KKR Completes Purchase Of Simon & Schuster (mediapost.com)

“Our second quarter results demonstrate that our efforts to transform our operations are working. The Federal Express segment delivered operating profit growth despite several headwinds, including the continued weak U.S. domestic demand environment as well as the expiration of our U.S. Postal Service contract,” said Raj Subramaniam, FedEx Corp. president and chief executive officer. “I am proud of the team for continuing to deliver solid service to our customers throughout the Peak season, as we create a more flexible, efficient, and intelligent network.” Consolidated operating results were negatively affected by lower-than-expected FedEx Freight revenue and profit, as sustained weakness in U.S. industrial production continued to pressure less-than-truckload industry demand. The lower FedEx Freight results were mostly offset by cost reduction benefits at Federal Express from DRIVE program initiatives and higher base yields at each transportation segment.

The pages of the 1942 Sears Christmas catalog held much that might seem quaintly old-fashioned today. The department store retailer’s easy payment plan, which could be laid out in a simple grid, has been replaced by sophisticated retail credit cards that offer various rewards and complex terms. The wooden toy tanks and metal fire trucks featured as Christmas toys are far more likely to be made of plastic and make electronic noise today. With World War II raging in Europe and the Pacific, the catalog advertised war bonds and products that could be sent to soldiers and even devoted pages to imploring readers to save spare nails for the federal government. The mere existence of a printed Sears catalog would be just as alien to today’s consumers. The retailer axed the paper catalog in the 1990s and Sears is hardly alone. But the printed catalog isn’t gone. In fact by some measures, in some sectors of retail, it’s thriving. Retailers still mail billions of catalogs every year, and tens of millions of consumers still make purchases based, at least in part, on images and copy printed in catalogs that find their way to mailboxes. Click Read More below for more of the story.

A protracted erosion in “print” media ad spending may be bottoming out, thanks in large part to the growth of digital. According to a new forecast released by Jack Myers TomorrowToday, a surge in demand for digital “print-originated” advertising will offset declines in “legacy print” -- the kind published in actual print -- by 2021. That digital will become print’s savior is a little more than ironic, since it was the explosion of content available via digital media that originally set analogue media-- especially print-- on a downward trend in terms of advertising demand. Click Read More below for additional information.