Penguin Scraps $2.2bn Deal To Buy Rival Publisher

Publishing giant Penguin Random House has scrapped a $2.2bn planned takeover of rival Simon & Schuster. <br />Penguin's parent company Bertelsmann says Paramount Global, the owner of Simon & Schuster, decided not to appeal the ruling. <br />The proposed deal would have cemented Penguin Random House's position as the world's largest book publisher. <br />The US government argued that Penguin and Simon & Schuster combined would control nearly half the market for publishing rights of blockbuster books.