Pearson stays on top as world's largest book publisher

21.06.10 | Philip Jones in The Bookseller

Pearson has retained its position as the world's largest book publisher, according to a ranking of the largest international publishers, holding off a strong challenge from Reed Elsevier, which saw a 10% jump in sales despite the global recession. Pearson's own sales rose 4.9%, leaving it as top dog with book sales of €5.3bn.

Despite the tough economic climate, and the threat posted by digitisation, the ranking has changed little since last year: seven out of the top 10 publishers have held their positions. Two, Spanish trade group Planeta and US educational publisher McGraw-Hill, swapped places, while German media group, and Macmillan's parent, Holtzbrinck, has climbed into tenth spot.

The ranking shows that 27 groups out of the 46 that declared sales figures in 2009 and 2008 registered growth. Within the top 10 only Bertelsmann and McGraw-Hill saw sales decline year on year.

In total the combined revenue of the top 50 businesses that declared their sales was €46.4bn, compared with €45.8bn, representing growth of just 1.3%. Adding in estimated sales figures for the groups that have not divulged their numbers, the global top 50 would have generated sales of €50bn in 2009.

Global top 10

1 Pearson €5,290m
2 Reed Elsevier €5,024m
3 ThomsonReuters €3,813m
4 Wolters Kluwer €3,425m
5 Bertelsmann €2,969m
6 Hachette Livre €2,273m
7 Grupo Planeta €1,804m
8 McGraw–Hill Education €1,666m
9 De Agostini Editore €1,616m
10 Holtzbrinck n/a

The full report at The Bookseller.