According to Library Journal, the “Big 5 ” publishing houses based in the U.S. shrunk to 4 last November, when Penguin Random House acquired Simon & Schuster, which was then the nation’s 3rd largest publisher, according to the New Republic. As of March 29, 2021, HarperCollins, one of the “Big 4,” acquired Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Rudolph Murdoch’s New Corp owns HarperCollins, and Penguin Random House is owned by Bertelsmann, a private German corporation. It seems that the large publishing houses just keep getting larger. Where will it end, I wonder?
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