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Bertelsmann set to buy US publisher Simon & Schuster

Penguin Random House owner Bertelsmann has agreed to acquire New York-based publisher Simon & Schuster from ViacomCBS for over $2 billion, Reuters reported.

Following the deal, the German group will hold nearly a third of the US publishing market by revenue. Bertelsmann beat out Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp and French media group Vivendi in an auction for the company, which ViacomCBS put up for sale in March in order to refocus on its core assets.

Rival book publishers, including News Corp-owned HarperCollins, have raised antitrust concerns about the acquisition, according to the Financial Times. Critics have said that Bertelsmann could exert too much power in specific genres, particularly hardcover fiction. Simon & Schuster publishes some of the world’s bestselling authors, including Dan Brown and Stephen King.

Through Penguin Random House, Bertelsmann is already the largest global book publisher by revenue, reporting €3.6 billion (about $4.3 billion) in 2019. The group agreed last December to acquire the remaining shares of Penguin from UK-based peer Pearson for $675 million, giving Bertelsmann full ownership.