Pegasus Wholesale Inc., Canada's newest national wholesaler and distributor, which is 82% owned by Chapters Inc., has announced that Industry Canada's Competition Bureau has confirmed that its creation d s not contravene the Competition Act. "I am very happy with the letter they sent, but I can't say it was a surprise. I have believed all along that the formation of Pegasus was not in any way interfering with the book industry in Canada. What people will see in time is that we are improving competition," Dennis Zook, president and CEO of Pegasus told PW.
After a seven-month investigation, the Competition Bureau concluded that there are not sufficient grounds to continue its investigation of Pegasus. "This concluded the summary of our preliminary assessment of the entry of Pegasus into book wholesaling. At this time, we do not have sufficient grounds to go on with the inquiry," Richard Taylor, assistant deputy commissioner of competition, said in a statement. However, the Competition Bureau has informed Chapters that it will continue to monitor the impact that Pegasus has on the Canadian book industry.
Sheryl McKean, executive director of the Canadian Booksellers Association, who initially approached the Competition Bureau with the concerns of independent booksellers when Pegasus was launched in May, feels the fight is not over. "We feel at this point we have been extremely successful in bringing the concerns [of the industry] to the Competition Bureau. These are serious enough concerns that the investigation has not concluded, so it is rather premature of Chapters to put [the investigation] in the past tense like it is over," McKean told PW.
