Businessweek

Scholastic Corporation operates as a children’s publishing, education and media company. The company creates books and ebooks, print and technology-based learning materials and programs, magazines, multi-media and other products that help children learn both at school and at home. The company is an operator of school-based book clubs and book fairs in the United States. It distributes its products and services through these proprietary channels, as well as directly to schools and libraries, through retail stores and through the Internet. The company’s Website, scholastic.com, is a site for teachers, classrooms and parents and a destination for children. It has operations in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, India, China, Singapore and other parts of Asia, and, through its export business, sells products in approximately 140 countries. Segments The company categorizes its businesses into five segments: Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution; Educational Technology and Services; Classroom and Supplemental Materials Publishing; Media, Licensing and Advertising; and International. CHILDREN’S BOOK PUBLISHING AND DISTRIBUTION The Children’s Book Publishing and Distribution segment operates as an integrated business which includes the publication and distribution of children’s books in the United States through school-based book clubs, book fairs, ecommerce and the trade channel. The company also markets books to teachers, parents and children through Storia, an interactive and educational eReading app and ebookstore for children, launched during 2012 through the book club and book fair channels. Storia gives access to a selection of ebooks and also allows teachers and parents to track the reader’s progress through each book and offers Storia dictionary, which defines and pronounces any word the reader highlights. School-Based Book Clubs: The company’s school-based book clubs consist of Honeybee, serving toddlers to age four; Firefly, serving pre-kindergarten (pre-K) and kindergarten (K) students; SeeSaw, serving students grades K to one; Lucky, serving students grades two to three; Arrow, serving students grades four to six; TAB, serving students grades seven and up; and Club Leo, which provides Spanish language offers to students in pre-K to grade six. In addition to its regular offers, the company creates special theme-based and seasonal offers targeted to different grade levels during the year. School-Based Book Fairs: The company offers school-based book fairs under the name Scholastic Book Fairs. It is a distributor of school-based book fairs with operations in all 50 states. The company delivers its book fairs from its warehouses to schools principally by a fleet of leased and Company-owned vehicles. Trade: The company is a publisher of children’s books sold through bookstores, Internet retailers and mass merchandisers in the United States. It maintains approximately 5,200 titles for trade distribution. The company’s original publications include Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, The 39 Clues, The Magic School Bus, I Spy, Captain Underpants, Goosebumps, and Clifford The Big Red Dog, and licensed properties, such as Star Wars, Lego and Geronimo Stilton. In addition, the company’s Klutz imprint is a publisher and creator of ‘books plus’ products for children, including titles such as Paper Airplanes, Fancy Friendship Bracelets and Spiral Draw. The company’s trade organization focuses on publishing, marketing and selling print and ebook properties to bookstores, Internet retailers, mass merchandisers, specialty sales outlets and other book retailers. Print bestsellers during 2012 included the Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins, which was also an ebook bestseller, The 39 Clues series and the Harry Potter series, as well as other titles, such as Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick, The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, and Super Diaper Baby 2: The Invasion of the Potty Snatchers by Dav Pilkey. EDUCATIONAL TECHNOLOGY AND SERVICES Educational Technology and Services includes the production and distribution to schools of curriculum-based learn