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Woolies boss turns on publishers

30.04.07

The boss of Woolworths has accused the publishing industry of waging a campaign to block its planned acquisition of the book wholesaler Bertram, reports the Guardian.

Trevor Bish-Jones, Woolworths chief executive, said publishers had "whipped independent bookshops into a frenzy" and encouraged them to complain against the £29m deal. He said that in doing so, the retailers had unwittingly acted against their own interests. The proposed takeover was referred to the Competition Commission earlier this month.

"I was somewhat surprised by the scale of the opposition to the deal. The logic is flawed. Having a couple of strong wholesalers is of benefit to independent booksellers. It is then that you have a reasonable chance of a sensible dialogue with the publishers and getting access to the prices available to the supermarkets. At the moment there is dual pricing - the terms available to the supermarkets are preferential to those available to the independent booksellers," he said.

"The independent booksellers were encouraged to submit responses by the publishers, who fear it could change the pricing structure of the market."

Guardian

Bertrams EUK woolworths THE Wholesaler

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