Associated Press: US Files Antitrust Suit to Stop Major Book Publisher Merger

The US Department of Justice is suing to block publisher Penguin Random House’s US$2.2 billion acquisition of its rival Simon & Schuster. This is the Biden Administration’s first major antitrust suit and the DOJ said that the deal would give Penguin too much influence over which books are published in the US and how much publishers are paid. Penguin released a statement saying they are going to fight the case and that blocking the deal would hurt authors. “DOJ’s lawsuit is wrong on the facts, the law, and public policy,” Penguin Random House’s lawyer Daniel Petrocelli said. “Importantly, DOJ has not found, nor does it allege, that the combination will reduce competition in the sale of books.”

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