Bertelsmann Looks to Offload Book, Music Club Business

GUTERSLOH, December 10: According to a report in today’s Financial
Times, Bertelsmann is looking at selling
off part of its Direct Group division, which includes its book and music club
businesses.

Direct Group Bertelsmann comprises the worldwide book and
music clubs and represents a total of roughly 35 million customers and members
in 24 countries. The proceeds from the sale could be used to buy the 10 percent
of the RTL Group that it doesn’t already own, for a reported 1.2 billion euros.
RTL is Bertelsmann’s most profitable division.

Direct Group delivered revenues of 1.2 billion euros in the
first half of this year, down slightly on the year-ago period, and posted a
loss of 35 million euros, versus the 13 million profit in the first half of
2006.

—By Mansha Daswani