Table of Contents
- Introduction
- RELX Group’s 2024 Financial Highlights
- Estimating Elsevier’s Profit
- Profit Margins in Context
- Where the Money Comes From
- Criticism, Pushback & Risks
- Summary Table
- Implications for Academia & Beyond
- Conclusion
Introduction
Elsevier, now a division of RELX plc, remains the dominant player in academic publishing. If you’ve glanced at headlines or overheard the occasional mutter in a faculty lounge, you’ve likely noticed that this giant isn’t just surviving. It is thriving, raking in profits that make Silicon Valley unicorns blush. But how much profit did Elsevier make in 2024?
Breaking down Elsevier’s finances means stepping back to look at its parent company, RELX. As a publicly‑traded firm, RELX releases annual figures that shed light on each division’s contribution, including the flagship academic publishing arm.
RELX reported record numbers for 2024: revenue of £9.434 billion and an adjusted operating profit of £3.199 billion, marking a tidy 10 percent increase year‑on‑year. However, making sense of what belongs to Elsevier isn’t straightforward.
The write-up delves into the numbers, assembles Elsevier’s share of the profit pie, examines its profitability in comparison to peers and tech giants, and considers the implications for academia, researchers, and the scholarly communication ecosystem. Strap in. It’s time to follow the money.
RELX Group’s 2024 Financial Highlights
RELX plc, formerly Reed Elsevier, is structured around four main segments:
- Scientific, Technical & Medical (STM) – home to Elsevier.
- Legal – LexisNexis.
- Risk – analytics and decision tools.
- Exhibitions – live events through RX.
In its 2024 financial report, RELX posted:
- Total revenue: £9.434 billion (+7 percent vs. 2023)
- Adjusted operating profit: £3.199 billion (+10 percent)
A breakdown of pre‑tax profit (over £2.6 billion, up 11 percent) shows revenue shares, with the STM division bringing in approximately £3.1 billion, about 33 percent of the group’s top line. While the press release outlines group-level profit, it doesn’t give a public number for STM’s exact operating income. Still, analysts and independent data help us fill in the blanks.
Estimating Elsevier’s Profit
Segment Share and Operating Margins
RELX reported that its STM division grew revenue by 4 percent to £3.1 billion, with operating profits up even more. This signals strong margins.
Historical data shows Elsevier (STM) enjoying higher margins than the overall company. In 2023, RELX disclosed a 33.1 percent operating margin on £9.2 billion revenue, suggesting that STM—driven by subscription fees and low cost of online publishing—probably outperformed that figure.
Analyses estimate that Elsevier operates with a remarkable 37–40 percent margin. In dollar terms, a revenue of approximately $3.9 billion in 2023 at 37 percent would mean around $1.4 billion in profit.
Applying Margins to 2024 STM
If STM saw similar or improved margins in 2024, say, 37 percent, its estimated operating profit would be:
- £3.1 billion × 37 percent ≈ £1.147 billion
This is consistent with industry commentary noting Elsevier/RELX’s “adjusted operating profit of £1.17 billion on revenue of £3.06 billion.”
In short, Elsevier likely pocketed approximately £1.15–1.17 billion in operating profit in 2024.
Note that currency matters here. Elsevier reports figures in pounds, so that £1.15 billion translates to approximately US$1.4 billion at mid-2024 exchange rates. We’ll stick with GBP to honor RELX’s reporting.
Profit Margins in Context
Comparison to Tech Giants
A 37–40 percent margin places Elsevier alongside Apple, Google, and Coca-Cola. Few industries rival that kind of profitability, especially not in sectors like publishing or academia.
Even more striking: STM contributes one‑third of RELX’s entire revenue on only about one‑fifth of its workforce, reflecting operating leverage of scale.
Peer Comparison
RELX itself reported an overall operating margin of nearly 34 percent in 2023. STM is likely in the high 30s, while other divisions (Risk, Legal, Exhibitions) are likely to fall below 30 percent. That marks Elsevier as RELX’s engine of wealth.
Academic publishing rivals (Springer Nature, Wiley, and Taylor & Francis) do not produce public regional breakdowns. Still, industry sources suggest their margins are generally lower, in the mid-teens to low 20s. Yet, Elsevier’s scale and proprietary journals still keep it at the top.
Where the Money Comes From
Elsevier’s profitability comes from a well‑oiled revenue model:
Subscriptions & Big Deal Bundles
Universities worldwide pay streamlined packages (“big deals”) granting access to the full ScienceDirect library, sometimes at multiples of smaller subscription costs. Such systems lock in renewals and drive revenue predictability.
Hybrid open access adds another layer: institutions pay article processing charges (APCs) to make individual articles open. In 2023 alone, Elsevier is estimated to have generated over US$580 million solely from APCs.
Data & Analytics Products
Elsevier has diversified through acquisitions. Tools like Mendeley, Pure, SSRN, ClinicalKey, and SciVal generate recurring revenue by offering analytics on research metrics and readership patterns.
Low Marginal Costs
Publishing digital content is scalable. Once platforms are built, each article’s marginal cost is minimal, meaning every new subscription adds pure margin.
Criticism, Pushback & Risks
High margins make Elsevier a lightning rod for criticism:
- Open-access advocates accuse Elsevier of “double-dipping”: taxpayers fund research, academics review for free, then universities pay high fees for access. In Germany, many research institutions were boycotted in protest.
- Researchers highlight Elsevier’s expansion of data analytics, fearing privacy implications and a reinforced monopoly.
- Academics cite figures: a 1 percent price increase can depress citation rates by 0.83–1.46 percent in some fields.
So far, however, demand continues to climb, and Elsevier’s profits remain robust.
Summary Table
| Metric | 2024 Estimate |
|---|---|
| STM Revenue (Elsevier) (£bn) | ≈ 3.1 |
| Estimated Operating Margin | ~ 37 percent |
| Operating Profit (£bn) | ~ 1.15 – 1.17 |
| US $ Equivalent Profit | ≈ 1.4 billion |
These numbers align with third‑party commentary and RELX’s own segment disclosures.
Implications for Academia & Beyond
If Elsevier is pocketing £1.15 billion, what does that mean?
First, institutional costs are soaring. Libraries and research offices must decide between renewing subscriptions and funding new research initiatives.
Second, high profits highlight structural issues: public funding pays for research and review, but the financial returns ultimately accrue to a private firm. Critics refer to this as a “privatized return on public investment.”
Third, Elsevier’s data expansion poses ethical questions. They now influence funding decisions, university rankings, immigration data—blurring lines between academic stewardship and commercial profit.
Still, few viable alternatives exist at scale. Platforms like Scopus, ScienceDirect, and ClinicalKey aren’t easily replaced.
Efforts such as Plan S, SciELO, arXiv, PubMed Central, and institutional repositories aim to change publishing norms; however, Elsevier remains central and well entrenched.
Conclusion
In 2024, Elsevier is likely to have generated around £1.15 to £1.17 billion in operating profit, drawing from a £3.1 billion STM revenue base and operating margins in the high 30s percent. That profit margin places Elsevier among the most lucrative firms on the planet.
Whether you cheer or jeer, the numbers are staggering. They reflect a business model that blends stable subscription income with fixed‑cost scalability and expansion into ancillary services. But they also expose deeper tensions: the mismatch between public investment and private profit.
Looking ahead, pressure for open access, subscription reforms, antitrust scrutiny, and university pushback may shift the landscape. For now, Elsevier’s profit machine is humming and making plenty of noise along the way.