The government’s lawsuit to block Penguin Random House buying Simon & Schuster goes to trial.

When Penguin Random House, the nation’s largest publisher, struck a deal to acquire rival Simon & Schuster in the fall of 2020, publishing executives and antitrust experts said the merger would be a threat to government regulators, Alexandra Alter, Elizabeth A. Harris and David McCabe report to The New York Times.

The merger dramatically changed the literary world, reducing the number of major publishers known in the industry as the Big Five to four. (Or, as one industry analyst put it, The Big One and the other he can create three.)

Last fall, the Biden administration filed a lawsuit to block a $2.18 billion sale as part of a new, more aggressive stance on corporate consolidation. The trial begins Monday with oral argument in the US District Court for the District of Columbia presided over by Judge Florence Pang.

The Department of Justice and Bertelsmann, parent company of Penguin Random House, called the parade of prominent publishing executives as witnesses. They include Marcus Doll, CEO of Penguin Random House, Jonathan Karp, CEO of Simon & Schuster, and other publishing executives, literary agents, and a handful of writers. It is included.