According to officials, the Biden Justice Department is aggressively enforcing the federal antitrust statutes to ensure a fair and competitive market. In line with the Justice Department, a federal judge recently denied Penguin Random House’s bid to merge with Simon & Schuster. The judge argued that the merger of these two largest publishers in the globe may “diminish competition” for “top-selling books.”
HarperCollins Publishers employees, the only member of the “big four,” are also on an indefinite strike because of the low pay and lack of diversity. The HarperCollins strike comes in the wake of a rise in backing for labor unions nationally, which has reached 71%, its highest level since 1965.