2014

November 2014 saw the creation of Mondadori Libri S.p.A., a wholly-owned company of the Group that brings together the publishing and distribution activities of the Books area and the assets of the book publishing companies in the trade, art and educational sectors Edizioni Piemme, Giulio Einaudi Editore, Mondadori Education, Mondadori Electa, Sperling & Kupfer Editori, as well as the stake in the joint venture Harlequin Mondadori and the distribution company Mach 2 Libri.

The creation of the new company allows for a more functional structure for the potential achievement of further development, as well as opportunities for new partnerships and acquisitions. Two separate areas of responsibility have been maintained within the new company: trade, for the publication of fiction and non-fiction; and, educational, that brings together all of the company’s internally designed production (from school textbooks to training in general and art and illustrated books), as well as the organisation and management of exhibitions and archaeological sites.

Three acquisitions in the digital world

During the year the Group bought the trademark and assets of aNobii, the global social reading platform with more than a million users around the world, of which around 300,000 in Italy, with the aim of supporting the process of growth in digital for books (11 March 2014).

19 May 2014, the Mondadori Group entered the market for e-commerce fashion with the acquisition of London-Boutiques.com, which aims to accelerate the development of the activities of the “Grazia International Network”, and, in particular, the expansion of the global Grazia-branded e-commerce platform, launched in November 2014.

Finally, in December 2014, Mondadori bought a 75.22% stake in Kiver S.r.l., a marketing agency specialised in the development of digital promotion initiatives, branding and interactive advertising, aimed at strengthening the company’s presence in the digital marketing services sector, expanding the range of products and solutions in an integrated system that includes the Group’s content and assets and in full synergy with the direct marketing activities of Cemit and the network of the advertising sales company Mediamond.