Penguin Schuster merger

[Rachel Caldecott]

Phew, I think.

US court blocks Penguin merger with Simon & Schuster

US District Judge Florence Pan said the deal could "substantially" lessen competition in the market.

www.bbc.com

 

[E G Logan]

I think I agree.

Stephen King's argument seemed apposite: if the companies that made up the merged entity continued to bid against one another (as we were told they would), that would be like a husband and wife competing to buy the same house.

And what struck me – underlined by a lawyer involved – was that even if those companies did that, because the current management instructed them to, there was no firm commitment to continue doing so further into the future. If, for example, management or trading circumstances changed markedly.

 

[E G Logan]

I can't help wondering if the US DoJ chose its target: the danger of a possible reduced market and advances specifically for blockbuster type books – as opposed to for the book publishing industry in its entirety – was a case of 'pick your battles'...

 

[Pamela Jo]

Guardian version. The Guardian view on the book publishing industry: no one size fits all | Editorial