(2009-10-24) Bestselling Book Retailer Price War

The Board of Directors of the American Booksellers Association today sent the following letter to the U.S. Department of Justice requesting that it investigate practices by Amazon.com, WalMart, and Target that it believes constitute illegal predatory pricing that is damaging to the book industry and harmful to consumers... "As reported in the consumer and trade press this past week, Amazon.com, WalMart.com, and Target.com have engaged in a Price War in the pre-sale of new hardcover bestsellers, including books from John Grisham, Stephen King, Barbara Kingsolver, Sarah Palin, and James Patterson. These books typically retail for between $25 and $35. As of writing of this letter, all three competitors are selling these and other titles for between $8.98 and $9.00." (Book Publishing, Book Store)