Analysts: Bertelsmann Won’t Challenge AOL

Bertelsmann is scrapping a plan to challenge AOL Time Warner Inc. as new Chief Executive Gunter Thielen shelves acquisition plans, analysts said.

The media company, controlled by the billionaire Mohn family, said board member Klaus Eierhoff quit, less than 10 days after Thomas Middelhoff, who championed an online expansion, resigned as CEO because of a spat with the Mohns.

The departure of Eierhoff, whose DirectGroup unit lost $151 million last year because of online investments, will give Thielen more power to shut unprofitable Internet businesses, analysts said. Middelhoff spent $5.5 billion as he tried to turn the 167-year-old publisher into Europe’s version of AOL Time Warner.