[darryl]

@fjtorres. That's all it is, of course, An interesting thought experiment. Possible, but quite unlikely. Like you, I can't see Amazon engaging in a bidding war. It would be a nice acquisition for them but not an essential one. They have and are carrying out a long term strategy for the industry which we can only guess at, and no doubt it does not rely on such a purchase.

@pjwalker. If the Big 5 were to set ebook prices at $100 per book whilst leaving print prices the same there would probably still be a handful of people who bought the ebook. The trick in pricing an ebook is of course to maximise the revenue. Not revenue per unit, but overall sales revenue. In the case of ebooks this is the price that brings in the maximum overall revenue. Since marginal costs for ebooks are minimal and the "royalty" is a percentage this price can get very low indeed. On the other hand, print books do carry significant marginal costs which must be taken into account. Rather than simply maximising overall revenue, pricing a print book must take into account the marginal costs of producing such a print book. This exercise will almost without exception result in a significantly higher optimal price for the print book, since demand for both print and ebooks is quite price elastic.

I don't claim to be infallible, but my own opinion, apparently shared quite widely, is that Big 5 pricing of ebooks certainly takes into account the effect of such pricing on print books. Pricing so closely to Paper versions is a strong indicator that such pricing has been influenced by concern that a significantly lower price for an ebook would significantly and adversely effect paper sales. Especially with new release books. This does make sound commercial sense. Given the investment of the Big 5 in the physical distribution system and their close control of it it is quite understandable why they would favour it, even at the cost of sacrificing some revenue. There is a price for this, and they seem to be willing to pay it, though I doubt it is a viable long term strategy. And the price may not be as high as some of us thought, including me. Another thread here suggested that a not insignificant percentage of people would buy an ebook they wanted immediately at a higher price. Some indicated they would in fact buy a print version instead. Of those who would not, many would consider buying the ebook at a lower price later when deals became available or the price was reduced. No doubt significant sales are lost, but for a significant number purchase is simply deferred, enabling the traditional practice of picking up the sales of those prepared to pay more before offering cheaper options.

Amazon likes print, but does not have a vested interest in the print distribution network. I suspect that even if it does acquire one through acquisition (and is allowed to keep it) it would rather sell more ebooks, and will not price ebooks to preserve its new print book sales. A good guide is probably to be found in the pricing of its own imprints. What will be interesting if this ever happens is Amazon's treatment of its new authors, of whom all but a few will have contracts significantly less lucrative than Amazon imprint authors. And what, for instance, would be the position if Amazon wanted to put some titles into KU? Particularly older contracts may well not cover this. Would they need to re-negotiate? If not, would they be able to treat reads like sales? And at what price? Could they treat them as heavily discounted sales in which case some contracts would provide that an author receive nothing or close to it? So many questions.

Whilst I expect there may well be a business as usual period following any such acquisition, I don't think it would be a long one.