Orell Füssli Publishing
The majority shareholding in Photoglob AG was sold to its General Manager in spring 2010. This reduced sales revenues from companies consolidated in Orell Füssli publishing operations. The sales revenues of the businesses consolidated in the year under review rose by 2%. Operating earnings remained slightly negative. In addition to handing over responsibility for the Photoglob business, other cost-relevant steps were initiated which will have an impact in the course of 2011.
Events:
The most successful title in 2010 was Daniel Ammann’s “King of Oil”, a biography of legendary commodity trader Marc Rich. Sales of 21 000 copies within five months assured the title of a top rank in the national bestseller list and also in the “List of top-selling business books” published in “Manager” magazine. Two titles in the business field were much in the news: René Zeyer’s “Dough und Disaster”, the successor to his “Bank–Banker–Bankrupt” bestseller, and Walter Wittmann’s “Sovereign Insolvency”. Other major sources of revenue were the titles in Atlantis Verlag’s “Barbapapa” series, “Globi at the Airport”, mathematics and history tutors as well as textbooks for commercial trainees and the reprints of the Swiss Civil Code and Code of Obligations.