US files antitrust suit to stop major book publisher merger

By TALI ARBEL
AP Technology Writer

The Justice Department is suing to block a $2.2 billion book publishing deal that would have reshaped the industry. It says consolidation would hurt authors and readers. German media giant Bertelsmann’s Penguin Random House is already the largest American publisher. It wants to buy New York-based Simon & Schuster, whose authors include Stephen King, Hillary Clinton and John Irving, from TV and film company ViacomCBS. The deal would reduce the so-called Big Five of American publishing to four. The Justice Department filed its antitrust suit in federal court in Washington, D.C., Tuesday in the first major antitrust action by the Biden administration.