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Amazon Wins $30 Million Contract to Sell E-Books to NYC Schools

Amazon.com has won a $30 million contract to sell e-books to New York City public schools, the nation’s largest school district.

The city’s Panel for Education Policy approved the three-year contract on Wednesday for the Department of Education, according to the Wall Street Journal. The contract will take effect in the fall, with an option to extend it for an additional two years, which would be worth an additional $34.5 million, the Journal reported.

The panel’s vote awards Amazon the right to sell digital textbooks and other content, but not hardware like Kindles, to New York schools through an internal marketplace site. The city school district consists of about 1.1 million students in more than 1,800 schools.

Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the Journal said.

The New York education department is expected to buy about $4.3 million of content from Amazon in the first year of the contract, $8.6 million in the second year and $17.2 million in the third, according to the Journal. Amazon’s commission will be between 10 percent and 15 percent.

The e-books will be readable on e-readers, tablets, smartphones, laptops and other devices.

About the Author

Richard Chang is associate editor of THE Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].

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