How Dead Is the Book Business?
When you see a merger between
two giants in a declining industry, it can look like the financial version of a
couple having a baby to save a marriage. At least that was my thought when
Random House and Penguin, two of the world’s six largest publishers, announced that they were coming together last
month. Ever since Amazon began ripping apart the book business, the largest
houses have been looking for a way to fight back. If this merger is any
indication, they have chosen an old-fashioned strategy: Size.
