US justice department suing to block Penguin purchase of Simon & Schuster

$2.2bn deal under threat after attorney general files antitrust suit claiming Penguin Random House would exert outsized influence'

The US justice department is suing to block a $2.2bn book publishing deal that would have reshaped the industry, saying consolidation would hurt authors and, ultimately, readers.

The German media giant Bertelsmann's Penguin Random House, already the largest American publisher, wants to buy New York-based Simon & Schuster, whose authors include Stephen King, Hillary Clinton and John Irving, from the TV and film company ViacomCBS.