Global Competition Review: DOJ’s Expert: New Publisher Unlikely to Replace Simon & Schuster
August 10, 2022
Bates White partner Nicholas Hill took the stand for a second time to testify for the US Department of Justice in its trial challenging Penguin Random House’s proposed US$2.18 billion merger with Simon & Schuster. Hill said that his analysis of the deal’s “effect on competition and consolidation in the publishing industry back up the concerns of agents, authors and rival chief executives.” Randall Oppenheimer, counsel to Penguin Random House at O’Melveny & Myers LLP, said during cross-examination that independent publishers win about 10% of top-selling books, comparable to what some of the “Big Five” publishers win. Penguin is represented by Oppenheimer, Daniel Petrocelli, Andrew Frackman, Abby Rudzin, Courtney Dyer, and Julia Schiller of O’Melveny.
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