New speculation surrounds the future of Mr Thomas Middelhoff, the former chairman of media giant Bertelsmann, who industry insiders say could move to Deutsche Telekom or AOL Time Warner, writes Derek Scally, in Berlin.
Mr Middelhoff (49) left Bertelsmann on Sunday after four years as chief executive, during which time he turned the company into the fifth-largest media corporation in the world.
However, the pace of his expansion and his plans to take the company public caused a rift with powerful board members of the 140-year-old company. The Bertelsmann board fired their chief executive citing "differences of opinion about Bertelesmann's future strategy".
The departure was completely unexpected, coming so soon after the week-long theatre that surrounded Dr Ron Sommer's departure from Deutsche Telekom.
"Middelhoff's resignation couldn't have been quieter," said Prof Axel Zerdick, media analyst at Berlin's Free University. "That says a lot about the way Bertelsmann does business."
Bertelsmann, which began life publishing hymn sheets, owns music company BMG and is the world's largest book publisher since buying Random House. It also controls RTL, Europe's largest private television company, and owns Britain's Channel 5.
Despite its size, Bertelsmann is still a private company, controlled by a foundation and the founding Mohn family.
The board had just awarded Mr Middelhoff a new five-year contract and will now have to pay a sizeable settlement package.
"The departure of Middelhoff is going to cost Bertelsmann a pretty penny," said one analyst in Frankfurt yesterday.
Mr Middelhoff referred to himself as "an American with a German passport" and was viewed as a talented chief executive who broke the consensus mould of German business.
Last year, Bertelsmann posted record profits of €4.16 billion. It was one of the few media companies in the world to escape the dotcom meltdown relatively unscathed.
Mr Middelhoff sold its 50 per cent stake in AOL Europe for €7 billion just before the share price tumbled.
He also saved the company a fortune by selling its loss-making pay-television venture to Kirch, the bankrupt German media concern.
However, Bertelsmann's BMG music business has enjoyed less success. The company took over the Zomba record label last month, which includes Britney Spears and the Backstreet Boys in its stable of best-selling pop acts.
But it had its fingers burnt after buying out Napster, the music trading software that went bankrupt last month, and its proposed merger with British music company EMI also fell through.
Mr Middelhoff's decision to concentrate on electronic media and to sell off several print media subsidiaries in recent weeks caused concern among board members.
"Middelhoff decided they were no longer core businesses, the board saw things differently," according to Prof Zerdick.
"There were two unreconcilable strategies so the owners did what they had to do."
Mr Middelhoff's next career move will be carefully watched in German business circles. The Berliner Kurier newspaper reported yesterday that he was being groomed to take over at Deutsche Telekom.
His proven success in managing a corporation with interests spanning electronic and print media could also interest his former business partner, AOL Time Warner chairman Mr Steve Case.
AOL Time Warner has never managed to integrate its two core businesses and internal disagreement between AOL and Time Warner executives has paralysed the company.
