Print Book Sales Rose 8.2% in 2020 (publishersweekly.com)

Carpenter Media Group, a publisher based in Mississippi, is continuing its acquisition kick, buying Pamplin Communications, owner of The Portland Tribune and 23 other publications in Oregon, according to Willamette Week. Robert Pamplin Jr. founded the company and the Portland Tribune. Pamplin cited age and health as his reasons for selling. Carpenter recently acquired Black Press Media, publisher of multiple newspapers in the Pacific Northwest. In May, it purchased 10 Southern newspapers and a Georgia printing facility from Community Newspaper Holdings Inc. (CNHI). The company reportedly owned 160 publications.

Digital ad revenue in the U.S. rose 35% to $189 billion last year as marketers spent more to reach consumers, according to a report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) released Tuesday. David Cohen, CEO at IAB, believes that an increase in consumer use of online services and growth of small and mid-sized businesses during the pandemic fueled the increase in digital spending — specifically in digital audio and video. “We expect this digital migration to drive the continued growth of a healthy and competitive digital marketplace driven by innovation and entrepreneurship,” he stated.

*Comparable sales up 37.2% on an owned basis and up 35.6% on an owned-plus-licensed basis versus 2020; up 8.9% and up 8.7%, respectively, versus 2019 *Diluted EPS of $0.76 and Adjusted diluted EPS of $1.23 *Repurchased $300 million of shares, repaid $1.6 billion in debt ahead of schedule and paid $46 million in dividends *Added 4.4 million new customers into Macy’s brand, a 28% increase over 2019