The Fifty Shades of Grey series that had a lot of people turning red has made lots of green for publisher Random House. Parent company Bertelsmann says 70 million print, audio and e-book copies of E.L. James’ erotic trilogy were sold from March to December of last year. That makes it the fastest-selling series in the company’s history.
The steamy series also helped fuel the best financial year ever for Random House. Worldwide revenue jumped 22.5% to $2.7 billion. And, as a thank-you to his employees, the Wall Street Journal reports Random House chief executive Markus Dohle gave each worker on the payroll for at least a year a $5,000 bonus.
John Wilson