Penguin and Random House intend to merge and have been submitting approval documents to regulatory authorities in all of the major countries they operate in. When the two companies join forces, they will account for 1/4 of all books published. It was announced late Friday that the Department of Canadian Heritage and the Canadian Competition Bureau have both approved the proposal “without conditions.”
A Canadian Press release on the subject said, “The two companies announced their agreement to combine Penguin and Random House in October 2012. To date, approval has been granted by the US Department of Justice in the US, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, and The New Zealand Commerce Commission. Pearson and Bertelsmann continue to expect the transaction to close in the second half of 2013, after all necessary approvals have been received.”
The release went on to outline “Following completion of the merger, Bertelsmann will own 53% and Pearson 47% of Penguin Random House. It will encompass all of Random House and Penguin Group’s publishing units in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, India and South Africa, as well as Penguin’s operations in China and Random House’s publishers in Spain and Latin America. Pearson and Bertelsmann believe that the combined organisation, the world’s leading consumer publishing company, will have a stronger platform and greater resources to invest in rich content, new digital publishing models and high-growth emerging markets.”
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
