Introducing the Global 50 Publishing Ranking 2026
The 20th edition of the ranking is now available, bringing a new name at the top.
The global publishing industry no longer moves in one direction. STM and professional publishers have become its strongest segment; trade publishing is proving remarkably resilient, and education is splitting between digital winners and traditional textbook businesses under pressure. These are key findings of the Global 50 Publishing Ranking 2026, which places Bertelsmann at the top, with €5.93 billion in global publishing revenue.
The new ranking is now available for free download from our partner, Digital Publishing Report.
Highlights from the report will be discussed at the Global 50 CEO Talk at the Frankfurt Book Fair on Wednesday, 7 October, at 12 noon, at the Dialogue stage in hall 4.0.
The Global 50 Publishing Ranking is supported by Bookwire and by Rakuten Kobo.
First launched in 2007, the Global 50 has been researched annually by Rüdiger Wischenbart Content and Consulting, working with international partners and contributors. The 2026 edition ranks 48 publishing groups according to their annual publishing revenues and lists six additional major publishing companies that are part of larger groups and are therefore not ranked separately.
Together, the 48 ranked companies generated €64.2 billion in publishing revenue, roughly half of global publishing industry revenue.
The 20th edition significantly expands the Global 50 beyond the traditional ranking, examining self-publishing, digital subscriptions, serialized storytelling, content bundles, and technology and service providers that increasingly connect creators with audiences.
The report examines companies including Spotify, Yoto, tonies, ElevenLabs, Elredo, Skeelo, Empik and Tencent’s Yuewen China Literature platform, alongside self-publishing, subscription, crowdfunding and digital-distribution businesses. It describes the transformation as one “from a controlled value chain to an open, networked ecosystem,” in which attention, discoverability, trust and access to audiences are becoming increasingly valuable.
This year’s guest at the Global 50 CEO Talk will be Tobias Wann, CEO of tonies, whose interactive audio system combines an intuitive player with collectible figurines carrying stories, music, and educational content. The event takes place at the “Dialogue stage” in hall 4.0 and is part of the Publishing Perspectives Forum and is presented by Bookwire and co-sponsored by Kobo. and is organized in cooperation with Frankfurter Buchmesse.
Founded in Germany in 2014, tonies has grown from a start-up into the world’s leading interactive audio platform for children.
Since Wann succeeded founders Patric Faßbender and Marcus Stahl in January 2024, the company has introduced Toniebox 2 and Toniebox Lite, made North America its largest market, continued its international expansion, and is now listed at Germany’s SDAX index.
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