Random House’s revenues for the first half of 2011 earlier were €787 million, down slightly from the company’s revenues in 2010 for the same period which hit €791 million, according to Bertelsmann, the group that owns the publisher. The earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) was €69 million, up from €40 million. The publisher attributed this favorable EBIT to strong U.S. performance.
According to Random House, overall gains were driven by bestsellers, and eBook sales across all territories. Random House had 145 New York Times bestsellers during the first half of the year, including the No. 1 bestselling Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand. In addition, the publisher sold almost four million copies of George R.R. Martin’s epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire.
In the U.S., digital sales accounted for more than 20 percent of all revenues and eBook sales tripled in the first half of 2011, as compared to sales in the same period in 2010.
In the UK, the publisher increased its year-over-year sales and published more than a quarter of all Sunday Times bestsellers.