Publishing, as a whole, has seen an uptick lately...Not B2B publishing models, however.

PaidContent.org, utilizing info from Data Explorers, a financial data aggregator which tracks stock loan information to provide insight on short selling and long-side ownership, has surmised that the B2B publishers are gaining interest and activity from investors that indicate this publishing model may be on the mend...due in some regard (I think) to improved handling of digitization.

Anyway, PaidContent has written the following article analyzing four B2B publishers: Reed Elsevier Plc, Informa, John Wiley and Sons and Wolters Kluwer, that give us a peek into their individual situations:

Is the ever digitising face of publishing an opportunity or a threat to business-to-business (B2B) publishing firms? B2B publishers are reportedly still suffering from weak subscription renewal rates, whilst other core revenue streams such as advertising, promotions and events continue to stabilise.

Although, publishers Informa and Reed Elsevier (NYSE: RUK) state that 2011 indicators are encouraging, the future of B2B publishing models is exercising their minds greatly. Let’s look at Reed Elsevier Plc, Informa, John Wiley and Sons and Wolters Kluwer…

Recent rumours of a takeover bid have led to a recovery in the share price of Reed Elsevier following a dip on last week’s announcement of weak core subscription revenues. Reed Elsevier is not a widely traded stock in securities lending with no more that 10 percent of the lendable supply out on loan at any one time. However, recent growing positive investor sentiment can be observed from the gradual increase of institutional ownership of large, long term investors from 195 million to 234 million shares, which we derive from holdings of funds who lend their shares. Short interest is currently at an annual low of 1.1 percent of total shares outstanding. 

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