Finance

Don't cry for Nicholas Sparks. The author of 16 New York Times best-sellers, including such tear-jerkers-turned-movie hits as The Notebook and Dear John, is expanding into TV.

Sparks, 46, has put shows into development at three cable networks through Nicholas Sparks Productions, the shingle he started in April with his longtime literary agent Theresa Park. (UTA’s Elise Henderson joined in July as head of TV.)

Sparks and Park will act as executive producers on all three projects. UTA and attorney Scott Schwimer represent Sparks and his Nicholas Sparks Productions shingle.

Two of the world's biggest publishing houses are to link up in a deal that will bring the writings of classics like George Orwell's "1984" and this year's literary phenomenon "Fifty Shades of Grey" under one umbrella.

Confirmation that Pearson will merge its Penguin Books division with Random House, which is owned by German media company Bertelsmann, will create the world's largest publisher of consumer books, with around a quarter of the market.

Champagne corks are not popping in the book world at news of the Penguin-Random House merger. There is no celebrating among competitors or authors, and the atmosphere at Penguin Towers and Random HQ is apparently one of deep gloom. Only the Mergers & Acquisitions lawyers will be happy.

Such mergers of titans are always accompanied by job losses so it’s hardly surprising that employees at Penguin and Random House are worried.

They’re going to the chapel and they’re gonna get married: Book publishers Penguin and Random House will become one after their parents company complete an upcoming merger. If the merging of companies in other industries is any indication, this new union could produce higher book prices as the two cease competing, as well as a possible dearth in the selection of titles.

Yesterday Amazon and Apple reported earnings at the same time, which made it even easier to contrast these two outstanding companies, especially now that they compete directly.

I’ve been beating the drum for a while that Jeff Bezos is the greatest entrepreneur alive and, with Steve Jobs‘ passing, his true heir as the greatest business innovator alive. (Even John Gruber, the King of Apple Bloggers, now agrees.)

If you look at the two earnings together, it’s become even clearer.

British media conglomerate Pearson (PSO) on Thursday confirmed press reports that the company is in talks to combine its consumer publishing business, Penguin, with Bertelsmann’s Random House.

“The two companies have not reached agreement and there is no certainty that the discussions will lead to a transaction,” read a note posted on Pearson’s website.

Despite the uncertainly of what the final deal might look like, the news that the Big Six of publishing could soon shrink to the Big Five sent the book industry into a state of frenzied self-examination.

Pearson, the British media conglomerate, said Thursday that it was in talks to combine its Penguin publishing house with Random House, owned by Bertelsmann of Germany.

The deal, if completed, would bring together two of the biggest book publishers in the world, uniting Penguin and its iconic orange logo with the owner of Crown Publishing and Knopf Doubleday. The combination would create a division with greater scale that could compete in a rapidly evolving e-book market.

As the publishing world processes the news that Random House and Penguin could merge, Twitter has been filled with amusing posts from authors, readers and publishing professionals.

After halting shares this afternoon because of its earnings report mishap, Google has put out an official statement, with CEO Larry Page quote included. Considering we already know how the market reacted to the report, it's hard to get behind Page's words. "We had a strong quarter. Revenue was up 45 percent year-on-year, and, at just fourteen years old, we cleared our first $14 billion revenue quarter," he said. "I am also really excited about the progress we’re making creating a beautifully simple, intuitive Google experience across all devices."

Amazon.com is in advanced negotiations to buy the mobile chip business of Texas Instruments, according to Israeli newspaper Calcalist, which would put the online retail giant on the path to becoming a manufacturer of smartphone and tablet processors.

However, the report generated a healthy dose of skepticism among users of Stocktwits.