Penguin Random House Posts Modest Revenue Growth as Costs Bite Into Profits

Penguin Random House grew revenue by 2.3 percent in the first half of 2026, reaching €2.376 billion, while profits slipped as costs and currency headwinds took hold. The world's largest trade publisher — owned by the German media group Bertelsmann — saw adjusted operating EBITDA (a measure of operating profitability before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation) fall by €4 million to €251 million compared with the same period a year earlier. Higher costs and negative exchange rate effects were cited as the reasons for the decline. (Publishers Marketplace)

The US division, Penguin Random House's single largest market, edged up to €1.381 billion from €1.376 billion a year earlier — a gain of roughly half a percent. In dollar terms, that revenue figure translated to $1.611 billion. The company pointed to its audiobook publishing business as a bright spot contributing to the US result. (Publishers Marketplace)

Audiobooks have become a reliably growing segment across the publishing industry, as listeners increasingly turn to spoken-word editions through subscription apps and digital retailers. For Penguin Random House, which owns both major print imprints and dedicated audio labels, that growth helps offset softer print sales in some categories.

The parent company told a brighter story overall. Bertelsmann's revenues climbed to €9.3 billion in the first half of 2026, with organic growth — which strips out acquisitions, divestitures and currency effects — exceeding 5 percent. Group profit rose 45 percent. (Bertelsmann)

Bertelsmann's portfolio spans television production, magazine publishing, music rights and education services alongside its book publishing arm, so the group's figures reflect far more than what happens on Penguin Random House's shelves. The contrast is plain: the parent grew briskly, while its publishing division inched forward on the top line and contracted slightly on the bottom line.

For readers, the numbers are a glimpse at the machinery behind the books they borrow, buy or stream. A modest revenue increase at the publisher level does not necessarily change what appears on shop displays or library app feeds week to week. But the cost pressures feeding into that €4 million profit drop are the kind that eventually shape decisions about advances, print runs and how many titles a house acquires in a given season — the choices that determine which manuscripts become books at all.