Strategies of the large publishing groups: Disappearance of Cí­rculo de Lectores and the Yes edition

Abstract

For years, the large publishing groups have been raising a growth strategy based on their territorial and linguistic expansion. For this they have resorted to the absorption of all types of companies, linked or not with their main business area, and the elimination of those less economically profitable divisions. The disappearance of Cí­rculo de Lectores, belonging to the Planet Group, is part of these strategies. Victim of the lack of adaptation to the new digital context, he suffered from a system based on an obsolete model, designed for the paper environment and highly effective in it, but incompatible with the new practices of a society deeply digitized in cultural consumption. Also its editorial side, embodied in the Galaxia Gutenbergseal, and in the excellence of collections such as the one of Complete Works, has been affected by these movements, far from what Einaudi considered as the Yes edition: this is, the one that sought excellence, quality and innovation, and not necessaritly profitability. This article discusses the fundamentals of Cí­rculo de Lectores and carries out an analysis of the circumstances of their disappearance in line with the strategies developed by the large publishing groups.