Thread by @EdNawotka

DOJvPRH: Petrocelli: PRH fields thousands of submissions a year. This does not trigger some system of oversight. There is no czar of coordination. Why would they impose rules on something they had decided was beneficial to their business.#DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Petrocelli points out that post-merger there are still three other large publisher who will "fight fiercely" for books, and there are many other resourced publishers that already exist who can fill any void left by the merger...any book is new, unknown in value. #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: S&S Fishbein: DOJ says advances will fall by $100k, that's a lot, but it doesn't make sense. Books are not commodities. "Best bid gives you one chance and if you get it wrong, you can no longer say you have the king of the singer-songwriters." [ref Springsteen] #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Fishbein: "You will have competitors emerge for any gap in the market that emerges." ... Judge Lam: "Market share would understate power of PRH/S&S, because it includes books they don't compete in." re: Xian and Romance. "What would it be if you take those out?"#DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Fishbein: Only way you get to 3x size of HC is if you take out Xian and [Harlequin] Romance. Then you also have take out PRH Xian [Judge Lam, which is 2% - "close to zero"]. Judge and Fishbein are bickering about differences b'tween Xian and Romance books...#DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Me here: Not the literal difference between Xian and Romance, but rather the differences between categories in the genre. I.e. Bibles vs. spiritual self-help. Just sayin...#DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Fishbein: Amazon, Scholastic, Disney are all not part of the Big 5. Amazon has spent on multi-million advances, "but there is no doubt they have the resources, expertise and track record having done it before. They are poised to compete..."#DOJvPRH

PRHvDOJ: Fishbein: "Softening advances motivates [Amazon] to come and fill the gap. Mr. Weisberg said Amazon could be a formidable competitor at any given moment. Schoastic poached a $2 million book." Added to the Big Five, they change the landscape.#DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Fishbein: "Other publishers are not 'farm teams.' Many bestselling authors stay at the small-med publishers. They are real competitors, they are a real force." There are others "ready to fill the gap, if PRH/S&S chose to lower advances." #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Fishbein: Says "advances have gone up despite consolidation in the industry" and cites. Brian Murray and other agents who have testified. Re Printing/LSC "Fear is Bertelsmann will self-preference their own books for printing, but no evidence for that." #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Judge Lam: "These P&L's are flexible." Fishbein: "Mr. Karp testified that the guidance should be positive and double digits. P&L at PRH, McIntosh said editors were so focused on the margin, 'I had to help them course correct.'" #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Fishbein is challenging the models used by the government. Judge Lam: "If you want to challenge an economic model, you need evidence to challenge it...the significance of it, we don't have expert testimony on it." #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: Fishbein: "You can assume for every $10k of advance you will get more marketing, sales support, etc...but you cannot cherry pick...." It is arbitrary. The gov't, he argues, can pick whatever level they can to find that it triggers anti-trust. "Must be objective" #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: DOJ atty is back for a rebuttal. "Petrocelli argued PRH/S&S are not direct rivals is discredited" by Karp's frustration with losing deals to PRH..."I cannot think of an anti-trust case where the court allowed subsidiaries to compete." #DOJvPRH

DOJvPRH: DOJ: "Are there a group of authors ($250k) that are vulnerable? As far as I know in the past decade where the plaintiff has failed on product market without being an adequate substitute. Where the victims can turn to as an alternative and that is not here. #DOJvPRH