May 15 2013
In their filings ahead of the June 3 trial date, the Justice Department and Apple present very different outlines of events that led to the adoption of the agency model for e-books in 2010 by five of the six major U.S. publishers (who have all already settled with the Justice Department).
The Justice Dept's case hinges on an email from Steve Jobs of Apple to James Murdoch of News Corporation, that reads, "Throw in with Apple and see if we can all make a go of this to create a real mainstream e-books market at $12.99 and $14.99."
According to the Justice Dept filing, two days after this email, HarperCollins, the publishing company owned by News Corporation, signed an agreement with Apple to force all sellers of electronic books to adopt the new pricing model.
Feb 22 2013
Three independent bookstores are taking Amazon and the so-called Big Six publishers (Random House, Penguin, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan) to court in an attempt to level the playing field for book retailers. If successful, the lawsuit could completely change how ebooks are sold.
The class-action complaint, filed in New York on Feb 15., claims that by entering into confidential agreements with the Big Six publishers, who control approximately 60 percent of print book revenue in the U.S., Amazon has created a monopoly in the marketplace that is designed to control prices and destroy independent booksellers.
The complaint centers on digital rights management, or DRM, the technological lock that prevents consumers from transferring any ebook they buy on an Amazon Kindle on to, say, a Nook or Kobo ereader.
Feb 14 2013
The US Department of Justice has approved the Penguin and Random House: The department notified Bertelsmann and Pearson "that it has closed its investigation into the proposed merger of Penguin and Random House, without conditions." according to a statement. The announcement is surprising as it took the DOJ about nine months to approve the much smaller acquisition of Thomas Nelson by HarperCollins.
Nov 21 2012
Having lost out on their prospective bid to buy Penguin (which is to merge with Random House), News Corp, who already own Harper Collins, appears to have its eyes on Simon & Schuster which is currently owned by CBS Corp.
Currently, Random House, Penguin, Hachette, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and Macmillan are considered the "Big Six" publishers. With the likely merger of Penguin and Random House, and the possibility of a merger of Simon & Schuster and Harper Collins, will we be looking at a market dominated by the "Big Two" plus Amazon?
Nov 07 2012
European Union regulators will accept an offer by Apple and four publishers - Simon & Schuster, HarperCollins, Hachette and Holtzbrinck, parent company of Macmillan - to end an antitrust probe into e-book pricing,
Oct 29 2012
In a deal that had been months in the making, Pearson and Bertelsmann announced Monday morning that they have signed an agreement to form a joint venture that will combine the businesses of Random House and Penguin. The deal, which is expected to close in the second half of 2013, will make Penguin Group chairman John Makinson chairman of the newly named Penguin Random House company, while Random House chairman and CEO Markus Dohle will be CEO.
The deal scuttles a News Corp. 1 billion UK pounds ($1.62 billion) offer to buy Penguin that News Corp.'s Times of London said yesterday was going to be made this week. Such a deal would have combined Penguin with News Corp.'s HarperCollins and would have been an outright purchase.
Oct 16 2012
Actor Johnny Depp is partnering with HarperCollins to start an imprint, Infinitum Nihil ("Nothing is forever"), that will seek "authentic, outspoken and visionary ideas and voices," the Associated Press reported. Depp's imprint shares its name with his production company.
"I pledge, on behalf of Infinitum Nihil, that we will do our best to deliver publications worthy of peoples' time, of peoples' concern, publications that might ordinarily never have breached the parapet," Depp said. "For this dream realized, we would like to salute HarperCollins for their faith in us and look forward to a long and fruitful relationship together."
Aug 30 2012
The Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster have reached a $69 million agreement that will resolve lawsuits brought by 54 attorney generals from 49 states, the District of Columbia and territories, that charged the publishers with fixing e-book prices. Under the proposed agreement, which the court must approve, the three publishers will compensate consumers who purchased e-books from the three houses between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012.
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