Amazon to win out over Apple in e-book price tussle

Apparently, European Union regulators are to accept an offer by Apple and four publishers to end an antitrust probe into their e-book prices, two sources said, handing Amazon victory in a bid to sell online books cheaper than its rivals, sources said.

The case underscores the battle between retailers and publishers over pricing control of e-books, which publishers hope will boost revenue and increase customers. Apple and the publishers have offered to let retailers set their own prices or discounts for a period of two years, and also to suspend "most-favored nation" contracts for five years, the sources said. Such clauses bar publishers from making deals with rival retailers to sell e-books more cheaply than Apple. Apple, Simon & Schuster, News Corp. unit HarperCollins, Lagardere SCA's Hachette Livre and Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck, the owner of German company Macmillan, made the proposal in September.