Thomas Rabe, chief executive of Penguin's German owner Bertelsmann, expressed full confidence in Malaviya, who he said had a chance of permanently becoming CEO.

The allegedly “hand-signed” copies were not individually inscribed.

Bertelsmann will owe Paramount a USD 200 million break-up fee as a result of the transaction falling apart.

In hearings held in August, the government argued that the largest five publishers control 90% of the market, and a combined Penguin and Simon & Schuster would control nearly half of the market for publishing rights to blockbuster books while its nearest competitors would be less than half its size.