Antitrust Trial

On Friday, the Department of Justice and Penguin Random House both filed their formal pre-trial briefs with the court for the upcoming A3 antitrust trial, framing in advance their core arguments and counterpoints. As in their original complaint, the DOJ focuses on their core argument that the acquisition of Simon & Schuster “would further entrench the largest publishing giant in the United States (and the world) and give the merged company control of nearly half of the market to acquire anticipated top-selling books [ATSB] from authors.” They allege that the “merger would likely result in authors of anticipated top-selling books […]

In other filings from the court docket over the weekend, the DOJ further illuminated their position on two issues that Judge Florence Pan is expected to rule on Monday (there is a pre-trial conference that started at 10 AM): Whether Jennifer Rudolph Walsh will be deemed an expert witness, and the question of admitting information about Bertelsmann’s position of strength in the US book printing market. Regarding Walsh, the government says she is no more of an “expert” than most of the industry witnesses, and should not be differentiated that way or allowed to opine beyond her own experiences as […]

Simon & Schuster ceo Jonathan Karp addressed staff in advance of next week’s antitrust trial. In a memo, he shares that Judge Florence Pan is expected to make her ruling in November. He thanks staff for S&S’s “outstanding” performance the past two years since the sale was announced–which was also two years of unprecedented publishing sales in the pandemic–and shares a sunny outlook on the potential PRHSS. “As I’ve told you before, I am hopeful that Simon & Schuster will become part of Penguin Random House,” he writes. “I spent 16 years at Random House, and I know their culture […]

As Congress’s January 6 hearings start to wind down, just four-tenths of a mile away at the District Court of Columbia Federal Court publishing’s own must-follow trial is due to start on August 1. The Department of Justice’s suit to block Penguin Random House’s acquisition of Simon & Schuster — henceforth to be called A3 for brevity (August/Antitrust; three weeks of trial) — can be viewed by many in publishing in a similar vein as J6: A laborious investigation culminates with a public airing of findings that few expect to alter the course of the events, no matter what they […]

The A3 trial begins on August 1, in the Washington District Court of Columbia Federal Court, at 333 Constitution Avenue. The nearest landmark is the National Gallery of Art’s East Building, which just reopened after a renovation. Teams PRH and S&S and their counsel are reported to all be staying at the St. Regis, right near the White House (with a DC outpost of PJ Clarke’s right across the street). Consider it the Frankfurter Hof of the trial — though agents and executives called by the government as their witnesses may keep their distance. It’s a long walk (1.7 miles) […]

It’s no surprise that experts tell us the case may really come down to the judge more than the minutiae of the case. As a relatively novel allegation of monopsony rather than monopoly, with very little relevant or controlling decisions on the books, the verdict rests on whether Judge Florence Pan winds up moving the court’s position forward (and away from decades of primarily Bork-based reading of antitrust.) A longtime local judge on the Washington, DC Superior Court, Judge Pan is new to the Federal bench, but very much a rising star. Appointed by President Biden, she joined the DC […]