Random House and Penguin in Merger Talks

An article in yesterday's London-based Financial Times provides a peek at the initial stages of merger talks that are going on between two of the big six publishers—Penguin and Random House. The merger would, according to the article, "create a global market leader in response to the strategic challenges of the fast-growing e-book business."

This leaves me with all questions and no answers. If the merger goes through (and there's serious doubt about that at the moment, since restraint of trade might be raised as an issue), will the new company find a way to recapture the good parts of the traditional publishing industry? More editors; more opportunities for quality products through industry-based (i.e. editorial) attention; more marketing support; more depth of purpose regarding not only surviving and making a profit, but understanding the full market and establishing a stronghold where authors can rely on the system? If wishes were horses . . .

Could this be a beginning, or might it be an end, or just more of the same with a larger corporation? Will this matter to anyone who is not part of these two giant companies? What are your thoughts?