Judge blocks Penguin Random House-Simon & Schuster merger

FILE - A book published by Simon & Schuster is displayed on Saturday, July 30, 2022, in Tigard, Ore. On Monday, Oct. 31, 2022, a federal judge blocked Penguin Random House's proposed purchase of Simon & Schuster. – A federal judge has blocked Penguin Random House's proposed purchase of Simon & Schuster, agreeing with the Justice Department that the joining of two of the world’s biggest publishers could “lessen competition” for “top-selling books.

Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division praised the decision, saying in a statement that the decision “protects vital competition for books and is a victory for authors, readers, and the free exchange of ideas.” But it was still a dramatic departure from recent history in the book world and beyond. The publishing industry has been consolidating for years with little interference from the government, even when Random House and Penguin merged in 2013 and formed what was then the biggest publishing house in memory.

Monday's news follows recent losses for the department in two significant antitrust cases in separate federal courts. The DOJ lost its bid to block a major U.S. sugar manufacturer, U.S. sugar, from acquiring its rival Imperial Sugar Co., one of the largest sugar refiners in the nation. The prosecutors signaled that they intended to appeal the decision. They also were stymied in their effort to block the roughly $8 billion acquisition by UnitedHealth Group, which runs the largest U.S.

For Penguin Random House and the New York-based publishing world, the trial in August proved an often uncomfortable airing of business practices, internal disagreements and missed opportunities. Executives on the stand spoke of bestselling works they failed to acquire and acknowledged that most books don't make money. Emails and private text messages revealed tension among top Penguin Random House officials.

Simon & Schuster will likely end up under new ownership, no matter the outcome of any legal appeals. The publisher had been up for sale well before the Penguin Random House deal was announced late in 2020 and the publisher's corporate parent, Paramount Global, has said it did not see Simon & Schuster as part of its future. Under bidders against Penguin Random House included Rupert Murdoch's News Corp, which owns HarperCollins Publishers.

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