Penguin House? Random Bird? Rumors of Random/Penguin Discussions Confirmed

The bookworld has been atwitter today with chatter that publishing giants Random House and Penguin have been discussing a merger. As of Thursday afternoon, we have confirmation from the source that the talks, at least, are true. Earlier today, Pearson issued the following statement:

Pearson confirms that it is discussing with Bertelsmann a possible combination of Penguin and Random House. The