Two merger trials, each beginning Monday at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., will provide an early test for Biden administration antitrust enforcement and determine the fate of multibillion-dollar deals in the publishing and healthcare industries.
In one case the Justice Department is challenging book publisher Penguin Random House’s nearly $2.18 billion acquisition of Simon & Schuster, a deal that would combine two of the industry’s big-five publishers. In the other, the department is seeking to blockUnitedHealth Group the parent of the nation’s largest insurer, from acquiring health-technology firm Change Healthcare a deal valued at $13 billion.
