Law360: Penguin Exec. Says Internal Book Competition Is Strong

Madeline McIntosh, Penguin Random House’s US CEO, took the stand as a defense witness at a federal antitrust trial in which the US Department of Justice is seeking to block the publisher’s proposed US$2.18 billion purchase of Simon & Schuster. O’Melveny & Myers LLP partner Daniel M. Petrocelli, who is leading Penguin’s defense, went over an example profit-and-loss report with McIntosh to illustrate estimated costs and potential sales for a work the company might bid on. The executive noted that the marketing expenditure is “a placeholder number” and that a book’s expected sales determine marketing decisions, which may suggest why a higher advance is paid to an author. Penguin Random House is represented by Petrocelli, M. Randall Oppenheimer, Andrew Frackman, Abby F. Rudzin, Jonathan Hacker, Courtney Dyer, Julia Schiller, and Megan Smith of O’Melveny & Myers LLP.

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