Macmillan settles with Justice Dept; Apple Still In The Doghouse
Macmillan CEO John Sargen stated that his company had to settle, because the prospect of losing the case is frightening.
[quote] The government has reached a proposed settlement with Holtzbrinck Publishers LLC, which does business as Macmillan, one of five major book publishers that allegedly conspired with Apple Inc. to raise e-book prices for consumers, the Justice Department announced Friday.
The government is continuing its case against Apple but has now reached agreements with the five publishers.
The Justice Department complaint alleged that the five companies and Apple worked together to raise retail e-book prices and eliminate price competition. The government said competition had reduced e-book prices and the retail profit margins of the booksellers.
Under the proposed settlement, which still needs approval by a federal judge in New York, Macmillan will lift restrictions on discounting and other promotions by e-book retailers. It will be barred from entering new agreements with similar restrictions until December 2014.
“We settled because the potential penalties became too high to risk even the possibility of an unfavorable outcome,” Macmillan CEO John Sargent said Friday in an online letter to authors, illustrators and agents.[/quote]
As MacDailyNews put it, “It’s too bad Macmillan CEO John Sargent lost his balls.”
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