The world’s largest publishing companies – complete list with 2025 revenue data
In 2025, the world’s ten largest publishing groups generated almost 36 billion euros in revenue. That is more than half of the 64 billion euros earned by all companies in the ranking.
This year’s edition looks further beyond the classic ranking than ever before. New chapters cover publishing businesses outside the traditional publishing house:
- self-publishing, subscription and platform models;
- alternative, emerging and regional markets;
- India’s digital reading landscape;
- Latin America’s growing ecosystem of independent platforms.
Taken together, they show how much of today’s publishing economy takes place outside the companies that conventional revenue rankings can capture.
Since 2007, the Global 50 Publishing Ranking has mapped the world’s largest publishing corporations each year. It combines financial data with an analysis of ownership, international development and strategic change.
The report is researched by Rüdiger Wischenbart Content and Consulting, which also holds the copyright to the report. The report is co-published by DIGITAL PUBLISHING REPORT (Germany), Bookdao (PR China) and Publishing Perspectives (USA).
The international media partners for the 2026 Global 50 Publishing Ranking and CEO Talk are All About Book Publishing (India), Bok365 (Norway), Books+Publishing (Australia), Boktugg (Sweden), Giornale della Libreria (Italy), Hon.jp (Japan), InCT (the Netherlands), Livres Hebdo (France), PublishNews (Brazil), PublishNews Spain, Publishers Weekly (US), Rynek Książki (Poland) and The Bookseller (UK).
Table of Contents:
- About the Global 50 Publishing Ranking
- The analysis by Rüdiger Wischenbart
- World’s biggest publishing companies – the ranking
- Spotlight on the publishing industry in China. By Sanguo Cheng, Bookdao
- Leading traditional publishing companies in India. By Amber Atal, Taylor & Francis India
- Snapshot of non-traditional publishing platforms. Compiled by Rüdiger Wischenbart, Carlo Carrenho, Amber Atal and Talita Facchini
- Scaling the future. Jens Klingelhöfer on how Bookwire is expanding the possibilities of digital distribution
- “The best boring machine for reading”. Michael Tamblyn on why the ereader works best when it gets out of the way – and where Kobo is growing next
You can order the report free of charge by filling out the form below.
The white paper is sponsored by Bookwire and Rakuten Kobo
