Due To Family Commitments, My Plan Is To Post Only Twice A Day For The Next Two Weeks -- August 3, 2022

I will probably blog more frequently than that, but if you see less blogging, don't be surprised.

Similarly, my replies to e-mail and moderating comments will be delayed.

Other items.

COP: earnings preview. Thursday, after market close.

• forecast:
• EPS: $3.85
• revenue: $19.71 billion
• whisper number:
• $3.96; consensus: $3.78
• revenue: $17.24.

SRE: earnings preview. Thursday, before market open.

• forecast:
• EPS: $1.77
• revenue: $3 billion
• whisper number:
• EPS: $1.93; consensus: $1.82
• revenue: $2.91 billion

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The Book Page

Lawsuits.

1. Pertelsmann's PRH bested Rupert Murdoch's HarperCollins with a $2.18 billion for Simon & Schuster.

• Biden's DOJ wants to fight the acquisition on "monopoly" grounds 
• the lawsuit here; 
• Penguin Random House: biggest US publisher by far
• Simon & Schuster: fourth-largest;
  
• merger arranged by parent companies: Bertelsmann and ViacomCBS
  
• link here to Vanity Fair; 
• link here to NY Times (paywall);
• by the way, in the big scheme of things, this whole "deal" is small potatoes -- 
• deal valued at $2.2 billion
  
• my hunch:
• DOJ prevails; merger stopped
• ViacomCBS will find another buyer; publishing is not part of their core competency
• S&S could be sold to private venture -- worst outcome possible for authors
  

2. Amazon accused of conspiracy to set/fix e-book prices with the big five: Hachette, HarperCollins, Macmillan, Simon & Schuster, and Penguin Random House (PRH). Link here.