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Article: MERGED BOOK PUBLISHERS TO BID ON SAME AUTHORS: RANDOM HOUSE, BANTAM GET OK ON ONCE-FORBIDDEN COMPETITION
- Article from:
- Crain's New York Business
- Article date:
- September 28, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Crain Communications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The chief of the newly merged Random House and Bantam Doubleday Dell says the two book units will be allowed to bid against each other for the rights to potential best-sellers.
The decision by Peter Olson, chairman and chief executive of the recently merged company, called Random House Inc., was a surprise. Bantam Doubleday Dell units had been previously barred from competing against each other by parent company Bertelsmann AG, the German media conglomerate. Authors and their agents were concerned that Bertelsmann would curtail the practice that was common at Random House.
"We made a decision, motivated by the commitment to independence, to let the publishing ...