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October 15-31, 2004 Edition

Bertelsmann CEO Says

His Media Group Still

Seeks U.S. Acquisition

FRANKFURT/10/08/2004—In a Reuters report by Boris Groendahl, the CEO of the world’s fourth-largest media group said it would acquire another book publisher in the United States or Britain if the right offer were made.

CEO Gunter Thielen said in the interview that Bertelsmann, which owns Random House, is still looking for acquisition targets with revenues of up to $616 million. Acquisition talks between Bertlesmann and Time Warner stalled last year, but

Thielen told Reuters, “If an opportunity arises in the United States or in Great Britain, then we are interested to buy.”

The U.S. accounts for more than 40 percent of the global media market. Thielen talked with Reuters at a Frankfurt Book Fair party thrown by Random House, the world’s biggest publisher, and Bertelsmann’s DirectGroup.