Bertelsmann to sell off Sony BMG

Last week, when the German-based media conglomerate disclosed that one of its major shareholders, GBL, was looking to take its holdings public, speculation ensued about what might happen. And despite CEO Gunther Thielen’s denials, reports coming out of Frankfurt today seem to indicate that the company has decided to shed at least one of its major properties — its 50 percent stake in Sony BMG.

The combined value of Bertelsmann’s stake in Sony BMG, a 50-50 joint venture with Japan’s Sony Corp. , and its BMG Music Publishing operations is about $3.5-$4 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, while the Financial Times indicated the sale plans were at an early stage, but that Bertelsmann had asked investment bankers to begin preparations.

All this is especially interesting since it was only last week that Thielen said he “couldn’t imagine the company without its pan-European broadcaster RTL, general-interest book publisher Random House or magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr.” But he also couldn’t imagine selling off BMG…

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