Publishing giants Random House, Penguin planning merger

Two of the world’s largest publishing houses, Random House and Penguin are planning a merger, the New York Times reports. [caption id=“attachment_503741” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Getty Images.[/caption] The move seems to stem from the need to compete in the online retail market. If the talks fructify the two giants will control  25%  of the United States’ book market and feature an elite roster of authors like Dan Brown, Toni Morrison and John Grisham of Random House, as well as Junot Diaz and Patricia Cornwell of Penguin. The move may well mark the beginning of mergers in the publishing world to acclimatize to digitalization. The move comes in fact, a few weeks after Newsweek reported that it would stop publishing its print edition and go all digital as of January 2013. The potential consolidation comes as traditional publishers try to compete with dominant technology companies like Amazon, Apple and Google that have gained power in the e-book market. Pearson, the British media conglomerate that owns Penguin, told New York Times on Thursday that it was discussing a potential deal with Random House’s owner, Bertelsmann of Germany. Read the full New York Times article here.