Random House and Penguin to Merge

Last week we caught wind of a possible merger between Random House and Penguin. Then yesterday we woke to find the publishing world to be a much smaller place than it was only days earlier. Yes, the merge is for reals! From the New York Times:

Confirmation on Monday that Random House and Penguin will merge narrows the business to a handful of big players, led by a new international giant, Penguin Random House. And it could set off a long-awaited round of consolidation, analysts said.

Bertelsmann, the owner of Random House, and Pearson, which owns Penguin, said Monday that they had reached an agreement to combine the two houses to create the largest consumer book publisher in the world. Analysts said the deal between Bertelsmann, of Germany, and Pearson, of Britain, would give the combined companies greater scale to deal with the challenges arising from the growth of electronic books and the power of Internet retailers.

Together, Penguin Random House would have a global market share of more than 25 percent, and a book list that includes contemporary best sellers like Random House’s “Fifty Shades of Grey” and Penguin’s back list of classics from authors including George Orwell.