Penguin E-Book Biz Up 128%

In a half-year earnings disclosure from Penguin’s parent company Pearson, the firm announced that Penguin’s global e-book sales grew 128 percent over the last year and now totals 14 percent of the publisher’s total revenue, paidContent reported.

Still, Penguin’s sales growth is slower than the 160.1 percent annual growth that the American Association of Publishers reported for consumer e-books for the first five months of 2011.

In the report, Pearson said that the company’s outlook is for “strong and durable competitive performances, even in tough markets, with rapid growth in digital and services businesses, and in developing economies” and is planning for “weak market conditions, particularly for businesses that rely on government spending and traditional print publishing business models.”

Pearson also said that digital education platform registrations were up 15 percent. The company's pre-tax profit dropped 13 percent to $133.8 million, while sales rose 3 percent to $3.92 billion.