Just three weeks after Random House and Penguin announced that they will merge to form the world's largest book publisher, News Corp (s NWS), which owns the book publisher HarperCollins, is reportedly in talks to acquire CBS's Simon & Schuster (s CBS). The "preliminary" talks were reported by the News Corp-owned Wall Street Journal, which says News Corp had "expressed interest in" buying Simon & Schuster.
Remember when a first time author would get discovered and their book would be all the rage? If this merger happens, you can kiss that good bye and say hello to a world where books are published by the Snooki's of the world.
Kevin Finley
