Ousted Bertelsmann boss blames boardroom brou-ha-ha

NEWS Thomas Middelhoff, the outgoing chairman of Bertelsmann, has blamed his hasty exit from the company on a rift with the supervisory board and the Mohn family, who are major shareholders in the German media giant. In a letter to his former colleagues, he said: "I have chosen to depart the company because it is apparent that my strategy conflicts greatly with the views of the supervisory board and our majority shareholder." According to today's FT, it is thought that Middelhoff resigned after the supervisory board, which is chaired by an ally of the Mohn family, Gerd Schulte-Hillen, rejected his pleas for increased executive powers and a proper timetable for an IPO.