How TikTok Helped Fuel The Best-Selling Year For Print Books (forbes.com)

In what is perhaps the biggest surprise in publishing since the Covid-19 pandemic sent the U.S. economy into turmoil this spring, print unit sales saw a 2.8% increase in the first half of 2020, over the comparable period in 2019, at outlets that report to NPD BookScan. The number of copies sold was 322.1 million in the six-month period, up from 313.5 million in the first half of 2019. The increase was led by a combination of children’s nonfiction books aimed at helping parents educate and entertain their children following the closing of most schools in March, as well as a spike in sales of books on race relations and social justice following the killing of George Floyd by members of the Minneapolis police department in late May.

Gannett Co., Inc. announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire WordStream, Inc., a provider of cloud-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions for local and regional businesses and agencies to optimize their digital marketing services campaigns. The purchase price is $130 million in cash, net of cash acquired, plus up to an aggregate $20 million earnout payable in 2019 and 2020 based on achieving certain revenue targets. The transaction builds upon Gannett’s existing data-driven digital marketing services, ReachLocal and SweetIQ. “This acquisition marks another critical milestone in Gannett’s digital transformation, enhancing our ability to support businesses and agencies in our local markets with the intelligent, data-driven marketing solutions they need to drive growth,” said Robert Dickey, president and chief executive officer of Gannett. “WordStream’s technology, extensive data and analytics capabilities together with an experienced executive team will bring tremendous value to Gannett’s expanding digital marketing services business.” Click Read More below for additional information.

Urban Outfitters, Inc. announced net income of $89 million and record third quarter earnings per diluted share of $0.89 for the three months ended October 31, 2021. For the nine months ended October 31, 2021, net income was $270 million and record first nine-month period earnings per diluted share were $2.71. Total Company net sales for the three months ended October 31, 2021, were a record $1.13 billion. Net sales increased 14.6% compared to the three months ended October 31, 2019. Comparable Retail segment net sales increased 14%, driven by strong double-digit growth in digital channel sales, partially offset by mid-single-digit negative retail store sales primarily due to reduced store traffic. By brand, comparable Retail segment net sales increased 55% at the Free People Group, 9% at the Anthropologie Group and 7% at Urban Outfitters. Total Retail segment net sales increased 16%. Wholesale segment net sales decreased 15% primarily from reducing the Free People Group’s sales to promotional wholesale custom ers. For the nine months ended October 31, 2021, total Company net sales increased 14.3% compared to the nine months ended October 31, 2019. Comparable Retail segment net sales increased 16%, driven by strong double-digit growth in digital channel sales, partially offset by low double-digit negative retail store sales due to reduced store traffic resulting from temporary store closures and occupancy restrictions in Europe and Canada. Wholesale segment net sales decreased 23% primarily from reducing the Free People Group’s sales to promotional wholesale customers.