U.S. judge Florence Pan rules against publishers in decision blocking the merger between Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster
The U.S. Department of Justice called the ruling "a victory for authors, readers, and the free exchange of ideas."
“No special treatment”: Madeline McIntosh, PRH U.S. CEO, claims in court that books are treated equally in-house, notwithstanding the stature of the author or the amount paid for them
"Once a book with a big advance is in-house ... it gets no special treatment," McIntosh said on the stand.
Publishers as “angels” and other weird assertions from Markus Dohle cap a busy week at DoJ v. PRH antitrust trial
Dohle suggested on the stand that publishers resembled the "Silicon Valley of media" and compared their work to that of angel investors in business.
Stephen King and Jonathan Karp square off in the early days of the DoJ/PRH/S&S antitrust suit
"When I started in this business, there were literally hundreds of imprints, and some of them were run by people with extremely idiosyncratic tastes, one might say."
Final briefs filed in PRH/S&S merger fight with U.S. Department of Justice
The suit to block the proposed merger is set to begin in a Washington, D.C., court on Monday, August 1.
Simon & Schuster Canada expand their domestic operation with the introduction of the Scribner Canada imprint
The expansion at S&S is meant to telegraph to authors and agents that the house is broadening the scope of its publishing, says president and publisher Kevin Hanson.
Penguin Random House defends proposed merger with Simon & Schuster; Cuomo ordered to repay profits on COVID memoir
Two ongoing battles surround the proposed deal to combine two of the world’s largest publishers and the financial woes of a former New York governor.
In a win for authors and readers, U.S. Department of Justice sues to block merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster
The deal, worth a reported $2.175 billion USD, has already been the subject of opposition among many players inside and outside the publishing industry.
Hachette’s announced purchase of Workman makes an already uneven playing field even more slanted
As big North American publishers become ever bigger, authors lose opportunities to place their work and readers lose the chance to avail themselves of riskier books.
Penguin Random House is the latest publisher to feel the burn from a marquee author’s reputational flame-out
Publishers are increasingly relying on morals clauses to shield them from blowback should an author’s bad behaviour become public scandal.