Remember the fun little book fairs our schools had before? Thanks to Scholastic, we got to enjoy flipping through pages of many books from different genres.
As one of the leading book publishing and media companies worldwide, Scholastic lives by its mission of supporting children in their intellectual and personal growth. With over 90 years in the industry, Scholastic has definitely changed the lives of millions of children that are continuously learning.
Scholastic has successfully adapted to the dynamic changes in education over time. The company does so by offering fun and premium content through digital and print media. The content best aims to offer engaging facts for the new generation to productively grow.
The company finds its roots back in 1920 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania thanks to Maurice R. Robinson, who had a dream of becoming a youth’s magazine publisher. The magazine, covering high school sports events and social activities, was first published by The Western Pennsylvania Scholastic.
In 1940, it attempted to venture into a book club business and became a success in the 1960s as it grew globally. Richard Robinson became CEO and president until his death in 2021.
How Does Scholastic Operate?
Scholastic is actively operating in many international markets, particularly in education. With their mission, the company is responsible for the publication and distribution of children’s books like Harry Potter and the Hunger Games series whenever they’re good to go for publishing.
As the world’s leading children’s book publisher and distributor, Scholastic offers books in many forms from classroom magazines, and comics, to digital materials.
Aside from publication, Scholastic also supports professional learning to foster highly trained professionals. Several schools are in touch with Scholastic to become top educational institutions by enhancing their performance. The company successfully does so by providing them with writing and instructional reading programs.
Scholastic Competitors and Alternatives
Competition is always present in any business, even for Scholastica as one of the leading book publishing companies in the education and children’s literacy industry. It strongly competes against many media companies and publishers as follows:
1. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
What started as a bookselling business now operates as one of the biggest publishing companies in the USA. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) is a renowned publisher of instructional materials on technology, assessments, reference work, textbooks, fiction, and non-fiction books for all ages.
The publishing company was founded after William Ticknor and John Allen purchased a bookselling business. James Fields then formed a team of writers after joining as a partner. To expand operations, the company later acquired Riverside Press.
This Boston-based company later became recognized as Houghton Mifflin Company. After being bought by Harcourt Publishing in 2007, it became Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. HMH now operates as a well-established learning and education company.
HMH supports aspiring generations of writers to create striking content for the readers while transforming their vision. It is now a company that operates worldwide– across the seven continents! Some say they can be better than Scholastic, making HMH a recognized global competitor.
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2. Wiley
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. or Wiley is a US-based multinational publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and distribution of instructional material like journals, encyclopedias, textbooks, to other books either in digital or printed form!
Wiley ensures that they help everyone, from undergraduates to working professionals, by giving them training materials and academic content. Wiley also houses several divisions that offer its readers timely information.
Some of which are the STMS (Scientific, Technical, Medical, and Scholarly), Professional Development, and Global education divisions. The company successfully operates locally and globally with the help of its Board of Directors and an independent management team.
Aside from their team, the Wiley family is still highly involved in managing the company. Wiley was established in 1807 by founder Charles Wiley when he spotted a printing shop near Manhattan. The shop published several books for different clients, making it known for publishing top-notch content for its customers.
The company’s astonishing annual revenue growth testifies to its profitability. Its annual revenue jumped to $1.94 billion in 2021 from $1.83 billion in 2020. This allows Wiley to be a major global competitor for Scholastica.
3. Pearson
Pearson is knowingly one of the biggest publishers across the globe, recognized for its products intended for educators, professionals, and learners. The UK-based education publishing company also provides assessment services especially for businesses and schools.
Pearson plc, the parent company of Pearson Education, was established in 1840 and used to be owned by Financial Times. Pearson plc later acquired Simon & Schuster’s education division which embarked on the establishment of Pearson Education. In 2011, Pearson Education later became “Pearson”.
All walks of the academe rely on Pearson for their high-quality products. Learners highly trust their textbooks and digital material for learning more about their course while educators trust them for their world-class material and lessons. Professionals rely on Pearson for the newest improvements and innovations in their respective fields.
Pearson still aims to grow their annual revenue from the $4.36 billion it generated in 2020. The firm competes with Scholastic as the publishing industry’s global leader.
4. Penguin Random House, LLC (PRH LLC)
With over 15,000 titles of different genres published, Penguin Random House remains one of the top publishers worldwide with more than 100,000 professionals composing its team. These professionals help manage the 250 divisions of the company.
The UK/US-based publishing company operates multiple facilities across the globe. Some in the USA, UK, Canada, Australia, Portugal, India, and New Zealand. PRH also has publishing services in Brazil, Asia, South Africa, and several other countries.
Penguin Random House embarked on its journey in 2013 after the merger of Random House and Penguin Group. Six years later, the merger between Bertelsmann and PRH was announced. As one of the world’s biggest media conglomerates, Bertelsmann acquired 25% of Pearson plc’s shares which also led to Bertelsmann owning PRH LLC.
When Bertelsmann paid Pearson £2.4 billion to merge the publishing companies, founder Markus Dohle established PRH LLC. Since then, it has remained one of the world’s most profitable publishers.
5. Simon & Schuster
What started as an initial venture to publish a crossword puzzles book now stands as one of the leading American publishers worldwide Simon & Schuster. It currently publishes over 2000 titles yearly under 35 unique imprints. In 2016, it became the third-biggest publisher in the USA.
Founders Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster initially pooled $8000 to publish a book of crossword puzzles in 1924. This attempt saw success as it made money, making them move towards Manhattan’s “Publisher’s Row”. Since then, they have expanded their business across the world.
The company is a subsidiary of Paramount Global and used to be owned by it until 2020. However, Paramount decided to later sell Simon & Schuster for $2.175 billion to Bertelsmann. If the deal successfully closes, Penguin Random House will be the owner of the company.
Since 1924, Simon & Schuster has served millions of readers worldwide and will continue to be one of Scholastic’s major competitors until its merger with Penguin Random House.
6. HarperCollins
HarperCollins is widely known to provide readers with various material for all ages–ranging from children, adults, to Christian content. They also distribute audiobooks and digital content as new generations of readers emerge worldwide.
Since the merger of smaller publishing companies in 1819, HarperCollins has grown to be a major publisher in the industry. It has been successful in doing so as it continuously competes with big market leaders while also being one of the world’s largest English-language publishers.
The company used to operate as a separate entity until 1989 when Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation merged with “Harper & Row”. It later became what we now know as HarperCollins, with Brian Murray as the current CEO.
HarperCollins collaborates with publishing groups across the globe: USA, UK, Canada, India, Australia, China, and New Zealand. Its wide reach has allowed it to generate almost $1.985 billion in 2021, which is higher than the $1.3 billion annual revenue of Scholastic in the same year.
This opens the competition for Scholastic and HarperCollins, along with other leading publishers to become the leader of the industry.
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7. Hachette
Standing as the USA’s third-biggest educational and trade book publisher is Hachette, a multinational France-based publishing company established in 1826 by Louis Hachette. It’s the one-stop shop for everyone! Authors, agents, customers, client publishers, consumers, and anyone looking for highly reliable facts.
It was originally called L. Hachette in France. Hachette later expanded to many other countries like the USA and UK after it acquired an Australian Publisher to build a branch in Australia.
Hachette is highly welcome to give new content to authors and writers. This allows the company to foster their talent and share a wider range of views through their work. With this, Hachette is continuously growing with over 1000 employees. It also makes an astonishing amount of $100-$500 million per year!
8. Macmillan
For the past 175 years, Macmillan has been widely recognized for publishing and distributing the books of world-famous authors. It continuously promises to serve its clients, from educators to students, with advanced information as they learn faster through its published informative educational imprints.
The London-based publishing company was founded by Daniel and Alexander MacMillan. It currently operates in over 40 countries by serving teachers, students, academic institutes, and authorities.
Macmillan managed to expand exponentially despite the corruption charges they faced in 2011. It still generated approximately £1.04 billion in 2020, while 2021 was also a profitable time for Macmillan. It currently stands as a competitor for Scholastic in becoming one of the largest 5 English language publishers worldwide.
9. Teachtopia
Teachtopia is a popular spot to find useful materials and resources for students. The US-based publishing company is trusted by parents for the assessment of their children’s academic growth. They can access tools designed by Teachtopia for teachers to measure learning. Parents can then foster learning at home this way if their child does not perform well in school.
Established in 2004, founder Jody Weissler aimed to build a web portal that offers educational materials and content for parents, teachers, and students. The firm also provides teachers with a lot of resources they can use regularly, one of which is the popular lined paper. Teachers can also enjoy Teachtopia’s field trip finder for organizing a fun and productive field trip.
As a small firm, Teachtopia makes almost $392,379 in sales. It has still attracted many of Scholastic’s clients ever since its establishment despite not being a major competitor!
10. Knowledge Delivery Systems (KDS)
What distinguishes this last competitor is that– it is not a publisher. Rather, it is a company that provides formal and informal learning. Established in 2004, Knowledge Delivery Systems supplies digital materials for online learning suited for educators, students, and professionals. Teachers trust the company for the enhancement of their skills through accessing the necessary materials.
It offers a platform called Professional Learning Platform which supports educators and administrators to share their experiences, join social groups, and learn from each other. It is also used by professionals for setting goals and observing their progress.
Districts are also invited to use the eClassroom courses offered to formulate tailored learning programs for students. Their eClassroom became known among users, allowing the company to draw in more investors. New professionals can also enjoy the informal learning platform provided by the company that offers 50-hour graduate-level courses to prepare them in diverse fields.
Professionals in the education industry rely on the company’s wide selection of services to improve their skills. If KDS expands exponentially, it may soon become a major competitor in the publishing industry.
