to no flexibility in scheduling. It’s widely expected that mills will have another increase this summer (some are announcing at the release of this memo) and that schedules will stay tight through the end of the year.

HP Inc. at the London Book Fair introduced HP Piazza, a pioneering set of independent and interlocking cloud-based services that enable publishers to make book manufacturing and distribution more time- and cost-efficient. Now, publishers can build a virtual warehouse for the management, automation, distribution, print, and direct fulfillment of book orders, while holding zero inventory. “Pearson is undergoing a digital transformation to become a simpler, more efficient business and our UK book supply chain is a key part of this,” said Stephen Jones, Pearson Director of Global Direct Procurement. “We are moving from a ‘print to warehouse’ to a ‘print to order, direct to consumer’ model. Partnering with our print providers, HP Piazza will support us in managing our print workflow and optimizing our book supply chain to help reduce costs and better serve our customers.” Click Read More below for additional information.