The Big 5 accounting firms were the largest accounting firms in the world until 2002. They were formed from the eight major accounting firms. They were formed from many smaller member firms and would later create the 4 big firms. They stopped being the eight largest accounting firms in the world in 1989. With the sale, Penguin Random House will become a publishing powerhouse. It is already the largest book publisher in the country, and the acquisition of Simon and Schuster will increase its presence in the industry exponentially.
It will compete in a market with the other three major book publishers: Macmillan, Hachette Book Group and HarperCollins.