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Interestingly the recently announced merger of Random House and Penguin Publishers, forming the largest publishing company the world has ever seen fail to generate any conversation on my regular online haunts. I could be the presidential elections was more than Black folks could think about for the last few weeks. Or if could be, in my circles at least, the two companies are largely inconsequential beyond talk of how a mediocre book like Fifty Shades of Grey could sell so many copies. I guess the "Big 6" are now the "Big 5": HarperCollins - Rupert Murdoch's, News Corporation Macmillan, owned by Georg von Holtzbrinck of Germany Hachette - Lagardère of France; Simon & Schuster, a division of CBS. "Random Penguin" Penguin Random House (Bertelsmann AG 53% and 47% Pearson PLC.) All things considered this is another sign of how bad things are in the publishing world, particularly if these consolidations continue. Read a NY Time Article: Random House and Penguin Merger Creates Global Giant By ERIC PFANNER and AMY CHOZICK Published: October 29, 2012 The deal between the media companies Bertelsmann, which owns Random House, and Pearson, which owns Penguin, might draw antitrust scrutiny.