Middelhoffian Departs Bertelsmann

By Jim Milliot and Steven Zeitchik, PW Newsline -- Publishers Weekly, 8/8/2002

The timing couldn't be more awkward for Bertelsmann. In the midst of Gunther Thielen's reassurance tour, the company has announced that DirectGroup head Klaus Eierhoff has left the company.

Bertelsmann pointed to "differences of opinion about the strategic orientation of the direct-to-consumer group," which seems as close to an explicit repudiation of the Middelhoffian doctrine of ambitious e-commerce as you could get from a multinational. The CEO will be replaced by Ewald Walgenbach, who has been Bertelsmann's chief operating officer. The position of COO is being eliminated.

The DirectGroup is no stranger to turnover. Andreas Schmidt, Eiheroff's underling and once the head of the company's Internet division, left in November. The circumstances surrounding that change, though (post-Napster fallout and personality clashes) seem different than this one (departure of the CEO who hired him and a decisive shift in strategy).

Eierhoff oversaw all of Bertelsmann's book and music e-commerce divisions, and had several important book figures, including Bookspan head Markus Wilhelm, reporting to him. Wilhelm will now report to Walgenbach. Eierhoff also had an important say in the company's e-commerce acquisitions, which of course include Bn.com....