The Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ)
has lobbed a high profile complaint challenging a merger based
primarily on the merger's impact on a labor market. On November
2, 2021 the DOJ filed a complaint to block a merger between
Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, asserting that the
merger will eliminate head-to-head competition between the two
firms for authors and that the merger "would make it harder
for authors to earn a living by writing books, which would, in
turn, would lead to a reduction in the quantity and variety of
books published."
Parallel to the DOJ's complaint, the Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) has indicated its intent to also consider a
transaction's impact on the relevant labor market when
reviewing a merger.1 On December
6th & 7th the DOJ and FTC held
a workshop, Promoting Competition in the Labor
Market, where distinguished economists,
antitrust and labor attorneys, and researchers discussed the best
way for the
