Reuters: “College Textbook Merger Raises ‘Serious Concern’ Among U.S. Lawmakers”

From a Reuters:

Two U.S. lawmakers expressed serious concern on Tuesday about the effect of a planned merger of college textbook publishers Cengage Learning Holdings II and McGraw-Hill Education Inc, saying the deal would create a new industry leader with nearly half the market.

Representatives David Cicilline, chair of the House Judiciary Committee’s antitrust panel, and Jan Schakowsky, chair of an Energy and Commerce consumer protection panel, urged the Justice Department to scrutinize the merger to ensure it is legal under antitrust law.

In the letter, Cicilline and Schakowsky noted how few college textbook makers were left in the market and that prices had risen 184% since 1998.

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See Also: Statement and Full Text of Letter From Rep. Cicilline and Rep. Jan Schakowsky: “New Entity Combining Cengage And Mcgraw-Hill Would Control More Than 40% Of Market For College Textbooks, Raising Costs and Impacting Privacy Of Students”

Filed under: Companies (Publishers/Vendors), Gale, News