Wössner to quit

Mark Wössner, chairman of the Bertelsmann supervisory board, has announced his resignation from Bertelsmann after 32 years. He will leave on 31st October.

While the 61-year-old will be succeeded on the supervisory board by Gruner & Jahr's chairman Gerd Schulte-Hillen, the company's post-war founder Reinhard Mohn will assume the chairmanship of the Bertelsmann Foundation for the next two years. He will then hand over the reigns to Gunter Thielen, who oversees Bertelsmann's Arvato division.

The rumour mills have been working overtime since the announcement. Industry observers doubt that Mr Wössner's resignation was as mutual as the company's press release states.

According to a statement issued by Reinhard Mohn, Dr Wössner "based his decision on reasons pertaining to his personal plans for the future, which also include taking up his own private entrepreneurial activity". Insiders believe that Dr Wössner clashed with Mr Mohn and his successor Thomas Middelhoff over future strategies, such as Internet activities that Dr Wössner never publicly criticised, but failed to endorse. Dr Wössner joined Bertelsmann in 1968 as assistant to the board. He was made a board member in 1976 and served as c.e.o. from 1983 to 1998. It is company policy for executives to retire at 60.

The shock departure shows how much power Mr Mohn retains, even in semi-retirement, over the largest German media company, which had sales of DM29bn (£8.8bn) in fiscal 1998/99. Unlike its main competitors Bertelsmann is not a public company. Working quietly in the background, the patriarch has in recent years made sure, through an intricate network, that Bertelsmann will remain independent—even after his death. The Bertelsmann Foundation holds 68.8% of the stock.