 "'Fifty Shades of Grey' boosts Random House revenue to $2.7 bn")
Frankfurt, Germany: Random House publishing company has booked a record year thanks to sales of the “Fifty Shades of Grey” erotic romance trilogy.
Revenues at the New York based publisher jumped 22.5 percent to 2.1 billion ($2.7 billion) in 2012. The company sold 70 million copies of _Fifty Shades_in print, audio and e-books in English, German and Spanish.
Random House operating earnings leaped 76 percent to 325 million.
[caption id=“attachment_676019” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Fifty Shades of Grey. AFP[/caption]
Earnings at German parent company Bertelsmann edged up to 619 million for 2012 from 612 million the year before. Higher expenses for taxes and what it called “structurally declining” businesses hurt profits.
Privately held Bertelsmann includes broadcaster RTL, magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr and music rights business BMG.
Random House is merging with Pearson’s Penguin book publisher.
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