Jim Milliot and Andrew Albanese write: “In a move that some in the industry will welcome as putting at least a temporary stop to industry consolidation, the private investment firm KKR [which acquired OverDrive in 2020] has reached an agreement with Paramount Global to acquire Simon & Schuster for $1.62 billion in an all cash transaction. A private equity firm’s acquisition will be viewed negatively by many who will be concerned that KKR will put profits over literature. Others, however, will see the KKR deal as better than Simon & Schuster being bought by one of its competitors.”