Word: bertelsmann
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...that happens, Bertelsmann becomes a majority stakeholder in the world's largest community of online music enthusiasts, with 38 million potential new customers not just for its music offerings but ultimately for books and movies and videos as well--the stuff that Internet types call content. "This could be really amazing," gushes Middelhoff, who is rarely able to contain his enthusiasm over a good opportunity. "This is like AOL in the beginning, a new community that we can build around the world. AOL is the example...
Everything about the Napster partnership is classic Middelhoff. It is counterintuitive, iconoclastic and so bold as to be regarded with derision, if not anger, by some of his competitors. Bertelsmann may lack the cartoon rabbits or mice that make its competitors household brands, but under Middelhoff, it has become more global and more diverse than most of them. Last year the privately held company had sales of $13.7 billion and profits of $480 million. Its empire stretches from John Grisham's novels (Random House) to Whitney Houston's hit tunes (BMG), and from Family Circle magazine to Germany's most...
Even before Napster, Bertelsmann's e-empire spanned global Web brands, including partnerships with giant search engine TerraLycos, music sites CDNow and GetMusic and a 40% interest in Barnes&Noble.com Middelhoff claims that as of July, Bertelsmann was ahead of every competitor except the Walt Disney Co. in visitors to its online sites. "Speed, speed, speed" is the Middelhoff mantra. "The world is changing fast," he said over dinner in Germany last June. "Companies must continually reinvent themselves and not be tied to one structure...
...brought Bertelsmann into the Internet age, the lanky Middelhoff was dreaming in digital streams before most of his counterparts knew what they were. He wrote his doctoral economics thesis in the mid-'80s on the failure of one of Germany's first online businesses. And once he arrived at Bertelsmann headquarters, he didn't wait long before pushing the stodgy company to break out of the cow pastures that envelop its local borough of Gutersloh (population 78,414). In 1995, shortly after he was named head of corporate strategy, Middelhoff persuaded the tightfisted Bertelsmann board to gamble $50 million...
...Middelhoff to be a man of surprising charm and easy humor. That down-homeness may reflect his roots. He lives on a farm outside Gutersloh with his wife, five children, 45 cows and sheep, and a duck pond. "Thomas can defuse the tension in any room," says Aydin Caginalp, Bertelsmann's U.S. attorney for 18 years...