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We brought this case because the best protection for authors is robust competition.
There were witnesses such as best-selling authorStephen Kingand publishing executives including Penguin Random House CEO Markus Dohle.
I enjoyed listening to Stephen King, Penguin Random House attorney Dan Petrocelli reportedly said in his closing argument.
But no one is disputing his earnings.
There are writers in this market who are billionaires.
I mean, Stephen King could buy Simon & Schuster.
The only reason we are here is because the government has created artificial concentration to create artificial harm.
We also believe that the deal will benefit S&S authors.
Vulture spoke with experts and observers about how they think the trial went.
However, some thought that the Department of Justices case came across as more persuasive.
I believe the Department of Justice is going to prevail.
This source noted a few examples of why they believed this to be the case.
The source pointed to Pan seeming to side with the governments economic expert over that of the defense.
Pan also decided to exclude the defenses evidence on merger-related efficiency.
(Notably, some of the discussion about efficiencies included headcount reductions,according toPublishers Weekly.)
Simon & Schuster and Penguin Random House have some challenges given what their merger would mean for the market.
If the merger went through, the Big Five would turn into the Big Four.
The Justice Department argued thatthis conglomerate would controlmore than 50 percent of the U.S. publishing market.
Thats a tough thing for the merging parties to defend.
Seebald pointed to the publishers not being able to use their efficiency expert as a potential challenge for them.
I just think the facts are harder for the merging parties.
Its hard to get a read on the judge.
I truly havent seen anything that indicates which way shes going.
She asked, P&Ls are fake?
They dont mean anything?
There could be major implications for labor.
Remember whenStephen King introduced himselfas a freelance writer when he testified as the governments star witness?
A merged Penguin/Simon & Schuster would be a more powerful buyer of book publishing rights.
The firm would likely exercise this enhanced market power by lowering advances to authors.
Consumers of leading books will ultimately feel the consequences of this harm.
Antitrust enforcers have, to date, not focused on mergers and anticompetitive practices that harm workers.
Rather, they have focused on mergers that directly harm consumers, Moss wrote.
It all comes down to the competition.
Since its an antitrust case, this means she will be weighing legal issues surrounding competition.
*A previous version of this article misidentified Dan Petrocelli as Bill Petrocelli.
