What Happens When Publishing Houses Merge
In November 2020, Penguin Random House, the biggest book publisher in the United States, expressed interest to buy Big 5 competitor Simon & Schuster for $2.175 billion. Two years later, the Department of Justice moved to block the proposed merger in a civil antitrust lawsuit. According to the DOJ, the merger of the two publishers would “create a publishing behemoth” that would presumably harm authors and consumers. The justice department’s complaint declares that Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster compete for manuscripts by providing bigger advances, better services, and more attractive contract conditions to writers....