Word: middelhoff
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...publicly listed, and Mohn and his second wife Liz, 61, control the firm through a holding company--and keep a watchful eye on management. Three years ago, supervisory board chairman Mark Woessner left after a falling-out with the Mohns, and last July the family ousted celebrated CEO Thomas Middelhoff, who had spent billions trying to propel Bertelsmann into the digital era, committing the company to a public offering in 2005 that it is trying to wriggle...
...Mohn, a former secretary in the book-club division, has played a prominent role behind the scenes and was instrumental in firing Middelhoff. She and her husband have three children, two of whom work at Bertelsmann: Christoph, 37, who is the chief executive of the Internet affiliate Lycos Europe, and Brigitte, 38, who works at a company foundation. If Liz is trying to position her children to take over Bertelsmann, she isn't saying...
...addition to the dispute about taking the company public, there were clear personality differences between the hard-charging Middelhoff and the more restrained culture at Bertelsmann. Middelhoff tried to force the company to centralize. But Bertelsmann executives "didn't want to give up their independence," said Dan Arendt, head of the technology, media and telecom practice at Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. "There's a strong culture of entrepreneurship...
There were other differences as well. Bertelsmann is located in the sleepy town of Gütersloh near Hanover, far from the media centers of New York, London and even Hamburg. Middelhoff offended some executives by discussing their shortcomings in open meetings. He was also comfortable speaking to the press about the company's future plans, which did not sit well with its insular culture. Middelhoff's hard-nosed approach to business may yet help him to find another job. There was speculation last week that he might be chosen to head Deutsche Telekom, the telephone giant whose chief executive...
...Middelhoff's replacement is Gunter Thielen, a 17-year Bertelsmann veteran who heads its successful Arvato division, a printing and business-to-business e-commerce unit. But he previously ran the family holding company, which placed him philosophically close to the Mohns. After taking over last week, Thielen made it clear he was going to slow down the pace of expansion. "It's not the time for great leaps," he told the news agency DPA. "We will deal less and shape more." That could mean some selloffs, possibly of the underperforming U.S. media properties. One deal Thielen will have...