One hurdle down. Several more to go with the EU, Canadian Competition Bureau and various other antitrust authorities around the world still needing to weigh in on this. Penguin's settlement with the Justice Department was a move to smooth the way for this merger, and it looks like that move worked. Note that Random House, not included in the price-fixing case, will be bound by the terms of the Penguin settlement. Who owns how much of what? For those who are keeping score, according to the announcement: Following completion, Bertelsmann will own 53% and Pearson 47% of Penguin Random House. It will encompass...

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Back in November, I mentioned that Salon Magazine was seeking a buy-out or merger. The magazine was subsequently involved in talks with Michael Wolff of Newser.com, but the New York Times’s DealBook section reports that the talks have collapsed in the wake of the Huffington Post sale. Apparently the high $315 million selling price of the Post caused Salon’s board members to wonder whether they were pricing the magazine too low. Salon Magazine was one of the first magazines to recognize the potential of e-reading, strongly influencing me to take my first step into e-reading technology with the purchase...

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