Associated Press: US Begins Court Battle Against Publishing Giants’ Merger

Opening arguments took place on Monday in the US Department of Justice’s trial seeking to block Penguin Random House’s proposed US$2.2 billion merger with Simon & Schuster. Justice Department attorneys contended that the merger would “shrink competition and, inevitably, the vital public discourse that books help spark.” Daniel Petrocelli, lead counsel for Penguin, argued that the DOJ’s focus on books with author advances exceeding US$250,000 was an artificial standard. “The government created an artificial market to create artificial concentration to create artificial harm,” Petrocelli said.

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