New CEO Thielen Outlines Vision for Bertelsmann

Gunter Thielen, the new chief executive of German media giant Bertelsmann, lost little time in underlining the difference with his go-getting predecessor, Thomas Middelhoff.

In a letter to employees just three days after Middelhoff was deposed, Thielen stressed the core values of the group, which started life almost 170 years ago printing hymnals in the northwestern German town of Gutersloh.

“The basis is the mature, successful Bertelsmann concept--decentralization, entrepreneurship and management based on partnership,” he told employees.

Pledging a return to the group’s core business, Thielen, a 20-year Bertelsmann veteran, drew a line under the ambitious expansion drive and the flurry of deal making in the Internet, music and TV businesses that marked the Middelhoff era.

An engineer who began his career at chemicals giant BASF before joining Bertelsmann’s printing operations in 1980, Thielen stands in sober contrast to media managers of the late-1990s Internet era.

Where as Middelhoff, the self-proclaimed “American with a German passport,” was driven to match global giants such as AOL Time Warner Inc., Thielen’s priorities appear closer to those of Rheinhard Mohn, the octogenarian philanthropist who controls the group.

On Wednesday, the new chief executive appeared to take a more cautious line on Middelhoff’s “deal of our lifetime”--the planned flotation of the group by the middle of the decade.

While the group was sticking to an accord with Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, under which the Belgian investment group has the option of listing its 25% stake in Bertelsmann, he ruled out any further listing, ensuring the continued dominance of the Mohn family who control the remaining 75%.

And although Bertelsmann’s finances are nowhere near the strained levels of rivals such as Vivendi Universal, there was also little doubt he had less appetite for debt than his predecessor. Noting that Bertelsmann had overstepped “strict debt limits that we have set ourselves,” Thielen pledged a period of consolidation and focus on core businesses.

“We intend to reduce this debt in a short-term consolidation phase--without retreating into a backwards looking cost-saving plan,” he told employees.