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The book publishing industry will have to consolidate if it is to stand up to Amazon, Google and a few other dominant retailers of electronic books, according to the chief executive of Hachette Livre. Arnaud Nourry said publishers needed to be big to maintain their pricing power in "brutal" talks with the handful of booksellers that would dominate the digital age.
"We are at the beginning of the process of transformation where size and the capacity to impose viable business models will be essential," he told the Financial Times.
The French publishing house is considered a likely bidder for Simon & Schuster, one of the top four US trade book publishers, should owners CBS decide to sell.
"We are still small," he added. "Our [US] market share is only 5 or 6 per cent and that is not very big when you have to talk with Amazon, Barnes & Noble, perhaps one day Google."
Nourry said it was now looking to move into Russia, by acquiring a local publisher, and China, where it is in "advanced" negotiations to set up a joint venture with one of the biggest Chinese houses.