Four big e-book publishers and Apple have pledged to end agreements that the European Union suspects aimed to drive up prices. The four publishers are Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette Livre, and Verlagsgruppe Georg Von Holzbrinck. The four had been accused of colluding to fix prices, in breach of EU antitrust rules, instead of competing with online retailers such as Amazon. The publishers had now agreed to terminate agency agreements with price restrictions and 'give retailers freedom to discount e-books, subject to certain conditions, during a two-year period'.

HarperCollins Publishers L.L.C. will close its warehouse and distribution operation in Throop next summer and put close to 200 people out of work. None of the about 230 people working in an adjoining office will be affected.

Skillsoft announced that it has entered into a licensing partnership with HarperCollins Publishers L.L.C. The program adds HarperCollins' best-selling leadership, personal and professional development books to Skillsoft's Books24x7 Platform. Available within Skillsoft's BusinessPro collection, a key business resource for on-demand training, the featured HarperCollins business authors include Dan Ariely, Jim Champy, Peter Drucker, Justin Menkes, David Rock and many more. In partnership with industry's publishers, industry vendors, analyst firms, business thought leaders and senior executives of Fortune 500 companies, the Skillsoft Books24x7 On Demand Platform offers instant access to the complete text of tens-of-thousands of best-in-class books, book summaries, videos, audios, research reports and best practices. The partnership with HarperCollins is part of Skillsoft's Publishing Partner Program, which is designed for publishers looking to leverage their technical, business and other content in the Skillsoft Books24x7 proven online subscription model. As partners in this program, publishers benefit from Skillsoft's knowledge and experience in digital publishing, its search and on-demand platform, and its vast customer base, which makes content widely available to an expansive corporate audience.