The emergence of the world’s biggest book publisher was announced today. Sadly, it won’t be called “House of the Random Penguin”, as our Arts Editor Becky Ayre suggested, but Penguin Random House. Random House owner Bertelsmann will own 53% of the newly created group, and Penguin owner Pearson 47%. Apparently, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, who owns HarperCollins, had tried to gatecrash the wedding, but didn’t get there in time, which probably relieves many. It is estimated that the new mammoth publisher will be responsible for a quarter of English language books worldwide. Is this a good thing, especially for authors and readers? Read Forbes‘ “rapid reaction” piece to the news.
