DOJ vs. Penguin Random House

In November 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Penguin Random House for its proposed acquisition of SImon & Schuster, one of the Big Five publishers in the industry. About a year later, a thirteen day trial was held in which publishing industry big wigs, authors as big as Stephen King, and employees inside the affected companies came forward to share their insights. The findings? Nothing short of perplexing.

While this trial suggests that publishing is about as complicated as it seems from the outside, several aspects of the publishing world did become clearer. This episode of Missing Pages explores lawsuit, why it happened, and what it says about the current moment and future possibilities of publishing.

This episode is part of Missing Pages, Season 2 — a podcast series centered on publishing industry shifts, related controversies, and the literary grifters involved.

Listen here.