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Wednesday, August 3, 2022

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

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