The Competition and Markets Authority in the United Kingdom has approved the merger of S&S by Penguin Random House. They acknowledge that PHR controls 30% of all books sold and S&S only has 5% market share, so the CMA believes that the Parties do not compete particularly closely with each other and that the Merged Entity will face sufficient remaining constraints post-Merger including from the three largest competing publishers in the UK, such as Hachette, HarperCollins and Macmillan, as well as from a large number of smaller publishers.
A spokesperson for PRH UK told the Bookseller: ‘We’re pleased that the Competition and Markets Authority has cleared Penguin Random House’s acquisition of Simon & Schuster in the UK. The process in the US is ongoing and we are working constructively with the authorities there.’
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.