FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For media inquiries, please contact: Reggie Rucker, ILSR Communications Director
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Nov. 1, 2022) – Stacy Mitchell, co-director at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, made the following statement on the DC District Court’s ruling that blocks the merger of Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster, two of the industry’s largest publishers:
“This is the beginning of the end of the consumer welfare standard, which has warped and enfeebled antitrust enforcement for the last 40 years. Today, we have a ruling that makes clear that concentration’s harm to creators, producers, and workers is a crucial concern of antitrust law.
“This is a major milestone on the path to recovering antitrust’s broad purpose.
“It also raises serious questions about whether Amazon’s monopoly power over the book industry will be allowed to stand. Amazon, after all, is an even more dominant gatekeeper in the book industry than these two publishers combined.”
Follow Stacy Mitchell and ILSR on Twitter for continued commentary on this and other merger issues.
###
About the Institute for Local Self-Reliance
The Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) is a national nonprofit research and educational organization founded in 1974. ILSR has a vision of thriving, diverse, equitable communities. To reach this vision, we build local power to fight corporate control. We believe that democracy can only thrive when economic and political power is widely dispersed. Whether it’s fighting back against the outsize power of monopolies like Amazon or advocating to keep local renewable energy in the community that produced it, ILSR advocates for solutions that harness the power of citizens and communities.
If you like this post, be sure to sign up for the monthly Hometown Advantage newsletter for our latest reporting and research.