Forlagshuset Vigmostad & Bjørke

What Forlagshuset Vigmostad & Bjørke does

Forlagshuset Vigmostad & Bjørke AS is Norway's fourth-largest publishing group, headquartered in Bergen with a secondary office in Oslo (music operations). The group is structured as a multi-imprint publishing conglomerate spanning academic and educational content (Fagbokforlaget, covering kindergarten through doctoral level plus Norwegian-language training for immigrants), general fiction and non-fiction (Forlaget Vigmostad & Bjørke, Bladkompaniet — founded 1915 — and Eide forlag), and music publishing and rights management (Norsk Musikkforlag and GILT). Its portfolio is vertically integrated downstream into retail through Akademika, a 14-store academic bookstore chain and the country's largest importer of academic literature, and into digital distribution through EBOK.NO, Norway's largest digital book retailer operating both an à-la-carte ebook/audiobook store and a streaming subscription service called EBOK Premium. An author-facing royalty portal (forfatter.forlagshuset.no), powered by Schilling A/S technology and supporting BankID authentication with two-factor options, rounds out the technology stack and handles royalty statements, profile management, and author communication.

Revenue is generated through four primary streams: one-time book sales (physical and digital) across multiple genres; recurring subscription revenue from EBOK Premium's unlimited ebook/audiobook streaming; music rights licensing and royalty collection for Norwegian composers and songwriters through GILT and Norsk Musikkforlag (covering film, TV, advertising, games, and live performance); and retail transactions through Akademika physical stores and online storefronts. The customer base is broadly distributed across students and academics (primary), general readers (primary), musicians and music educators, media/entertainment industry buyers of licensed music, and adult learners seeking professional development materials. Distribution operates across own physical retail (14 Akademika campus stores), own digital storefronts (EBOK.NO, notebutikken.no), and reseller channels via general Norwegian bookstores. The company holds GDPR compliance certification for its author portal data processing, with VB Polska handling royalty calculations and Schilling A/S providing the portal platform under data-processor agreements. No parent company, external ownership, or funding history is disclosed in the source material, indicating the group is privately held with no identified institutional investor backing.

Name

Forlagshuset Vigmostad & Bjørke

Legal name

Vigmostad & Bjørke AS

Website

https://forlagshuset.no

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

501–1,000 employees

Short description

Forlagshuset Vigmostad & Bjørke is Norway's fourth-largest publishing group, operating multiple publishing imprints, a 14-store academic bookstore chain (Akademika), Norway's largest digital book retailer with streaming (EBOK.NO), and music rights management (GILT), serving readers, students, musicians, and authors.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Book Publishing

NAICS

Book Publishers (513130), Music Publishers (512230), Book Retailers and News Dealers (45921)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

eBook & Digital Reading Platforms (BPAMAJAK)

akta.pro secondary industries

E-book Subscription & Bundling Services (MPAJAMAB), K–12 Textbook Publishing (Core Curriculum) (MPAJABAA), Print Music Publishing (Sheet Music, Scores, Educational Repertoire) (MPAIABAG), Publishing Administration (Catalog Admin, Global Subpublishing) (MPAIABAB)

Keywords

• Book publishing
• Academic textbooks
• Digital audiobook streaming
• Music rights licensing
• Norwegian literature

Headquarters

HQ city

Bergen

HQ country

Norway

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Book Publishing Sales: Sales of published books across multiple genres including fiction, non-fiction, educational materials, children's books, and music scores through physical and digital channels.
2. Digital Book Sales and Streaming: Sale and streaming of e-books and audiobooks through EBOK.NO, including single purchases and subscription model (EBOK Premium).
3. Music Rights and Licensing: Music publishing services including licensing for film, TV, advertising, games, and live performances through GILT. Royalty collection for composers and songwriters.
4. Retail Book Sales: Sales through Akademika physical bookstores (14 locations) and online platform, including textbooks, academic books, and general literature.

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Forlagshuset Vigmostad & Bjørke is a Norwegian publishing group that publishes and distributes books and music across multiple specialized imprints covering academic and educational texts (Fagbokforlaget), entertainment fiction (Bladkompaniet), general Norwegian fiction and non-fiction (Forlaget Vigmostad & Bjørke), and music scores (Norsk Musikkforlag), and sells them through wholly owned retail channels — the Akademika chain of 14 academic bookstores, the EBOK.NO digital book platform with the EBOK Premium streaming subscription, and the GILT music rights management business.

Product overview

Forlagshuset Vigmostad & Bjørke AS is Norway's fourth-largest publishing group headquartered in Bergen. The portfolio consists of multiple specialized publishing imprints (Fagbokforlaget for academic/educational books, Bladkompaniet for entertainment fiction, Forlaget Vigmostad & Bjørke for general fiction and non-fiction, Norsk Musikkforlag for music scores), retail chains (Akademika for academic bookstores, EBOK.NO for digital books), music rights management (GILT), and an author services platform (Royaltyportal). The group serves readers, authors, musicians, and institutional customers across physical retail, digital commerce, and streaming channels.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• EBOK Premium: Subscription streaming service for e-books and audiobooks with unlimited reading and listening for a fixed monthly price.
• Notebutikken

Products and services

• Fagbokforlaget One of Norway's largest publishers of academic literature and educational materials, publishing books for the entire educational journey from kindergarten to doctoral level, plus adult education materials including Norwegian language training for immigrants, driver education, and professional literature.
• Bladkompaniet Entertainment literature publisher established in 1915, specialising in Norwegian and translated content including historical romance series, feelgood, romance, and crime genres.
• Forlaget Vigmostad & Bjørke Publisher of Norwegian fiction, crime, translated books, children's and youth literature, and a wide range of non-fiction including documentaries, biographies, history, cookbooks, nature books, sports, health, and yearbooks.
• Norsk Musikkforlag Leading music publisher representing Norwegian composers, songwriters, and arrangers, offering music scores, textbooks, sheet music, and digital downloads across various instruments and music genres through notebutikken.no, also providing licensing services for performances and audiovisual productions.
• GILT Music company providing services for music creators including music publishing and agency functions, managing rights for music used in TV, film, artist projects, and offering consultation on licensing and clearance for brands and audiovisual productions.
• Akademika Norway's leading academic bookstore chain with 14 physical stores, akademika.no, and akademikabedrift.no, serving as the country's largest importer of academic literature and offering textbooks, academic books, and general fiction to students, lecturers, libraries, businesses, and government institutions.
• EBOK.NO Norway's largest digital book retailer offering e-books and audiobooks across all genres from all Norwegian publishers, with a dual business model combining an individual-purchase web store and the EBOK Premium streaming subscription service, supported by mobile and tablet apps and direct delivery to Kindle and PocketBook e-readers.
• Forfatter Royaltyportal Author royalty portal where authors can view all prior royalty statements, monitor current-period royalties, update personal information, and communicate with the publisher, secured by BankID for private individuals and username/password with Microsoft Authenticator or Google Authenticator two-factor authentication for corporate users.
• Notebutikken.no Online music score and sheet music shop operated by Norsk Musikkforlag offering a wide selection of music scores, textbooks, and digital downloads for various instruments and genres.
• EBOK Premium Subscription streaming service enabling unlimited reading of e-books and listening to audiobooks for a fixed monthly fee, operated as part of the EBOK.NO digital bookstore platform.

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered supporting and core.

• VB PolskasupportingImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerVB Polska in Poland handles royalty calculations and accounting services for Vigmostad & Bjørke AS as part of their data processing operations.
• Schilling A/ScoreTechnology or IntegrationSchilling A/S in Denmark is the technology supplier for the author royalty portal (forfatter.forlagshuset.no). They provide the software platform and process author data as a data processor under GDPR agreements.

Scale indicators1 record

Broad incumbents

• HarperCollins: Major global trade publisher — similar to Penguin Random House in providing English-language backlist that V&B's translated imprints (Bladkompaniet, V&B general) draw upon for the Norwegian market.
• Penguin Random House: Global publishing incumbent — provides the translated international titles V&B distributes in Norway and represents the scale benchmark any Norwegian publisher must measure against for author acquisition.

Direct peers

• Gyldendal Norsk Forlag: Major Norwegian trade and educational publisher with similar multi-genre imprint structure. Directly competes for Norwegian authors, academic curriculum contracts, and bookstore placements against Fagbokforlaget and Bladkompaniet.
• Bokkilden: Norwegian digital book retailer aggregating titles from all Norwegian publishers — a direct competitor to EBOK.NO in e-commerce, though without a subscription product.
• Storytel: Subscription-based audiobook and e-book streaming platform operating in Norway via the Fabel brand — the most direct competitor to EBOK Premium's recurring subscription model.
• Cappelen Damm: Norway's largest publishing group across educational, fiction, and non-fiction — directly comparable to V&B's multi-imprint portfolio and the dominant competitor for authors, shelf space, and institutional contracts in the Norwegian market.
• Aschehoug: Top-tier Norwegian publisher with strong literary and educational lists. Competes head-to-head with Forlaget Vigmostad & Bjørke and Fagbokforlaget for Norwegian-language fiction and academic titles.
• Norli: Norway's largest general bookstore chain with academic presence — competes directly with Akademika for textbook and academic book sales across both physical and digital channels.

Regional players

• Bonnier Books Norway: Norwegian arm of Swedish Bonnier Group publishing — competes in Norwegian fiction/non-fiction as part of a broader Nordic media conglomerate with cross-border synergies V&B lacks.

Emerging players

• Fabel: Norwegian audiobook streaming app backed by Storytel — competes specifically with EBOK Premium for Norwegian-speaking audio subscribers, leveraging Storytel's content budget and technology.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Forlagshuset Vigmostad & Bjørke