Random Penguin to Rampage Through Publishing

Bertelsmann and Pearson announced this morning they would merge Random House and Penguin to create a Frankenpublisher printing 25% of the world's English language books.

It's difficult to say what the new company, officially known as Penguin Random House, will mean for publishing long-term but similar to all mergers, consolidation (ie layoffs and shutdowns) is coming. The new publisher may be able to throw its weight around more when the former Big Six, now Big Five try to make decisions together -- but their track record on that account hasn't been that great already and it's unlikely this will convince them.