Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.9125 — Klio/Bertelsmann/Holtzbrinck/Skoobe) — Candidate case for simplified procedure (Text with EEA relevance.)
Date: 2018-10-17
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: book trade, bookshop, economic concentration, merger control, provision of services, publisher, retail trade, virtual library








C_2018375EN.01000601.xml










17.10.2018   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 375/6






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.9125 — Klio/Bertelsmann/Holtzbrinck/Skoobe)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(2018/C 375/06)

1.   
On 9 October 2018, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1).
This notification concerns the following undertakings:






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Skoobe GmbH (‘Skoobe’, Germany),










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Klio GmbH (‘Klio’, Germany),










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Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH & Co. KG (‘Holtzbrinck’, Germany),










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Verlagsgruppe Random House GmbH (‘Random House’, Germany), controlled by Bertelsmann SE & Co KGaA (‘Bertelsmann’, Germany),










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Arvato CRM Solutions GmbH (‘Arvato’, Germany), also controlled by Bertelsmann.




Klio, Holtzbrinck, Random House and Arvato acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of the whole of Skoobe.
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.


2.   
The business activities of the undertakings concerned are:






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Skoobe offers the temporary rental of e-books over its online platform www.skoobe.de and via its own app.










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Klio is active as a book retailer via its subsidiary Thalia Bücher GmbH.










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Holtzbrinck is an in Stuttgart based international media company that is active in trade-book publishing, education and science, newspapers and magazines as well as electronic media and services.










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Random House is a German publishing house of Bertelsmann active in the area of fictional and non-fictional books, books for children and adolesecents, audio and e-books. Random House is controlled by Bertelsmann, an international media, services and education group present in about 50 countries with activities in TV, radio, book and newspaper publishing, music as well as other media and communication services.










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Arvato is an international service company of Bertelsmann offering various technical services i.a. in the area of logistics, customer service and management, finance and information technology solutions.






3.   
On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the Merger Regulation. However, the final decision on this point is reserved.
Pursuant to the Commission Notice on a simplified procedure for treatment of certain concentrations under the Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (2) it should be noted that this case is a candidate for treatment under the procedure set out in the Notice.


4.   
The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.
Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. The following reference should always be specified:
M.9125 — Klio/Bertelsmann/Holtzbrinck/Skoobe
Observations can be sent to the Commission by email, by fax, or by post. Please use the contact details below:





Email: COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu




Fax +32 22964301




Postal address:




European Commission




Directorate-General for Competition




Merger Registry




1049 Bruxelles/Brussel




BELGIQUE/BELGIË







(1)  OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 (the ‘Merger Regulation’).

(2)  OJ C 366, 14.12.2013, p. 5.