Simon & Schuster Acquires Dutch Publisher Veen Bosch & Keuning (publishersweekly.com)

The Association of American Publishers released its StatShot report for May 2020 reflecting reported revenue for all tracked categories, including Trade (consumer publications), K-12 Instructional Materials, Higher Education Course Materials, Professional Publishing, and University Presses. Total revenues across all categories for May 2020 were approximately $1.0 billion, a decline of 12.1% as compared to May 2019. Year-to-date sales were $4.3 billion, a decline of 4.5% as compared to the same period last year. Trade sales were down 7.9% year-over-year. Religious press revenues were up 7.0% year-over-year in May. Professional Books, including business, medical, law, technical and scientific, declined 3.7% for the month. University Presses declined 5.4% as compared to May of 2019.

On October 1, a critical piece of code used on over 2 billion websites to safeguard security expired. Companies large and small were disrupted. And untold millions of consumers around the globe that do not have the latest and greatest digital devices suddenly could not access the sites they wanted or needed to. The quiet sunsetting of the Let’s Encrypt security certificate is still wreaking havoc because it is the most widely used piece of code authorizing access to secure websites. Consumers are finding that their desktop, mobile, Mac, Windows, Android and other systems and devices cannot connect to many websites using the HTTPS security protocol if their personal tech is more than a few years old and not running the latest operating systems. For the fortunate, they will only have the hassles of updating and upgrading – but many will now be forced to buy new technology. This same issue has occurred on a smaller scaler with lesser used security certificates, and has the potential to reemerge as other certificates expire. This is a critical matter for consumers who already have been demanding the option of paper correspondence mailed to them by their service providers. Why? Because it is these same service providers, including banks and financial services institutions, insurance companies, healthcare providers, telecoms and utilities that are the most likely to use the secure internet protocols, and valid security certificates are necessary for accessing private, personal account information.

REI Co-op released its 2020 financials and annual impact report, highlighting strong financial performance and its values-based approach to leading through a global crisis—and beyond. Despite unforeseen challenges in 2020, the co-op made bold investments in the future of its business: selling its headquarters buildings to imagine an entirely new future of office work, taking the co-op carbon neutral, investing in retail pay, making a commitment to racial equity that will impact every area of the company, and rolling out innovative new offerings like virtual outfitting and Curbside Pickup within a matter of weeks. “We entered 2020 with incredible momentum, after more than a decade of record growth. Then, the entire world came to a halt. We regrounded ourselves in our values, making choices that at times came at great cost to our business. But we took the long view and continued to put our people first, quickly pivoting to find new ways of serving our customers and community,” said REI President and CEO Eric Artz. “That approach turned out to be the right thing for our people and for our business, and allowed us to enter 2021 not just in a position of financial strength, but proud of who we were when the times were least certain.” The co-op reported no profits in 2020 but ended the year in a strong cash position and debt-free, after investing millions in its impact work: combatting the climate crisis, fighting for racial equity and supporting its network of nonprofit partners. Now REI is launching the next chapter of that work, inviting its broader co-op community to take action.