Amazon signs multi-year deal with Simon & Schuster - Business Insider

(Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc signed a multi-year deal with Simon & Schuster Inc, the second major Big Five book publisher it has been negotiating with on the price of e-books, Business Insider reported, citing a source with knowledge of the situation.

Online book retailer Amazon had been in talks with Simon & Schuster since July over pricing.

Amazon had been locked in a war with publisher Hachette Book Group, the fourth-largest U.S. book publisher owned by France's Lagardere, over digital book pricing, roughly since January, leading to numerous issues for authors.

Industry experts had expected other publishers eventually to be drawn into negotiations as well, as the Internet retailer tries to set new benchmarks for the e-book market.

Negotiations with Simon & Schuster took about three weeks and closed two months before Amazon's contract expired, according to Business Insider. (http://bit.ly/1zihNGT)

Simon & Schuster made its original offer and an agreement was reached after a few changes by Amazon, the source told Business Insider.

Amazon was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting By Arathy S Nair in Bangalore; Editing by Maju Samuel)