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, up 10 percent on an underlying basis. Unusually for a parent company, RELX also reports profit for each of its divisions, so Elsevier’s figure does not need to be guessed.
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 underlying growth; £9.161 billion in 2023)
- Adjusted operating profit: £3.199 billion (+10 percent)
Reported profit before tax was £2.557 billion, up 11 percent (£2.903 billion on an adjusted basis, up 7 percent). The Scientific, Technical & Medical (STM) division, which is essentially Elsevier, brought in £3.051 billion, about a third of the group’s revenue, and RELX publishes its profit separately (RELX results for 2024).
Elsevier’s Profit in 2024
What RELX Reports for STM
STM revenue was £3.051 billion in 2024, slightly below £3.062 billion in 2023 as reported, but up 4 percent on an underlying basis, which excludes the effects of currency movements and acquisitions. Adjusted operating profit rose to £1.172 billion, from £1.165 billion.
That gives STM an adjusted operating margin of 38.4 percent (38.0 percent in 2023), above the group’s 33.9 percent (33.1 percent in 2023).
Note, October 2026: in its 2025 results, RELX restated the STM division’s 2024 figures to revenue of £2.624 billion and adjusted operating profit of £981 million. The figures in this article are those RELX originally reported for 2024. For 2025, RELX reported STM revenue of £2.714 billion and adjusted operating profit of £1.035 billion (RELX 2025 results). See also The Largest Academic Publishers.
Earlier outside estimates put Elsevier’s margin at 37–40 percent. The published figure sits squarely within that range.
In Dollars
At RELX’s average 2024 exchange rate of US$1.28 to the pound, Elsevier’s adjusted operating profit works out at roughly:
- £1.172 billion × 1.28 ≈ US$1.5 billion
Source: RELX, Results for the year to 31 December 2024. The dollar figure is our conversion.
In short, Elsevier made about £1.17 billion (around US$1.5 billion) in adjusted operating profit in 2024.
Adjusted operating profit leaves out items such as the amortisation of acquired intangible assets, which is why RELX uses it to show how each division is performing. We use pounds here because that is how RELX reports.
Profit Margins in Context
Comparison to Tech Giants
A margin above 38 percent is one that few large companies reach in any sector, and it is rare in publishing.
STM contributes about a third of RELX’s revenue but more than a third of its adjusted operating profit: £1.172 billion of £3.199 billion, or about 37 percent.
Peer Comparison
RELX’s overall adjusted operating margin was 33.9 percent in 2024 (33.1 percent in 2023). At 38.4 percent, STM sits well above the group average, which marks Elsevier as one of RELX’s main engines of profit.
Other large academic publishers report lower margins on the measures they publish. Springer Nature reported an adjusted operating profit of €512 million on revenue of €1,847 million in 2024, a margin of about 28 percent (Springer Nature 2024 results). Wiley and Taylor & Francis report their academic businesses in different ways, so direct comparisons need care. Even so, Elsevier’s scale and portfolio of journals 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. We look at the human cost of this model in The Dark Side of Academic Publishing.
Hybrid and fully open-access journals add another stream: authors or their institutions pay article processing charges (APCs) to make individual articles free to read. Estimates of Elsevier’s APC income vary, and RELX does not break it out in its results.
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, hundreds of research institutions went without Elsevier subscriptions for several years during national negotiations, before an agreement was reached in 2023.
- Researchers highlight Elsevier’s expansion of data analytics, fearing privacy implications and a reinforced monopoly.
So far, however, demand continues to climb, and Elsevier’s profits remain robust.
Summary Table
| Metric | 2024 (reported) |
|---|---|
| STM revenue (Elsevier) | £3.051 billion |
| Adjusted operating margin | 38.4 percent |
| Adjusted operating profit | £1.172 billion |
| US$ equivalent profit | ≈ US$1.5 billion |
Source: RELX results for the year to 31 December 2024. The US dollar figure is our conversion at RELX’s average 2024 rate.
Implications for Academia & Beyond
If Elsevier is making around £1.17 billion a year in operating profit, 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. Its analytics products now feed into research assessment, funding decisions and university rankings, blurring the line 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 generated £1.172 billion in adjusted operating profit on £3.051 billion of revenue, a margin of 38.4 percent. Few businesses of its size, in publishing or elsewhere, earn margins that high.
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.