ABSTRACT
The 1980s witnessed what seems to have been the greatest wave of mergers and acquisitions in that century among American media enterprises, including book publishers. In the 1980s, the rationale was the formation of media giants to compete in a global market. Media giants are now involved in not just printed goods, but also film, cinema, video, tape recording and compact discs. In 1986, Robert Maxwell spoke on the subject at the PaineWebber Annual Conference on the Outlook for the Media, which the author organized and ran. Time management subsequently cited Mr. Maxwell’s views in describing its strategy to securities analysts. European media executives, such as the chairman of Elsevier, were quoted as agreeing with his views in such publications as The Wall Street Journal. Despite the merger waves of the 1960s and 1980s, the number of book publishers in the United States continues to grow.
