Stephen King as a witness for the US Department of Justice: Testimony in the Bertelsmann and Simon & Schuster court case

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Stephen King in Washington leaving the courthouse after giving testimony

Photo: Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP

Best-selling author Stephen King testified as a star witness in court proceedings against Bertelsmann's intended takeover of the US book publisher Simon & Schuster.

"I think consolidation is bad for competition," the 75-year-old writer said Tuesday in federal court in Washington.

»The more companies there are, the better.«

"When I started, there were hundreds of publishers," said the author of horror novels like "The Shining" and "It."

"One after the other, they were either taken over by other publishers or closed down." It's becoming "harder and harder" for writers to earn enough money.

In November 2020, Bertelsmann announced that the Penguin Random House publishing group, which belongs to the Gütersloh-based group, intends to buy the Simon & Schuster publishing house from the ViacomCBS media group for almost $2.2 billion (today around €2.15 billion).

However, the US Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit to prevent the takeover.

President Biden's administration with Attorney General Merrick Garland is pursuing a stricter antitrust policy than its predecessors.

The ministry argues that a takeover would harm competition and ultimately "harm authors and readers."

"The merger would give Penguin Random House an outsized influence over who and what gets published, and how much authors get paid for their work," the lawsuit states.

Laughter in the courtroom

Stephen King testified in court for the Justice Department.

'My name is Stephen King.

I'm a freelance writer,' said the world-renowned writer, causing laughter in the courtroom.

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King, most of whose work is published by Simon & Schuster, recalled receiving his first check for $2,500 in 1974 for the book Carrie.

After the successful film adaptation starring Sissy Spacek, the book became a bestseller.

After his success with The Shining, he was laughed at by a publisher when he asked for two million dollars for the next three books.

He then changed publishers.

Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster have denied the Justice Department's allegations.

After filing the lawsuit, they said the proposed acquisition would have benefits for authors, readers and booksellers and would enable additional investment in publishing.

In Great Britain, the responsible authorities already approved the deal in May 2021.

Penguin Random House, based in New York, is the world's largest book publisher and is wholly owned by Bertelsmann.

The publishing group itself was formed in 2012 through a merger.

Simon & Schuster ranks as number four in the English-language book market, which is dominated by five major publishing houses - the other three being Hachette (which is owned by the French group Lagardère), HarperCollins (Rupert Murdoch's News Corp) and Macmillan (Holtzbrinck).

"After you - no, after you!"

In a statement on the occasion of the antitrust lawsuit, the publishing houses willing to merge pointed out, among other things, the growing competition from new market participants such as Amazon with its self-publishing area.

In addition, the individual imprints – as the various publishing brands of the corporations are called – are likely to compete with each other for book rights.

Stephen King mocked this notion on the witness stand.

"It's as if husband and wife are both bidding on the same house," he is quoted as saying by the US magazine "Fortune": It will be all too polite, "After you - no, after you!".

According to the New York Times, the Penguin Random House lawyers refrained from questioning the witness King.

feb/AFP