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mostlysignssomeportents · 8 months

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Private equity plunderers want to buy Simon & Schuster

Going to Defcon this weekend? I'm giving a keynote, "An Audacious Plan to Halt the Internet's Enshittification and Throw it Into Reverse," on Saturday at 12:30pm, followed by a book signing at the No Starch Press booth at 2:30pm!

https://info.defcon.org/event/?id=50826

Last November, publishing got some excellent news: the planned merger of Penguin Random House (the largest publisher in the history of human civilization) with its immediate competitor Simon & Schuster would not be permitted, thanks to the DOJ's deftly argued case against the deal:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/11/07/random-penguins/#if-you-wanted-to-get-there-i-wouldnt-start-from-here

When I was a baby writer, there were dozens of large NY publishers. Today, there are five - and it was almost four. A publishing sector with five giant companies is bad news for writers (as Stephen King said at the trial, the idea that PRH and S&S would bid against each other for books was as absurd as the idea that he and his wife would bid against each other for their next family home).

But it's also bad news for publishing workers, a historically exploited and undervalued workforce whose labor conditions have only declined as the number of employers in the sector dwindled, leading to mass resignations:

https://lithub.com/unlivable-and-untenable-molly-mcghee-on-the-punishing-life-of-junior-publishing-employees/

It should go without saying that workers in sectors with few employers get worse deals from their bosses (see, e.g., the writers' strike and actors' strike). And yup, right on time, PRH, a wildly profitable publisher, fired a bunch of its most senior (and therefore hardest to push around) workers:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/18/books/penguin-random-house-layoffs-buyouts.html

But publishing's contraction into a five-company cartel didn't occur in a vacuum. It was a normal response to monopolization elsewhere in its supply chain. First it was bookselling collapsing into two major chains. Then it was distribution going from 300 companies to three. Today, it's Amazon, a monopolist with unlimited access to the capital markets and a track record of treating publishers "the way a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/31/seize-the-means-of-computation/#the-internet-con

Monopolies are like Pringles (owned by the consumer packaged goods monopolist Procter & Gamble): you can't have just one. As soon as you get a monopoly in one part of the supply chain, every other part of that chain has to monopolize in self-defense.

Think of healthcare. Consolidation in pharma lead to price-gouging, where hospitals were suddenly paying 1,000% more for routine drugs. Hospitals formed regional monopolies and boycotted pharma companies unless they lowered their prices - and then turned around and screwed insurers, jacking up the price of care. Health insurers gobbled each other up in an orgy of mergers and fought the hospitals.

Now the health care system is composed of a series of gigantic, abusive monopolists - pharma, hospitals, medical equipment, pharmacy benefit managers, insurers - and they all conspire to wreck the lives of only two parts of the system who can't fight back: patients and health care workers. Patients pay more for worse care, and medical workers get paid less for worse working conditions.

So while there was no question that a PRH takeover of Simon & Schuster would be bad for writers and readers, it was also clear that S&S - and indeed, all of the Big Five publishers - would be under pressure from the monopolies in their own supply chain. What's more, it was clear that S&S couldn't remain tethered to Paramount, its current owner.

Last week, Paramount announced that it was going to flip S&S to KKR, one of the world's most notorious private equity companies. KKR has a long, long track record of ghastly behavior, and its portfolio currently includes other publishing industry firms, including one rotten monopolist, raising similar concerns to the ones that scuttled the PRH takeover last year:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/07/books/booksupdate/paramount-simon-and-schuster-kkr-sale.html

Let's review a little of KKR's track record, shall we? Most spectacularly, they are known for buying and destroying Toys R Us in a deal that saw them extract $200m from the company, leaving it bankrupt, with lifetime employees getting $0 in severance even as its executives paid themselves tens of millions in "performance bonuses":

https://memex.craphound.com/2018/06/03/private-equity-bosses-took-200m-out-of-toys-r-us-and-crashed-the-company-lifetime-employees-got-0-in-severance/

The pillaging of Toys R Us isn't the worst thing KKR did, but it was the most brazen. KKR lit a beloved national chain on fire and then walked away, hands in pockets, whistling. They didn't even bother to clear their former employees' sensitive personnel records out of the unlocked filing cabinets before they scarpered:

https://memex.craphound.com/2018/09/23/exploring-the-ruins-of-a-toys-r-us-discovering-a-trove-of-sensitive-employee-data/

But as flashy as the Toys R Us caper was, it wasn't the worst. Private equity funds specialize in buying up businesses, loading them with debts, paying themselves, and then leaving them to collapse. They're sometimes called vulture capitalists, but they're really vampire capitalists:

https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/05/private-equity-buyout-kkr-houdaille/

Given a choice, PE companies don't want to prey on sick businesses - they preferentially drain off value from thriving ones, preferably ones that we must use, which is why PE - and KKR in particular - loves to buy health care companies.

Heard of the "surprise billing epidemic"? That's where you go to a hospital that's covered by your insurer, only to discover - after the fact - that the emergency room is operated by a separate, PE-backed company that charges you thousands for junk fees. KKR and Blackstone invented this scam, then funneled millions into fighting the No Surprises Act, which more-or-less killed it:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/21/all-in-it-together/#doctor-patient-unity

KKR took one of the nation's largest healthcare providers, Envision, hostage to surprise billing, making it dependent on these fraudulent payments. When Congress finally acted to end this scam, KKR was able to take to the nation's editorial pages and damn Congress for recklessly endangering all the patients who relied on it:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/03/14/unhealthy-finances/#steins-law

Like any smart vampire, KKR doesn't drain its victim in one go. They find all kinds of ways to stretch out the blood supply. During the pandemic, KKR was front of the line to get massive bailouts for its health-care holdings, even as it fired health-care workers, increasing the workload and decreasing the pay of the survivors of its indiscriminate cuts:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/11/socialized-losses/#socialized-losses

It's not just emergency rooms. KKR bought and looted homes for people with disabilities, slashed wages, cut staff, and then feigned surprise at the deaths, abuse and misery that followed:

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/kendalltaggart/kkr-brightspring-disability-private-equity-abuse

Workers' wages went down to $8/hour, and they were given 36 hour shifts, and then KKR threatened to have any worker who walked off the job criminally charged with patient abandonment:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/06/02/plunderers/#farben

For KKR, people with disabilities and patients make great victims - disempowered and atomized, unable to fight back. No surprise, then, that so many of KKR's scams target poor people - another group that struggles to get justice when wronged. KKR took over Dollar General in 2007 and embarked on a nationwide expansion campaign, using abusive preferential distributor contracts and targeting community-owned grocers to trap poor people into buying the most heavily processed, least nutritious, most profitable food available:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/27/walmarts-jackals/#cheater-sizes

94.5% of the Paycheck Protection Program - designed to help small businesses keep their workers payrolled during lockdown - went to giant businesses, fraudulently siphoned off by companies like Longview Power, 40% owned by KKR:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/04/20/great-danes/#ppp

KKR also helped engineer a loophole in the Trump tax cuts, convincing Justin Muzinich to carve out taxes for C-Corporations, which let KKR save billions in taxes:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/02/broken-windows/#Justin-Muzinich

KKR sinks its fangs in every part of the economy, thanks to the vast fortunes it amassed from its investors, ripped off from its customers, and fraudulently obtained from the public purse. After the pandemic, KKR scooped up hundreds of companies at firesale prices:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/03/30/medtronic-stole-your-ventilator/#blackstone-kkr

Ironically, the investors in KKR funds are also its victims - especially giant public pension funds, whom KKR has systematically defrauded for years:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/22/stimpank/#kentucky

And now KKR has come for Simon & Schuster. The buyout was trumpeted to the press as a done deal, but it's far from a fait accompli. Before the deal can close, the FTC will have to bless it. That blessing is far from a foregone conclusion. KKR also owns Overdrive, the monopoly supplier of e-lending software to libraries.

Overdrive has a host of predatory practices, loathed by both libraries and publishers (indeed, much of the publishing sector's outrage at library e-lending is really displaced anger at Overdrive). There's a plausible case that the merger of one of the Big Five publishers with the e-lending monopoly will present competition issues every bit as deal-breaking as the PRH/S&S merger posed.

(Image: Sefa Tekin/Pexels, modified)

I’m kickstarting the audiobook for “The Internet Con: How To Seize the Means of Computation,” a Big Tech disassembly manual to disenshittify the web and bring back the old, good internet. It’s a DRM-free book, which means Audible won’t carry it, so this crowdfunder is essential. Back now to get the audio, Verso hardcover and ebook:

http://seizethemeansofcomputation.org

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/08/08/vampire-capitalism/#kkr

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almosthomefree-blog · 9 months

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Excited to help promote the launch of Silvia Moreno-Garcia's new book 'SILVER NITRATE' from Del Rey Publishing! Available on July 18. I created a faux poster for the movie 'Beyond the Yellow Door,' which is a key component in the novel. A fantastic read. Highly recommended.

For more information on Silvia's works and where to order 'Silver Nitrate' visit: https://silviamoreno-garcia.com an amazing Canadian author. If you have not got into her stuff yet, now is the time to do so.

#silvia moreno garcia #penguin random house #del rey #silver nitrate #horror #thriller #novel

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marvelousbelladonna · 5 months

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I am going to become an absolute menace when this comes out

#critical role #cr spoilers #campaign 3 #marisha ray #laudna #penguin random house

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garadinervi · 5 months

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«Administrative detention (AD) is a procedure that allows Israeli occupation forces to hold prisoners indefinitely on secret information without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. The secret information or evidence cannot be accessed by the detainee nor his lawyer, and can according to Israeli military orders, an administrative detention order can be renewed for an unlimited time. The court issues an administrative detention order for a maximum period of six months, subject to renewal.» – Administrative Detainees, Addameer – Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, 2018 – November 2023

«The practice of Administrative detention is linked to the political situation in occupied Palestine, and the Palestinian movement that protests against the continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967. Administrative detention is a punitive measure and is a political action that reflects the Israeli occupation’s official policy against Palestinians. Although the use of administrative detention in a widespread and systemic manner is prohibited under international law, the Israeli occupation uses administrative detention as a tool for collective punishment against Palestinians. The occupation continues to issue administrative detention orders against various segments of the Palestinian society in the West Bank including human rights activists, university students, lawyers, mothers of detainees and business people. Palestinians have been subjected to administrative detention since the beginning of the Israeli Occupation in 1967 and before that time, under the British Mandate. The frequency of the use of administrative detention has fluctuated throughout Israel’s occupation and has been steadily rising since the outbreak of the second intifada in September 2000. On the eve of the second intifada, Israel held 12 Palestinians in administrative detention. Only two years later, in late 2002 - early 2003, there were over 1000 Palestinians in administrative detention. Between 2005 and 2007, the average monthly number of Palestinian administrative detainees held by Israel remained stable at approximately 765. Since then, as the situation on the ground stabilized and violence tapered off, the number of administrative detainees has generally decreased every year. As of December 2018, there were at least 482 administrative detainees in Israeli prisons, who are being held without charge or trial for an indefinite period of time, nine of whom are members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. During the year 2018, administrative detainees collectively started a boycott campaign of military courts. This boycott started in March 2018 and was paused in September 2018 in order to give time for negotiations between the prisoners and the prison administration. Though administrative detainees declared that if no changes were made by the beginning of 2019 they will resume to actions.» – December 2018

Administrative Detainees, November 2023: 2070

Plus: Eliana Riva, Prigionieri palestinesi, il sistema giudiziario parallelo di Israele, «Pagine Esteri», November 28, 2023

Image: Ahed Tamimi in Nabi Saleh, February 7, 2019 [photo: IBL/Shutterstock]

Plus: Ahed Tamimi and Dena Takruri, They Called Me a Lioness. A Palestinian Girl’s Fight for Freedom, One World, New York, NY, 2022, then Penguin Random House, New York, NY, 2023

#photography #book #addameer #ahed tamimi #dena takruri #one world #penguin random house #2010s #2020s

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trungles · 1 year

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Your art brings me a sense of nostalgia for something that was never mine, but that I somehow miss all the same... I don't think I'm making any sense, but you have a beyond captivating style. Do you have a shop or any other way to support you?

My Patreon is where I make longer, more involved posts about my process. It's where I put most of my commentary and behind-the-scenes stuff, and I tend to post stuff from projects that I'm working on and haven't been released just yet. I'm working on writing more posts that are free to the public so people can subscribe to it like a newsletter without having to pay for it.

My INPRNT Store is where you can buy prints of my work. I love INPRNT's print quality. It's the best. Plus, INPRNT gives artists the biggest cut of any print service I can recall - 50% for art prints, 40% for canvas prints, and 30% for metal and acrylic prints. They're great.

My debut graphic novel, The Magic Fish, has won a bunch of awards, and I still find myself doing a lot of author talks and tours in new language territories for it. I'm immensely proud of it. If you can't buy it, please request it at your local libraries. Requesting and checking out books at libraries is a fantastic way to support authors because it encourages the library to keep it in circulation! This has become especially important nowadays since book banning efforts have occasionally swept this book up in their lists because of its queer themes and exploration of immigrant experiences. This book is available in English, French, Italian, Korean, Brazilian Portuguese, and eventually German and Spanish (I think?) as well.

My Tarot Deck, The Star Spinner Tarot, was my first project published through a traditional book publisher! It was the project I started right out of college to teach myself how to be an illustrator, so I'm still very fond of every image I created for it. I would try and order it through a brick-and-mortar bookstore if possible because there are a TON of knock-off decks circulating around the world for some reason. I've linked to Powell's here. There are two official versions, one in English and one in French (Le tarot des royaumes célestes).

#ask trungles #patreon #newsletter #the magic fish #star spinner tarot #chronicle books #penguin random house #artists on tumblr

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dduane · 9 months

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...Not good.

#Penguin Random House

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aidosaur · 1 year

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My friend @iasminomarata‘s book NAYRA AND THE DJINN comes out February 28th!!!

I was able to get my hands on an arc and this book is beautiful & sweet with gorgeous colors and style! You can preorder it here, or wherever you buy books!

#iasmin omar ata #nayra and the djinn #deltahead #YA #penguin random house #penguin kids #graphic novel #comic

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deadpresidents · 1 month

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I'm just taking a moment to let everyone know that Steve Coll's new book, THE ACHILLES TRAP: Saddam Hussein, the C.I.A., and the Origins of America's Invasion of Iraq (BOOK | KINDLE | AUDIO), is incredible and you should all read it. It's available now from Penguin Press.

#Books #Book Suggestions #Book Recommendations #Steve Coll #The Achilles Trap #Saddam Hussein #Iraq War #American Invasion of Iraq #Saddam #Iraq #Middle East #History #Penguin Press #Penguin Random House #CIA

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uwmspeccoll · 3 months

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Milestone Monday

January 8th is the birthday of Frank Nelson Doubleday (1862-1934) who at age ten bought his own printing press to create advertisements and local Brooklyn news circulars and seventy-five years later was known as the co-founder of the largest publisher in the United States. At fifteen years old, Doubleday went to work at Charles Scribner’s Sons, eventually publishing Scribner’s Magazine and heading their subscription book department. After eighteen years, Doubleday left the company and partnered with Samuel Sidney McClure (1857-1949) to open their own publishing venture Doubleday & McClure Company in 1897.

Over the years, Doubleday & McClure Company worked with numerous notable authors and would evolve through a dizzying number of partnerships, acquisitions, and name changes while it grew into an international communications company, eventually settling into a merger with Knopf Publishing Group under Penguin Random House in the early 2000s. In its infancy, still known as Doubleday & McClure, the company found great success with Rudyard Kipling’s (1865-1936) bestseller The Day’s Work.

Published in 1898, The Day’s Work contains thirteen fictional short stories accompanied by illustrations throughout. The stories were written between 1893 and 1896 while Kipling was living in his Bliss Cottage in Vermont and simultaneously working on The Jungle Book. Unlike many of Kipling’s other collections, there are no poems dividing the stories within The Day’s Work. The black and white illustrations within the collection were drawn by four different artists including, William Dodge Stevens (1870-1942), William Louis Sonntag Jr. (1869-1898), Ernest Leonard Blumenschein (1874-1960), and William Ladd Taylor (1854-1926); each leaning into their strengths to support Kipling’s vivid narrative.

Read other Milestone Monday posts here!

– Jenna, Special Collections Graduate Intern

#milestone monday #milestones #frank nelson doubleday #doubleday & mcclure company #charles scribner's sons #samuel sidney mcclure #penguin random house #knopf publishing group #rudyard kipling #the day's work #the jungle book #william dodge stevens #william louis sonntag jr.#ernest leonard blumenschein #william ladd taylor

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