HarperCollins grew its profits by 10 percent in fiscal year 2025 but saw disappointing results in the fourth quarter, when earnings dropped 12 percent. CEO Brian Murray mentioned the following factors in the Big Five company’s recent performance:
- Consumer concern over tariffs may be affecting spending.
- Promotions in the fourth quarter didn’t drive sales.
- Audiobook sales showed a decline because of an unfavorable comparison to sales last year, when Spotify entered the market and offered a new source of income. Murray anticipates that double-digit sales growth in audio is over.
- However, HarperCollins’s Christian Publishing division and its children’s business are doing well. (All of Christian publishing is doing well and has shown growth.)
Learn more at Publishers Weekly.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
