Tuesday, 6 May 2014

Media Industries Investigation

Ownership -
The company Penguin Books is owned by the worldwide Penguin Random House, a newly emerging conglomerate which was formed in 2012 by the merger of the two publishers. Formerly Penguin Group was wholly owned by Pearson PLC, the global media company which also own the Financial Times, but it now retains only a minority holding of 47% of the stock against Random House owner Bertelsmann who controls the majority stake.

What they own -
Noel Carrington, an editor at Country Life magazine, first approached Lane with the idea of publishing low-cost, illustrated non-fiction children's books in 1938. Inspired by the Editions Père Castor books drawn by Rojan and the technique of auto-lithography used in the poster art of the time, Carrington's suggestion for what was to become the Puffin Picture Book series was adopted by Penguin in 1940 when, as Lane saw it, evacuated city children would need books on farming and natural history to help adjust to the country.

Lane expanded the business in 1937 with the publication of George Bernard Shaw's The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism under the Pelican Books imprint, an imprint designed to educate the reading public rather than entertain. Recognising his own limitations Lane appointed V. K. Krishna Menon as the first commissioning editor of the series, supported by an advisory panel consisting of Peter Chalmers Mitchell, H. L. Bales and W. E. Williams. Several thousand Pelicans were published over the next half-century and brought high quality accounts of the current state of knowledge in many fields, often written by authors of specialised academic books. (The Pelican series, in decline for several years, was finally discontinued in 1984.)

Other products/ services -
Penguin, used to also published magazines "A gap in the magazine market that Lane hoped to fill. In January 1941 the first issue of Penguin New Writing appeared and instantly dominated the market with 80,000 copies sold compared to its closest rival, Cyril Connolly's Horizon, which mustered 3,500 sales in its first edition."

History -
Penguin were found in 1935 by Sir Allen Lane, "Lane decided that good quality contemporary fiction should be made available at an attractive price and sold not just in traditional bookshops, but also in railway stations, tobacconists and chain stores."

Terms which can be applied -
It was originally a local and national publishing industry however on the 1st July 2013 Penguin and Random House officially united to create Penguin Random House, the world's first truly global trade book publisher. Therefore a term which would best describe this Penguin Publication would be; Multi-national.

Due to the company now working amongst a global scale, in terms of employees it would be a medium sized facility. As both the companies have merged in terms of control it would be subsidiary a mixture of both a public company; aiming towards anyone and everyone. Also, a vertical integration as they used to publish magazines as well as their books.

Customers -
Originally penguin was created for the everyday person who wanted a good read wherever he/ she may be. It also gained the attention of soldiers who took part in the war; "A Penguin could fit into a soldier's pocket or his kit bag ... It was especially prized in prison camps"- Martin Bell therefore aiming towards both female and male. Not only this, but penguin also have a section of their publication devoted to children books too; therefore the publication is universal as well as friendly amongst all ages and sexes.

Reading/ Viewing figures -
unable to find

Financial -
Their competition consists of a variety of other publications, however their most biggest rivalry are the 'kindles' which allow individuals to read without an actual book rather another piece of technology.

Who is responsible for regulating your industry, and what powers do they have?
The CEO Markus Dohle; in charge of the company as a whole.

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