P.M. BRIEFING : Neuthaler Will Head Bantam

Bertelsmann AG, the West German media conglomerate, has ended an eight-month search for a new boss of Bantam Doubleday Dell by naming Paul D. Neuthaler as chairman and chief executive.

The publishing group had been without a permanent leader since Alberto Vitale left to take over Random House at the start of the year.

Officials of the parent company said Wednesday that the search was prolonged by the difficulty of finding an executive with credentials in both books and finance, the New York Times reported today.

The choice of Neuthaler, 47, a relative unknown, appeared to be connected with Bertelsmann’s desire to push into scientific, technical and professional publishing in the United States.

Neuthaler had directed a fruitless effort by the company in the mid-1980s to develop a technical publishing arm in this country.