As more books are made available online, the chief executive officer of Pearson Plc, one of the biggest textbook publishers in the world, expressed his expectation that technology like non-fungible tokens and the blockchain could enable the company to profit from resale of its books.
Without earning the London-based education company any money, Pearson’s print editions of its books can be sold to additional students numerous times. CEO Andy Bird hopes to change that as more textbooks transition to digital formats.
“In the analogue world, a Pearson textbook was resold up to seven times, and we would only participate in the first sale,” Andy Bird told reporters.
“The move to digital helps diminish the secondary market, and technology like blockchain and NFTs allows us to participate in every sale of that particular item as it goes through its life,” by tracking the material’s unique identifier on the ledger from “owner A to owner B to owner C,” said Bird, a former Disney executive.
The NFT market has experienced a decline following a spike in speculation during the pandemic, but the remarks highlight how Pearson and its rivals are figuring out how to move from a paper book market where a single title can cost more than £100 to an online market in which it sells textbook subscriptions.