Judge releases full decision blocking PRH acquisition of S&S

In the US, federal court judge Florence Pan’s 80-page written decision blocking Penguin Random House’s (PRH) acquisition of Simon & Schuster (S&S) has been published, reports Publishers Weekly.

Pan found the US Department of Justice (DoJ) had showed the proposed merger would likely ‘lessen competition’ in the market for book rights. ‘The government has presented a compelling case that predicts substantial harm to competition as a result of the proposed merger of PRH and S&S,’ Pan said.

Pan found the DoJ had ‘properly defined a relevant market—focused on publishing rights for anticipated top-selling books—that encompasses 70 percent of the advances that publishers pay to authors’. DoJ attorneys had defined ‘anticipated top selling books’ as those with advances over $250,000. Pan dismissed PRH and S&S’s arguments that the government’s focus on books with advances over $250,000 was incorrect on both the facts and the law.

Pan had delayed the release of her full opinion to allow for minor redactions of confidential information after releasing her final order to block the acquisition last week.

Category: