US files antitrust suit to stop major book publisher merger

that would have reshaped the industry, saying consolidation would hurt authors and, ultimately, readers.wants to buy

New York-based Simon & Schuster, whose authors include Stephen King, Hillary Clinton and John Irving, from TV and film company ViacomCBS. The Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Tuesday in the first major antitrust action by the Biden administration, saying the deal would let Penguin Random House “exert outsized influence over which books are published in the United States and how much authors are paid for their work.

The purchase of Simon & Schuster would reduce the so-called Big Five, which dominate American publishing and include HarperCollins, Hachette Book Group and Macmillan, to four. The deal raised concerned from writers and from rival publishers. The Authors Guild, a writers’ organization, has said it opposes the acquisition because there would be less competition for authors’ manuscripts. Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, which owns HarperCollins and had reportedly also been interested in buying Simon & Schuster, slammed the deal. Its CEO Robert Thomson said last fall that Bertelsmann was “buying market dominance as a book behemoth.

what's next? U.S. to stop merger of horse-drawn carriage manufacturers? who cares about publishing houses when digital self-publishing takes no upfront costs?

Now do ATT

I agree with the intentions here, but it's probably the only way for them to compete against Amazon.

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Justice Department files antitrust suit to block $2 billion merger of Penguin Random House, Simon & SchusterThe Biden administration on Tuesday sued Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster to block the two companies from completing a $2.175 billion merger. Whoa. Yeah block that. So ur saying there are still people working at the doj? Yep brick and mortar publishing is a real 21st century threat
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