Rizzoli Libri

Rizzoli Libri, formerly Rizzoli Libri S.p.A. and RCS Libri S.p.A. is an Italian book publisher and a division of Mondadori Libri, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. RCS Libri was a former subsidiary of RCS MediaGroup, but in 2015, most of the book publishing division was sold to Arnoldo Mondadori Editore,[2] with some imprints of RCS Libri, were either sold by RCS MediaGroup or Arnoldo Mondadori Editore to third parties, as part of an antitrust deal. RCS MediaGroup retained the brand Rizzoli for non-book publishing, while Arnoldo Mondadori Editore has the exclusive rights to use the brand Rizzoli in book publishing.

From 2016 to 2017, Rizzoli Libri S.p.A. was further dismantled into subsidiaries and divisions of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore. Rizzoli Libri (trade book section only) became a division of sub-holding company Mondadori Libri S.p.A., while Rizzoli Education S.p.A. became a subsidiary of Mondadori Libri S.p.A.; The international subsidiaries of the former Rizzoli Libri S.p.A.: Rizzoli International Publications and Rizzoli Bookstore, became the subsidiaries of Mondadori Electa S.p.A., itself a subsidiary of Mondadori Libri S.p.A.. Rizzoli International also operated the new brand Rizzoli Electa.

History

Predecessors

Establishment of RCS Libri S.p.A.

The division RCS Libri & Grandi Opere was established in 1994, which included the imprints such as Fabbri.[4] In 1998, RCS Libri acquired the textbook publisher Tramontana,[7] merging with the group's existing textbook publishing business.[4] In 2000, the group acquired Sfera Editore[4] (a magazine publisher), Marsilio Editori[4] (from De Michelis family[8]) as well as French publisher Editions Flammarion.[4][9] RCS MediaGroup became the largest book publisher in Italy after the deals.[4] However, a decade later, RCS Libri sold Flammarion in 2012 for €251 million.[10][11]

In 2007, the Italian Competition Authority started an investigation on 9 publishing companies, including RCS Libri, for an alleged anti-competitive conduct in the textbook market.[12]

On 9 December 2013, the group signed an agreement with Telecom Italia on e-books and online edition of newspapers. It also included the ebooks of the imprints of RCS Libri at that time: Rizzoli, Bompiani, Fabbri, Adelphi, Archinto Editore, Marsilio, Skira, and Sonzogno.[13] RCS Media Group also sold the equity interest (48%) in the imprint Editions d'Art Albert Skirà (or known as Skira group) on 11 December 2013.[14] Immediately after the transaction, RCS Libri, via Rizzoli International, still owned 49% stake of Skira Rizzoli Publications Inc., which was based in New York.[14] Before the sales of the Skira group, the imprint Skira Rizzoli was considered within the scope of consolidation.

According to Publishers Weekly, the division RCS Libri had a revenue of €513.3 million in the financial year 2011 (not adjusted for the sale of Flammarion in 2012),[15] or €298.6 million if excluding Flammarion. It was decreased to €273.3 million in 2012[16][17] and then €252 million in 2013[18][14] and €223 million in 2014.[19] Moreover, the whole group was suffered from aggregate net losses in the 2010s, for example in financial years 2012,[20] 2013 and 2014.[21]

The market share of RCS Libri in fiction and non-fiction was 11.8% in 2014, according to Publishers Weekly,[19] itself was quoting the figure from GfK.[22]

Acquired by Mondadori group and downsizing as Rizzoli Libri division

In February 2015, it was reported that Arnoldo Mondadori Editore (Mondadori group) had submitted a non-binding offer to buy RCS Libri from RCS MediaGroup.[23] It was reported that Rosellina Archinto, founder of the namesake imprint, re-acquired Archinto in July 2015.[24] In October 2015, RCS MediaGroup announced to sell the whole division, with Mondadori group being the principal buyer, despite some subsidiaries and imprints of RCS Libri, were sold to other investors instead.[25][26] For example, the controlling stake (58%) of Adelphi was sold to Roberto Calasso,[25] who worked at Adelphi for many years.[27] Furthermore, in March 2016, Italian Competition Authority (AGCM) ruled that Mondadori, after the acquisition, had to sell subsidiaries and imprints Bompiani, Marsilio Editori and Sonzogno.[28][29] Marsilio (including the imprint Sonzogno[30]) was sold back to De Michelis family's GEM S.r.l.[31] while Bompiani was sold to Giunti Editore.[32] Mondadori group retained the brands such as Rizzoli (in books only[25]), BUR and Fabbri Editori. It also owned Rizzoli Lizard.[33]

In April 2016, immediately after the takeover,[34] RCS Libri S.p.A. was renamed to Rizzoli Libri S.p.A..[35] Rizzoli Libri S.p.A. was under Mondadori Libri S.p.A., a business unit of Mondadori group.[34] At the time of the foundation in 2014, Mondadori Libri S.p.A. was the sub-holding company of the subsidiaries and imprints Piemme, Giulio Einaudi, Mondadori Education, Mondadori Electa, Sperling & Kupfer as well as joint venture Harlequin Mondadori.[36]

Rizzoli Libri S.p.A. was further downsized by the transfer of the ownership of the overseas subsidiary Rizzoli International Publications to Mondadori Electa, with the section of Rizzoli Libri S.p.A. being merged into the direct parent company Mondadori Libri S.p.A.. Mondadori Libri also absorbed Sperling & Kupfer S.p.A. and Edizioni Piemme S.p.A. on 1 January 2017.[37] They were retained as divisions and imprints of Mondadori Libri. The trade book area of Mondadori Libri (including the imprint Rizzoli) and the textbook subsidiary and imprint Rizzoli Education, since 2018, were also under different corporate leadership, Enrico Selva Coddè and Antonio Porro, respectively. They were the Managing Directors of Mondadori Libri.[38] According to the publication of Mondadori group, the direct parent company of Rizzoli Education had also changed to aforementioned Mondadori Libri.[39]

According to GfK, as of the financial year 2018, the downsized Rizzoli Libri had a market share of 4.8% (decreased from 4.9% year to year) in trade books, and the whole Mondadori group had a market share of 27.4% (decreased from 30.0% year to year).[40]

parent	Mondadori Libri (part of Mondadori group)
status	active (as division)
predecessor	imprints of RCS MediaGroup
founder	RCS MediaGroup
country	Italy
keypeople	Enrico Selva Coddè (MD of Mondadori Libri, trade book area)
publications	fiction non-fiction books textbooks (former)
revenue	€223 million (2014)
owner	Fininvest (53%)‡R1R‡ (via Mondadori group)
website	https://www.rizzolilibri.it

History

Predecessors

Establishment of RCS Libri S.p.A.

Acquired by Mondadori group and downsizing as Rizzoli Libri division

Former subsidiaries

Rizzoli Education

Rizzoli International Publications

External links

References