Random House and Penguin to Be Combined

Two European media companies, Bertelsmann and Pearson, confirmed Monday that they had agreed to combine their book publishing divisions, Random House and Penguin, creating the largest consumer book publisher in the world.

The deal would give the combined companies, already two of the biggest English-language publishers, an even greater scale to deal with the challenges arising from the growth of e-books and the power of Internet retailers like Amazon.com.

Together, the combined publishers would have a global market share of slightly more than 25 percent, and a book list that includes contemporary best-sellers like Random House’s “Fifty Shades of Grey” trilogy and Penguin’s back list of classics from authors like George Orwell....