Simon & Schuster merger blocked by federal judge

j.p.s · 11-01-2022, 05:12 PM

A federal judge has blocked Penguin Random House’s proposed purchase of Simon & Schuster.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/...-federal-judge

This ruling is subject to appeal.

The Justice Department emphaised potential harm to authors rather than potential harm to book purchasers.

Paperbackstash · 11-01-2022, 06:20 PM

Hm, have followed this somewhat and know Stephen King testified as to his opinion also. Not fully sure which way I lean on it.

Apache · 11-02-2022, 08:22 AM

Bigger is not necessarily better.
Apache

Quoth · 11-05-2022, 09:54 AM

Related
https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...-size-fits-all

SteveEisenberg · 11-11-2022, 09:24 PM

Maybe good public interest reasons for the merger exists, but I didn't see any in the links. This, from the first link, sounded utterly absurd (as King essentially said in the #4 link):

Quote:

Dohle had promised that imprints of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster would still be permitted to bid against each other for books. But he acknowledged under oath during the trial that his guarantee was not legally binding.

I would think that if Dohle knowingly had the company bidding against itself in any significant way, he should be fired for failure to safeguard company funds. And if the supposedly competing bids were coordinated to be within a range, the author should be able to sue for deceptive business practice.

It might however, be that the publishers should have an antitrust exemption to ban together in a trade organization that negotiates terms with Amazon as a group.

bcbob · 11-22-2022, 07:29 PM

The sale by paramount of Simon and Schuster to Penguin is off. I think this is good. Competition helps consumers.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...se/ar-AA14q0EI

Paperbackstash · 12-01-2022, 11:42 AM

Paramount still wants/plans to sell, will have to find a different buyer. If they can't find another buyer, wonder if they will just be shut down completely. That won't help the authors who have current contracts or backlogs. It also will result in the same effect of if Penguin/Random house had bought them in the first place - one less large publishing house for competition from the current "Big Four", or as some still say "Big Five"

11-01-2022, 05:12 PM	#1
j.p.s Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,286 Karma: 98804578 Join Date: Apr 2011 Device: pb360	Simon & Schuster merger blocked by federal judge A federal judge has blocked Penguin Random House’s proposed purchase of Simon & Schuster. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/...-federal-judge This ruling is subject to appeal. The Justice Department emphaised potential harm to authors rather than potential harm to book purchasers.

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11-01-2022, 06:20 PM	#2
Paperbackstash Wizard Posts: 1,592 Karma: 20086276 Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Central Florida Device: Oasis 3, PW 3, 4, 5, Fire HD 2012, Fire HD 8 (8th Gen)	Hm, have followed this somewhat and know Stephen King testified as to his opinion also. Not fully sure which way I lean on it.

11-02-2022, 08:22 AM	#3
Apache Readaholic Posts: 5,140 Karma: 90000000 Join Date: Sep 2011 Location: South Georgia Device: Surface Pro 6 / Galaxy Tab A 8"	Bigger is not necessarily better. Apache

11-05-2022, 09:54 AM	#4
Quoth the rook, bossing Never. Posts: 11,196 Karma: 85874891 Join Date: Jun 2017 Location: Ireland Device: All 4 Kinds: epub eink, Kindle, android eink, NxtPaper11	Related https://www.theguardian.com/commenti...-size-fits-all

11-22-2022, 07:29 PM	#6
bcbob Enthusiast Posts: 38 Karma: 20000 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: ipad	The sale by paramount of Simon and Schuster to Penguin is off. I think this is good. Competition helps consumers. https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...se/ar-AA14q0EI

12-01-2022, 11:42 AM	#7
Paperbackstash Wizard Posts: 1,592 Karma: 20086276 Join Date: Aug 2018 Location: Central Florida Device: Oasis 3, PW 3, 4, 5, Fire HD 2012, Fire HD 8 (8th Gen)	Paramount still wants/plans to sell, will have to find a different buyer. If they can't find another buyer, wonder if they will just be shut down completely. That won't help the authors who have current contracts or backlogs. It also will result in the same effect of if Penguin/Random house had bought them in the first place - one less large publishing house for competition from the current "Big Four", or as some still say "Big Five"