Jerusalem, 7 July, 2025 (TPS-IL) — Steimatzky Ltd. (Israel’s largest book retailer) and Oved Publishing Ltd. announced the canceling of their planned merger and the withdrawal of merger notifications they submitted to Israel’s Competition Authority, after the Competition Commissioner raised concerns with the parties that could arise from the merger.
The Authority said that its investigation revealed that Steimatzky is dominant in the marketing of books in the retail segment and therefore “has the ability to harm the ability of publishers to operate in the market.”
In light of the above and other characteristics of the field, the Commissioner feared that the merger would “reduce competition in this field, and in particular that the merger would lead to the full or partial displacement of publishers specializing in the elite genre and competing with the working class.”
The investigation also revealed that the merger is expected to “worsen commercial conditions for both end consumers and the writing public.”