Poor show in US print market puts Pearson in a spin

US textbook sales plunge almost 30 per cent as chief financial officer quits

US higher education is continuing to be a drag on Pearson’s finances, as the learning giant revealed flat growth in 2019 due to a shrinking North American textbook market.

The global education firm published its unaudited full-year results for 2019 on 16 January, revealing static revenue attributable to a 3 per cent drop in the US market. Its US higher education courseware arm, worth 24 per cent of the company, shrank by 12 per cent while its print sales fell by almost 30 per cent, and print and digital bundles dropped by 45 per cent.