Middelhoff, Thomas (1953- )

German-born business executive. With six years marketing experience behind him, Middelhoff joined Bertelsmann in 1986, and was appointed to the board in 1994. As head of corporate development at Bertelsmann, Middelhoff persuaded a sceptical board to make a $50 million investment in the emerging AOL in 1994, after meeting its CEO, US computer entrepreneur Steve Case. That well-timed move (the stake was worth $10 billion in 2000) gave him the Bertelsmann CEO position in 1998. Before taking office, Middelhoff spent a year in the USA improving his English, and acquired Random House in 1998 from Si Newhouse's Advance Publications for $1.4 billion, making Bertelsmann the largest publisher in the world.

When US information service America Online (AOL) planned to merge with Time Warner in early 2000, Middelhoff sold his stake back to AOL and stepped down from its board (although he did secure a deal as AOL's preferred supplier of content). He merged Bertelsmann's television interests, CLT-Ufa, with Pearson TV, creating a European broadcasting group worth over $19 billion. In November 2000, he bought a stake (for $60 million) in Napster (the controversial Internet music distributor). Although considered an extraordinary decision, given that Bertelsmann's music subsidiary was suing Napster for copyright abuse, it was a clear indication of Middelhoff's commitment to the Internet.

Middelhoff, a privately held company (owned by the Mohn family), has refused merger overtures from AOL. Frustrated by the lack of share currency, Middelhoff partially floated the company in 2001, by means of a share exchange with Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL), giving Bertelsmann a 67% stake in RTL (Europe's largest broadcaster, formed from the earlier merger of CLT-Ufa and Pearson TV). GBL is Bertelsmann's largest outside shareholder and has the right to put its stake on the stock market within a few years.

Middelhoff was born in Düsseldorf. He received an MBA from the University of Münster and a PhD from the University of Saarbrücken. From 1980 he worked in marketing, including a three-year post as a research assistant for the Institute of Marketing, before joining Bertelsmann in 1986.