HarperCollins reaches agreement with Amazon, other e-commerce companies on lower prices for e-books, in keeping with antitrust settlement between US government, some book publishers; settlement lets retailers return to setting their own prices

Kendall Sinclair

NEW YORK , September 11, 2012 (Bloomberg LP) – HarperCollins Publishers LLC reached an agreement with Amazon.com Inc. and other e-commerce companies that results in lower prices for electronic books, in keeping with an antitrust settlement between the U.S. government and some book publishers.

“HarperCollins has reached agreements with our e-retailers that are consistent with the final judgment,” Erin Crum, a spokeswoman for HarperCollins, said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. “Dynamic pricing and experimentation will continue to be a priority for us as we move forward.”

The agreement follows a judge’s approval last week of an earlier settlement between the government and News Corp.’s HarperCollins, CBS Corp.’s Simon & Schuster and Lagardère SCA’s Hachette Book Group. The Justice Department had sued the publishers -- along with companies such as Apple Inc. -- claiming that the defendants conspired to fix prices on e-books in violation of U.S. antitrust law.

The settlement lets retailers return to setting their own prices.

Following the approval of the settlement, Amazon is lowering prices on “a broad assortment of HarperCollins titles,” Sarah Gelman, a spokeswoman for Seattle-based Amazon, wrote yesterday in an e-mailed statement.

The New York Times had previously reported the agreement between Amazon and HarperCollins. News Corp. is based in New York.

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