The DOJ lawsuit to block the Simon & Schuster-Penguin Random House merger alleges harm to consumers — the standard claim that the government has been making for decades in antitrust cases — in the form of less variety and fewer books. But that wasn’t prosecutors’ main theory of the case. They press arguments that the deal will harm workers by giving the newly merged entity “outsized influence over who and what is published and how much authors are paid for their work.”
Source: As Feds Take Aim at Books Megadeal, Their Tactics May Be Used Against Hollywood