As expected if you were following along during The Trial, Judge Florence Pan issued a brief order late Monday blocking Penguin Random House’s acquisition of Simon & Schuster. “Upon review of the extensive record and careful consideration of the parties’ arguments, the Court finds that the United States has shown that ‘the effect of [the proposed merger] may be substantially to lessen competition’ in the market for the U.S. publishing rights to anticipated top-selling books. Accordingly, judgment shall be entered in favor of the Plaintiff and the merger shall be enjoined.” For more details from the judge’s extensive opinion, everyone […]
Antitrust Trial
For Weekend Reading and Permanent Collections
After a small hiccup, our librarian friends should be able to find and order our new ebook THE TRIAL: The DOJ’s Suit to Block Penguin Random House’s Acquisition of Simon & Schuster from Overdrive for your permanent collections. And all of our readers can enjoy the long fall weekend with a copy: Would you rather spend the time reading the full testimony of Markus Dohle, Jonathan Karp, Michael Pietsch, Madeline McIntosh, or someone else? Or perhaps you’ll jump ahead to the appendix of over 100 pages of emails and internal data and documents entered in evidence? Get yours at the […]
Bertelsmann Sees Multiple Deals In Trouble
Bertelsmann’s recent international managers’ meeting focused on plans to invest from €5 billion to €7 billion euros across the company by 2025 — but as the FT underscores, right now the company’s ambition to acquire is facing multiple obstacles. Besides the Simon & Schuster acquisition, now in doubt pending the verdict of Judge Florence Pan, a plan to merge their French television business M6 with the larger TF1 was dropped in September after a hearing before the country’s competition authority, which had “significant problems.” The same month, customer services provider Marjorel — half owned by Bertlesmann — and call center […]
You Also Get…
It takes at least a few posts to explain just how much material we have packed into our new ebook THE TRIAL. Yes, it has the full opening and closing arguments; the full public testimony of 22 witnesses; Judge Pan’s critical (and lengthy) ruling disallowing Penguin Random House’s evidence about their projected post-merger cost savings and increased revenues; and key pre- and post-trial documents. And yes, at every step of the way it includes the Publishers Lunch overviews and analysis. But that’s not all, of course. At the end, we have culled a selection of over 100 pages of the […]
Publishing Today: The Comprehensive Account of THE TRIAL
While publishers large and small are planning to issue versions of the still-unwritten January 6th report, only Publishers Lunch is bold enough (or crazy enough) to bring to market a nearly complete record of THE TRIAL: The DOJ’s Suit to Block Penguin Random House’s Acquisition of Simon & Schuster. It may not be the “big book” of the fall season, but it’s certainly a strong candidate for the biggest book. (Or ebook, since we’re still figuring out the mechanics of doing something so long through print-on-demand.) This digital doorstop, at nearly 700,000 words, brings together the significant day-by-day antitrust trial […]
Judge Florence Pan Elevated to Higher Court
As expected, the Senate confirmed the elevation of Judge Florence Pan — who is currently deciding the PRH-SS antitrust trial — to the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. It has not yet been announced when Judge Pan will assume her new role, or what effect the news will have on the timing of her antitrust trial ruling. The DC appeals court is considered the second most important court in the country because of its decisions on government cases, and this marks the second time she has taken a seat vacated by Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown […]