In this article, we will be taking a look at the 20 biggest publishing companies in the world. To skip our detailed analysis, you can go directly to the 5 Biggest Publishing Companies in the World.
The production and distribution of information, such as books, music, software, and travel guides, is done by the publishing sector. To help with the various stages of publishing, this industry employs a varied workforce. This includes writers, researchers, editors, artists and graphic designers, press and production operators, digital designers and developers, sales and marketing forces, and more.
Until over ten years ago, the publishing sector was limited to printed materials, such as traditional books, newspapers, and magazines. The publishing of books in electronic formats including blogs, e-books, websites, and other digital media has begun as a result of the growth of digital information.
The publishing industry has changed as a result of current trends. E-book sales, for instance, have surged as a result of evolving technology, which has made them more accessible and affordable for e-readers. The e-book revolution is mostly being driven by the demand from students for textbooks, instructional materials, and reference books. Moreover, Internet sales, self-publishing initiatives, and on-demand printing are other changes that the book industry is dealing with. The Internet has made it possible to order books online, which has had a significant negative impact on physical bookstores.
While the pandemic was at its worst, online sales skyrocketed. Sales increased at the same rate as the preceding four years put together. Online book sales accounted for more than 71.2% of the publishing sector’s overall income in 2020. Compared to traditional bookshops, online stores like Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), and Chegg, Inc. (NYSE:CHGG) grew tremendously.
Analysis of the Global Publishing Industry
According to an industry analysis report by Research and Markets, the global books market size is anticipated to reach $159.3 billion by 2028, exhibiting a compound annual growth rate of 2.4% between 2021 and 2028. The market’s expansion is expected to be primarily driven by a rise in consumer spending on books, which is aided by rising income and interest in book reading, together with ongoing format innovations that have improved the overall reading experience.
Another report by the Business Research Company, a market research and intelligence company, estimates that the global digital publishing market was valued at $41.35 billion in 2022 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.2% from 2022 through 2027, reaching a value of $67.86 billion at the end of the forecasted period. The primary factor propelling this growth include the change from traditional printed textbooks to digital mediums like e-readers, smartphones, and tablets. This was made possible by the conversion of the content into digital format. In 2022, North America dominated the global digital publishing market. Over the projected period, Africa is anticipated to experience the fastest growth in the global digital publishing industry.
Our Methodology
For our list of the 20 biggest publishing companies in the world, we made use of top Google search results. To rank these companies, we considered them based on their revenue and number of employees. After that, we assigned 70% weightage to the first criteria and 30% to the latter.
Please note that we have especially included social media companies like Twitter, Instagram, and Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), at the 20th, 19th and 18th places respectively, on our list of the 20 biggest publishing companies in the world. These companies are no different from traditional publishers since they make editorial decisions about what appears on their platforms.
So, without further ado, let’s look at the companies that are currently driving one of the most significant sectors.
Biggest Publishing Companies in the World
20. Twitter
Total Revenue of the Company (in billions): $4.40
Total Number of Employees: 1,300
Twitter, headquartered in San Francisco, California, is a free social networking site where users broadcast short posts known as tweets.
As of 2023, Twitter has about 450 million active monthly users.
19. Instagram
Total Revenue of the Company (in billions): $51.4
Total Number of Employees: 18,967
Instagram, owned by Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), is a free social media platform for sharing photos and videos with your followers.
Instagram users are anticipated to reach 1.35 billion globally in 2023.
18. Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META)
Total Revenue of the Company (in billions): $116
Total Number of Employees: 86,482
Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META), specializes in creating social media applications. The company, among other products and services, owns Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
There are 2.9 billion active Facebook users right now.
17. Kodansha
Total Revenue of the Company (in billions): $1.26
Total Number of Employees: 945
Kodansha is a leading publisher in Japan. The manga magazines Nakayoshi, Afternoon, Evening, Weekly Shonen Magazine, and Bessatsu Shonen Magazine are published by the company.
16. Simon & Schuster
Total Revenue of the Company (in billions): $1.10
Total Number of Employees: 1,500
Simon & Schuster, a subsidiary of Paramount Global (NASDAQ:PARA), is an American publishing company.
Sandra Brown, James Lee Burke, Mary Higgins Clark, Richard Paul Evans, Stephen Hunter, Nicholson Baker, Stephen McCauley, Martin Cruz Smith, Jean Thompson, and Marianne Wiggins are just a few of the bestselling and well-regarded fiction authors published by Simon & Schuster.
15. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Total Revenue of the Company (in billions): $1.05
Total Number of Employees: 2,300
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, formerly known as Houghton Mifflin Company, publishes reference books, instructional technology resources, and textbooks.
14. McGraw Hill Education
Total Revenue of the Company (in billions): $1.8 (2022 full-year)
Total Number of Employees: 4,500
McGraw Hill Education, founded in 1888, is one of the world’s largest educational publishing companies. For kindergarten to higher education, it publishes educational content, software, and services.
With operations in over 30 nations, the company provides products and services in over 100 countries.
13. HarperCollins
Total Revenue of the Company (in billions): $2.19
Total Number of Employees: 4000
HarperCollins, with publishing operations in 17 countries, has a print and digital catalog of more than 200,000 titles. Each year, it publishes around 10,000 new books in 16 different languages.
Authors published by HarperCollins include those who have received the Nobel Prize, the National Book Award, the Newbery, the Pulitzer Prize, and Caldecott Medals, and the Man Booker Prize for their work in a variety of genres.
HarperCollins books are available on online stores like Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), eBay Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), and Chegg, Inc. (NYSE:CHGG).
12. Cengage Group
Total Revenue of the Company (in billions): $1.37
Total Number of Employees: 4,500
Cengage Group, headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, provides course materials that are crafted to meet the demands of higher education instructors, students, and institutions.
Millions of students in more than 125 countries receive assistance from its three business segments, Cengage Academic, Cengage Work, and Cengage Select each year.
In December 2017, the company introduced Cengage Unlimited. By subscribing to the company’s comprehensive digital higher education catalog for a semester or an entire year, students can avoid buying individual textbooks.
11. Macmillan Publishers
Total Revenue of the Company (in billions): $1.24
Total Number of Employees: 5,700
Macmillan Publishers, founded in London in 1843 by Scottish brothers Daniel and Alexander MacMillan, is a British publishing company. It published The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, two of the most well-known pieces of children’s literature from the Victorian era.
With imprints in the United States, Germany, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, and South Africa, the company operates in over 70 countries.
10. Oxford University Press
Total Revenue of the Company (in billions): $0.94
Total Number of Employees: 6,000
Oxford University Press, with publications in 190 countries and 70 different languages, is the biggest university press in the world.
The company has mostly concentrated on publishing pedagogical literature for the past 500 years. It continues to uphold this tradition through publishing scholarly journals, dictionaries, English language resources, bibliographies, books on Indology, music, classics, literature, and history.
It has offices around the globe, mostly in regions that were a part of the British Empire.
9. Scholastic Corporation (NYSE:SCHL)
Total Revenue of the Company (in billions): $1.64
Total Number of Employees: 8,900
Scholastic Corporation (NYSE:SCHL), founded in 1920 by Maurice R. Robinson, publishes and distributes children books. Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution, Education Solutions, and International make up its three business divisions.
Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Bad Guys, Dog Man, Wings of Fire, Cat Kid Comic Club, Goosebumps, Magic School Bus, and Captain Underpants are just a few of its creative publications. Among its licensed properties are Peppa Pig and Pokemon.
8. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY)
Total Revenue of the Company (in billions): $2.04
Total Number of Employees: 9,500
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY), founded in 1807, is an American-owned research and education company. In addition to books and other digital content, the company publishes online scientific, technical, medical, and scholarly journals. The company has a remarkable collection of more than 8 million articles from 1,600 journals.
It operates in a number of regions, including Europe, North America, and Asia Pacific.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (NYSE:WLY) books can be purchased online from stores like Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), eBay, Inc. (NASDAQ:EBAY), and Chegg, Inc. (NYSE:CHGG).
7. Springer Nature
Total Revenue of the Company (in billions): $1.70
Total Number of Employees: 10,000
Springer Nature, with 10,000 employees in over 50 countries, is a German-British academic publishing company.
In 2015, Springer Science + Business Media and Holtzbrinck Publishing Group’s Nature Publishing Group, Palgrave Macmillan, and Macmillan Education combined to create this business.
Among its numerous subsidiaries are BioMed Central, Macmillan Education, Nature Research, Scientific American, Springer Healthcare, and Springer Gabler.
6. Informa
Total Revenue of the Company (in billions): $2.17
Total Number of Employees: 10,000
Informa, headquartered in London, United Kingdom, is a leading international events, digital services and academic knowledge group. Informa Connect, Informa Markets, Informa Tech, Informa Intelligence, and Taylor & Francis are its operating segments. It employs about 10,000 people and has operations in 43 different nations.
Among the many brands owned by the company are CRC Press, Taylor & Francis, Routledge, Fan Expo HQ, Game Developers Conference, and Lloyd’s List.
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Disclosure: None. 20 Biggest Publishing Companies in the World is originally published on Insider Monkey.
