Three Publishers Agree to $69 Million State Deal — Publishers Weekly

The Hachette Book Group, HarperCollins, and Simon & Schuster have reached a $69 million agreement that will resolve lawsuits brought by 54 attorney generals from 49 states, the District of Columbia and territories, that charged the publishers with fixing e-book prices. Under the proposed agreement, which the court must approve, the three publishers will compensate consumers who purchased e-books from the three houses between April 1, 2010 and May 21, 2012. Payments will begin 30 days after final court approval of the settlement. In addition to paying restitution, Hachette, HC and S&S will pay the states approximately $7.5 million in fees and costs.

This also ends their current agency agreements.

I’m all sorts of confused. Doesn’t this make Amazon even more powerful? Could someone please explain this to me?