The U.S. Department of Justice has an unlikely witness in its suit to stop the merger of megapublishers Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster: Stephen King, whose books have been published by the latter company for more than 20 years, the Associated Press reports.
King is set to testify against the merger on Tuesday in federal court. His testimony could be seen as a surprise; before he began publishing with Simon & Schuster imprint Scribner, he was mostly associated with Viking and Doubleday, both now part of Penguin Random House.
The proposed merger has been controversial in the publishing world since it was announced in 2020. Both Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster are part of the so-called Big Five, along with Macmillan, Hachette Book Group, and HarperCollins.
It was widely criticized at the time, particularly by independent presses and their supporters. Last November, the Justice Department announced it would sue to stop it, saying it would run afoul of antitrust regulations.
Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster defended the proposed deal, saying, “The merger at issue in this case will encourage even more competition and growth in the U.S. publishing industry.”
But King, like many authors, disagrees. The AP notes that he tweeted in 2021, “The more the publishers consolidate, the harder it is for indie publishers to survive.”
Michael Schaub, a journalist and regular contributor to NPR, lives near Austin, Texas.
