Bertelsmann on the Right Track

Bertelsmann regards the announced merger between America Online, the world's biggest online service, and Time Warner, the world's largest media enterprise, as confirmation of its own strategy and an entrepreneurial challenge. At the same time, Bertelsmann will continue its successful cooperation with AOL, especially in the partners' joint ventures in Europe and Australia.

"The move by AOL and Time Warner shows that we've been pursuing the right goal for years, i.e. to integrate the Internet into all media genres and businesses," Bertelsmann Chairman and CEO Thomas Middelhoff said on Monday. He added that the merger reflected the much cited convergence of the communications industry. Middelhoff stated that Bertelsmann would focus even more sharply on generating content in this new competitive environment and intensify its efforts to elevate itself to the number one spot among global players in the arena of e-commerce with media products from its current number two ranking.

Bertelsmann and AOL forged ties in Europe through a joint venture established in July 1995. Before that, Bertelsmann had acquired a stake in America Online, Inc. Bertelsmann's Chairman, Thomas Middelhoff, sits on AOL's board and gave his nod to the AOL/Time Warner merger in this capacity.