Back in November 2022, a federal judge blocked a planned merger between Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster. A 12-day trial overseen by U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Florence Pan heard testimony from best-selling authors such as Stephen King who testified about fears that authors would have less negotiating leverage since combined entity would control 49 percent of the “best sellers” book market.
With the merger blocked, Simon & Schuster-owner Paramount had to look elsewhere for someone to buy the publisher, and this week announced it had found a suitor–private equity firm KKR.
What could possibly go wrong?