Penguin and Random House seek clearance to form a joint venture

Bertelsmann SE & Co. (owner of Random House) and Pearson plc (owner of Penguin) seek clearance to form a new jointly-owned company to be called Penguin Random House, which will acquire the retail book publishing businesses of Random House and Penguin.

Penguin and Random House both publish, import and distribute books in New Zealand.

In considering the application, the Commission’s role is to determine whether the acquisition would harm competition in the market to the extent that there would be a substantial lessening of competition.

A public version of the application is available on the Commission’s website at www.comcom.govt.nz/clearances-register

Background

A fact sheet explaining how the Commission assesses mergers and acquisitions is available at www.comcom.govt.nz/merger-assessment