Penguin and Random House have cleared the last hurdle with their proposed merger; China gave the final blessing today. These two companies will officially join forces in July and will account for 1/4 of all books to be published globally.
The new publishing merger will have 53% controlling interest by Bertelsmann and 47% by Pearson. When the merger is complete, 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 organization, 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.
Basically, this merger will allow for stronger negotiating power with Amazon and other online ebook stores. Libraries should also benefit, as many people within the American Library Association think that a more unified digital lending strategy may be employed.
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.