On Wednesday, Publishers Weekly reported that the Department of Justice as well as Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster have begun sending subpoenas seeking information about book deals going back years.
The moves come as the parties prepare for trial this summer in a federal lawsuit to block the PRH acquisition of S&S announced in November 2020.
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“The people we’ve spoken to, all of whom requested anonymity, have described the requests as costly, time consuming, and intrusive,” says Andrew Albanese, PW senior writer.
“The universal feeling – from those who are for the merger as well as those who are against it – is that getting pulled into this legal fight is a headache,” he tells CCC.
‘The takeaway I get is that PRH and S&S are preparing a vigorous defense, and that we’ll soon see exactly how much the government understands about the state of the publishing business.”