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Case Details:

These developments came as a shock to the media as well as industry analysts as Middelhoff was one of the most charismatic and strong-minded leaders in the European media industry. In fact, he was credited for having aggressively modernized Bertelsmann's traditional publishing, television (TV) and entertainment businesses. Analysts credited Middelhoff for the company's acquisition of Random House and RTL, which made it the leading player in the publishing and TV businesses in the world. According to reports, Middelhoff was forced to resign by the company's supervisory committee (representing the shareholders of Bertelsmann) over disagreements regarding a few strategic decisions.

Reportedly, it objected to the public offering to the bad stock market conditions during the early 2000s. Commenting on this, a Bertelsmann executive said, "I think the supervisory committee were not as visionary as Middelhoff and were nervous about expansion in the current climate."³ Commenting on his resignation, Middelhoff said, "Shareholders had mid and long-term development prospects that were different from mine. In this context, I had no choice but to resign."⁴ Following these developments, analysts felt that the company might cut down on its expansion plans. Since Thielen had close ties with the Mohn family, the plan to make Bertelsmann fully public-owned also seemed to have been buried for good.