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Random House

Merger of Penguin and Random house given the green light

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By Jennifer Faull, Deputy Editor

April 6, 2013 | 1 min read

The European Commission has approved the proposed merger of Penguin and Random house, stating that it would not raise competition concerns as it will “face several strong competitors.”

"The new entity Penguin Random House will continue to face competition from several large and numerous small and medium sized publishers," the commission said. "The merged entity will furthermore face a concentrated retail base, such as supermarkets for print books and large online retailers for ebooks, like Amazon."

The merger would result in it becoming the world’s largest book publisher, selling one in four books in the UK, but it would still face competition from the likes of Rupert Murdoch's HarperCollins and online retailers such as Amazon.

According to proposal, Random House's German parent firm, Bertelsmann, will own 53 per cent of the new venture, with Pearson, Penguin's owner, controlling the remaining 47 per cent.

It is believed the merger will be finalised towards the end of this year.

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