An Australian view of the Penguin-Random House merger

       In The Age Jason Steger gives a down-under perspective of the Penguin-Random House merger, in Surviving publishing's perfect storm.
       Among the bizarre reactions:

Hachette Australia's Sydney-based chief executive, Malcolm Edwards, says the merger is good for the industry because "the balance has gone the wrong way in that we have an unbelievably dominant retailer, which is threatening the very fabric of creativity.

"If you believe in monopolies and totalitarian states then you probably wouldn't think it was a bad idea, but I think when you've got in the US and UK [a situation where] Amazon would have something like 80 per cent of the e-book market, that can't be good. On a business level, a lack of competition is not in the consumer's interest.''

       Why the solution to a lack of competition at the retail level should be to diminish competition (through consolidation) at the 'manufacturing' level is something beyond my understanding -- but then so are most things to do with the publishing 'business'.