The owner of Penguin Random House on Wednesday said it will acquire U.

S publisher Simon and Schuster for more than $2 billion in cash.

The German media group Bertelsmann outbid Rupert Murdoch's News Corp in a contest for the publisher of authors Dan Brown, Hillary Clinton and Stephen King that Viacom CBS put up for sale earlier this year.

The deal represents the second major Movin CEO.

Thomas Robs Drive to consolidate Bertelsmann as the world's biggest bookseller after the 185 year old publisher took full control of Penguin Random House less than a year ago.

In a statement, Rob hailed the deal, saying Quote, We're building our position as one of the leading creative content companies in the United States.

I'm convinced that this is a good day.

Both for book publishing and for authors, size is important in publishing as best seller lists become dominated by a handful of blockbusters such as Penguin.

Random House is edition of former president Barack Obama's memoir A Promised Land.

Simon and Schuster will remain under the umbrella of the far larger Penguin Random House.