Word: bertelsmann
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...other side of the Atlantic, Bertelsmann had been quite vocal about its intention to acquire another U.S. company. The Germans perused the profit and loss statements of Simon & Schuster, owned by Viacom, and of HarperCollins, controlled by News Corp., but couldn't make a deal. For Bertelsmann, the world's third largest media company, the merger immediately establishes a long-sought commanding presence in the U.S., the world's largest media market. "Random House is a dream for Bertelsmann," says Thomas Middelhoff, 44, who engineered the deal just six months before officially stepping into...
Mehta's new partner is 163 years old. Bertelsmann has quietly expanded from its origins as a publisher of Christian songs and prayers into a global-media conglomerate. The company owns three of Germany's national television networks, and its alliance with AOL created one of the largest online services in Europe. The company also plans to start an online bookstore to compete with Amazon.com It recently developed and will test a voice-over Internet service in several European countries, giving Bertelsmann the means to deliver all its own content...
Unlike Advance, Bertelsmann occupies a position in publishing that makes it a logical buyer of book companies. The firm, which published the Brothers Grimm in the 19th century, is vertically integrated, with everything from a printing company to a book club. "Other corporations don't view trade publishing as a core business," says Bertelsmann's Peter Olson, 47, who will become chairman and CEO of the new Random House. "We do; we believe in books; they are not a stepchild...
...Random House as if it were a souvenir. Last fall he came to the U.S. to study English and learn about the American publishing industry. At a 70th-birthday bash for Si Newhouse, he mentioned to the birthday boy that if Advance were ever interested in selling Random House, Bertelsmann would be interested in buying. A week later the clandestine deal, code-named Project Black, was under...
Into the current Sturm und Drang comes the Bertelsmann deal. "The decision of what is on the shelves is in the hands of a few," laments Paul Aiken, executive director of the Authors Guild. "This is consolidation in a major and disturbing way." Industry alarmists are concerned that advances are sure to dwindle when BDD and Random House are no longer competing for books. Bertelsmann disagrees. "I've heard much concern about advances in the past six years," says new Random House head Olson, "and they have only moved in one direction." North. Facing his critics, he says...