Pearson and Bertelsmann intend that the combined organisation's level of organic investment in authors and new product models will exceed the total investment of Penguin and Random House as independent publishing houses.
Last month, the BBC bought a total of 30 food products at random for testing from supermarkets, shops and butchers in Belfast and elsewhere in Northern Ireland.
At Random House in particular, U.S. digital publishing revenues grew to 27% of the total in the first half of 2012, up from 20% in the first half of 2011.