Skip to main content

Apple and publishers offer retailers discounted ebooks in bid to avoid EU antitrust fine

Apple and publishers offer retailers discounted ebooks in bid to avoid EU antitrust fine

/

Apple and four major European publishers are offering to sell ebooks at a discount in an attempt to end an EU antitrust investigation into price-fixing.

Share this story

Harry Potter ebooks
Harry Potter ebooks

Apple and four major European publishers are offering to sell ebooks at a discount in an attempt to end an EU antitrust investigation into price-fixing. The news comes from an unnamed source at Reuters, who adds that the discount would last for two years. The publishers, which include giants like Harper Collins and Simon & Schuster, were accused of colluding to fix ebook pricing at a certain level instead of competing, possibly "with the help of Apple." According to Reuters, the deal specified that other retailers, such as Amazon, could not sell the books at a lower price. We've reached out to the parties involved in the story to confirm its accuracy, and will update you when we hear back.