The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly conducting a “preliminary nonpublic investigation” about booksellers’ use of major wholesalers, Shelf Awareness reports, and telling some interview subjects that the queries are related to the possibility of Ingram acquiring Baker & Taylor. One person interviewed characterized it as a “fact finding” mission to investigate the effects of a consolidation that would leave the industry with a single major wholesaler, servicing both retail and library markets. ABA CEO Oren Teicher said, “To our knowledge, there has never been an instance in the book business when the elimination of competition–and a further concentration of decision-making in fewer hands–has […]