Communications services companies were more or less flat as investors hedged their bets on the outlook for deals in the sector.

ViacomCBS agreed to sell book publisher Simon & Schuster to German media giant Bertelsmann SE for almost $2.18 billion, ViacomCBS said Wednesday, in a deal that would create a publishing behemoth accounting for about a third of all books sold in the U.S.

Bertelsmann already owns Penguin Random House, the largest publisher of books in the U.S., and will now add Simon & Schuster, which is the third largest, behind News Corp.'s HarperCollins Publishers.

Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-25-20 1712ET