Thomas Middelhoff

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Thomas Middelhoff (2007)

Thomas Middelhoff (born May 11, 1953 in Düsseldorf ) is a German manager convicted of infidelity . From November 1998 to July 2002 he was CEO of the Bertelsmann media group and from June 2004 to February 2009 of the Arcandor retail group (KarstadtQuelle until 2007), which had to declare bankruptcy shortly after leaving; Subsidiaries such as Karstadt and the mail order company Quelle were also affected by this . In November 2014, the Essen Regional Court sentenced Middelhoff to three years' imprisonment for breach of trust in 27 cases and tax evasion in three cases. He started his custody in the open prison of the Bielefeld-Senne correctional facility on May 13, 2016 and was released early in November 2017.

Origin and studies

Middelhoff grew up as the third of five children of a Catholic family of textile entrepreneurs in Düsseldorf and Ratingen . After graduating from high school in 1975, Thomas Middelhoff studied business administration at the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster and worked from 1980 to 1983 as a research assistant at the Münster Institute for Marketing with Heribert Meffert . He received his doctorate in 1987 with a thesis on the integrated planning of communication systems: illustrated by the introduction of Btx in retail-oriented branch systems and associations .

Career

Bertelsmann

Poppy print

Middelhoff worked from 1986 as an assistant to the management of the graphic works Mohndruck in Gütersloh , which belonged to Bertelsmann AG . A year later he became managing director of the group subsidiary Elsnerdruck GmbH in Berlin, 1989 managing director of Mohndruck. In 1990 Middelhoff became a board member of Bertelsmann Druck- und Industriebetriebe. In 1994 he was appointed to the executive board of Bertelsmann AG and took over the management of corporate development and the coordination of the multimedia business, where he was responsible for the strategic realignment of the group in the field of electronic entertainment.

Digital media

Middelhoff tried several times to establish Bertelsmann in the field of digital media. For example, he initially made smaller investments for Bertelsmann. a. to the Berlin company Pixelpark . He later invested in America Online (AOL) for Bertelsmann . This investment had a decisive influence on Middelhoff's later rise to the position of CEO of Bertelsmann AG. Middelhoff, from May 1995 a board member of AOL, became a close friend of Steve Case , the founder of AOL. In 1995 AOL Europe entered into the AOL Germany joint venture with Bertelsmann AG , which ended in 1998. In 2000 Bertelsmann joined the music exchange exchange Napster under the direction of Middelhoff , which finally filed for bankruptcy in 2002.

CEO

From November 1998 to July 2002, Middelhoff was chairman of the board of directors of Bertelsmann AG . During this time he built up the RTL Group , today the largest operator of advertising-financed private television and private radio in Europe. With the purchase of Random House , he expanded the book division to become the world market leader, intensified the company's Internet activities and a. 1999 through the launch of the international media portal BOL (Bertelsmann Online). During his four-year term in office, Bertelsmann AG's sales doubled. However, Middelhoff also had some failures. In 2000, under Middelhoff's leadership, Bertelsmann took part in the Napster music exchange market at the height of the New Economy euphoria , a deal that earned him a lot of criticism at the time. Bertelsmann left the joint venture AOL-Europe in the summer of 2000 after the merger of AOL with the direct Bertelsmann competitor Time Warner and sold the 50 percent stake for 7.5 billion euros - the highest sales revenue ever in the history of the Internet had been achieved. Middelhoff also left the AOL supervisory board as part of the separation. After the dot-com bubble burst , the first turbulence arose. Bertelsmann Online's only moderately successful German portal was sold to buch.de in 2002 .

Discharge

The separation between Middelhoff and Bertelsmann in July 2002 was due to differences over the future strategy of the company with Reinhard Mohn , the “company patriarch” of Bertelsmann AG. In particular, the question of whether the company should be listed on the stock exchange and thus raise new money for further expansion or whether further development should be financed from the cash flow was contentious . Other points of contention were issues of corporate culture . Middelhoff received 25 million euros in severance payment .

In the summer of 2003, Middelhoff moved to the financial investor Investcorp, a London-based private equity investment company. There he was responsible for European company investments.

Foundation, endowment

With the restructuring of the management of the Bertelsmann Stiftung in 2000, Middelhoff moved into the board of trustees. He was a member of the committee until mid-2002.

KarstadtQuelle / Arcandor

As a confidante of Madeleine Schickedanz , Thomas Middelhoff was appointed chairman of the supervisory board of KarstadtQuelle AG in June 2004 and took over the post of chairman of the board in May 2005 (list here ).

Restructuring

Middelhoff implemented the renaming of KarstadtQuelle to Arcandor and divided the operative business into the three core areas of department store ( Karstadt ), mail order ( Primondo ) and tourism ( Thomas Cook ). As a result of the expansion of the tourism business in 2007, sales rose to 21 billion euros and equity increased. The company's restructuring process should be completed by the end of 2008. Critics complained that this was only achieved through a multi-billion dollar sale of the department store properties to the Goldman Sachs real estate company Whitehall and a consortium led by Deutsche Bank real estate subsidiary RREEF . After the sale, Karstadt was only tenant of the department stores and since then has had to pay significantly more to use the property. The monthly rental payments amounted to around 23 million euros, which went to a consortium made up of the investment bank Goldman Sachs , Deutsche Bank , the real estate division of the Italian tire manufacturer Pirelli and Generali-Versicherung as well as the Oppenheim - Esch fund. The property company Highstreet had owned almost all of the houses since 2006 . The terms of the rental contracts were 15 years and the total annual rental payments were around 280 million euros. Since 2007 Middelhoff has also been Chairman of the Board of the Thomas Cook Group, the world's second largest tourism company, in which Arcandor held 52% of the shares.

In November 2007, Arcandor sold 51% of the unprofitable online mail order company Neckermann to the US financial investor Sun Capital Partners without consideration . Neckermann was later to be listed on the stock exchange, but that never happened. The remaining 49 percent of the shares in Neckermann, which Arcandor initially retained, were also taken over by Sun Capital Partners in October 2010, which thus became Neckermann's sole shareholder.

Crisis and bankruptcy

The Arcandor share price fell during Middelhoff's term of office from approx. 10 euros per share (May 2005) to 1.30 euros (February 2009). On March 1, 2009, Middelhoff was replaced in his position as CEO of Arcandor and the Thomas Cook Group by Karl-Gerhard Eick , the former Deputy CEO of Deutsche Telekom . When he took office, Eick spoke of a crisis in the group; in May 2009 Arcandor had to ask for state guarantees and loans. On June 9, 2009, Arcandor filed for insolvency proceedings in Essen. On the same day it became known that the responsible public prosecutor's office had initiated preliminary investigations into Middelhoff's personal participation in the Oppenheim-Esch Fund .

After Arcandor

In February 2009, Middelhoff founded the investment company BLM ( Berger Lahnstein Middelhoff & Partners LLP ) in London with Roland Berger and Florian Lahnstein (the son of the former Federal Finance and Economics Minister Manfred Lahnstein ); Middelhoff became its chairman . Prominent members such as Wolfgang Clement , Manfred Lahnstein and Mark Wössner were won for the Supervisory Board . BLM emerged from the special-purpose acquisition company Germany1 , which was founded in July 2008 with the "aim of taking over one or more operating companies with a value of up to 3.0 billion in Germany, Austria or Switzerland" . In September 2009 Germany1 took over the majority of the manufacturer of power supply devices AEG Power Solutions . In the summer of 2010, Germany1 was renamed 3W Power Holdings , the company's headquarters were relocated from the British tax haven Guernsey to Luxembourg and Middelhoff was elected to the Board of Directors. In 2010 this company was split up into two legally and economically independent companies: Pulse Capital Partners LLC in New York with Thomas Middelhoff as today's Managing Partner and RiverRock European Capital Partners LLP in London. Pulse Capital Partners took over the hedge fund activities of Berger Lahnstein Middelhoff & Partners. The company officially opened in March 2011. The company specializes in advising investors on hedge fund selection and portfolio structuring. Middelhoff was one of three managing partners. In 2013, Middelhoff announced that he had taken on a new role as board member and partner at the media company BT Capital in Hong Kong .

Legal disputes following the Arcandor bankruptcy

Infidelity and tax evasion

After examining documents, the Essen public prosecutor initiated the investigation on June 12, 2009 on charges of breach of trust against Middelhoff, after the ARD magazine Monitor reported on the real estate transactions the previous evening .

In July 2010 the insolvency administrator of Arcandor AG sued Middelhoff and other former executives for payment of 175 million euros. The lawsuit goes back to property sales in 2002 by Middelhoff's predecessor Wolfgang Urban . Middelhoff is accused of not having sued Urban for damages after taking office. Arcandor AG was harmed by this breach of duty. The managers also failed to prevent the department store from being transferred to a real estate fund. According to the Arcandor insolvency administrator Hans-Gerd Jauch, the latter in turn demanded an excessive rent for the department store . That's why Jauch went to court. On April 25, 2012, the Essen regional court ruled in a basic judgment that Middelhoff and three other former board members had violated their duties by not preventing the transfer of a department store in Wiesbaden to a real estate fund. Middelhoff's lawyer immediately announced his appeal.

Since Middelhoff did not want to be stuck in a traffic jam because of a construction site at Kamener Kreuz , he had himself flown at least 28 times by helicopter from his home to the company for a total of 80,000 euros. This process was also part of the infidelity process against him. In November 2013, Spiegel Online reported that Middelhoff had applied for a payment order for 120 million euros against the insolvency administrators Klaus Hubert Görg and Hans-Gerd Jauch. Middelhoff's lawyer justified the claim with "damage to the image" and "enormous business damage". The insolvency administrator contradicted the demand.

On November 14, 2014, the Essen Regional Court finally sentenced Middelhoff to three years' imprisonment for breach of trust in 27 cases and tax evasion in three cases; The main reasons for this were a bonus in the millions, an Oxford sponsorship of 840,000 euros without a board resolution, the commemorative publication invoiced by Arcandor for his mentor Mark Wössner and private trips paid for by the Arcandor Group. While still in the courtroom, an arrest warrant was issued because of the risk of escape and Middelhoff was immediately taken into custody. In addition to his foreign residence, the background was, among other things, the possession of a second passport with a visa for China, from which the court inferred a risk of flight. The judgment is final after the Federal Court of Justice rejected Middelhoff's appeal by decision of February 17, 2016. Middelhoff, who was initially granted exemption from bail in the amount of 895,000 euros, has been serving his custodial sentence in the Bielefeld-Senne correctional facility since May 13, 2016. From May 2016, Middelhoff worked at the Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel for around 1,800 euros per month. He was released early on November 16, 2017.

Unjustified bonuses

When he left Arcandor, Middelhoff wanted to take with him not only his basic salary of 1.2 million euros, but also 2.2 million euros, declared as “bonus, bonus and special remuneration” - even though the group had recorded a loss of 746 million euros in 2008 .

In a legal dispute with the Arcandor insolvency administrator, Middelhoff was sentenced on September 9, 2013 by the Essen Regional Court to repay around 3.4 million euros, among other things, for unjustified bonuses. Middelhoff's lawyer announced his appointment.

From May 11, 2017, Middelhoff was in a further trial before the Essen regional court. The prosecution in Bochum was charged with inciting unfaithfulness. Six supervisory board members at the time had to answer in the same proceedings for allegations of infidelity, including Friedrich Carl Janssen , Hans Reischl and Leo Herl . It was about bonus payments of 2.3 million euros for Middelhoff and 1.38 million euros for the former CFO Peter Diesch, which they should have received in 2008 shortly before the bankruptcy of the group. On June 21, 2017, the Essen regional court suspended proceedings against Middelhoff for incitement to infidelity.

Mandates and memberships

From 2003

From September 2003 to February 2014, Middelhoff was a member of the Board of Directors of the New York Times Company , which publishes the New York Times, the International Herald Tribune , the Boston Globe and numerous other newspapers and is the owner of television and radio stations.

Since 2006

In July 2006 he took over the chairmanship of the supervisory board of Senator Entertainment AG . In 2011 he gave up the chair at his own request. But he remained on the supervisory board.

From 2007 he was a member of the “Nature Alliance”, an initiative of the federal government in which personalities from politics, business, media, science and culture came together on the occasion of the ninth UN Nature Conservation Conference “ Biodiversity Convention CBD-COP9” launched by Federal Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel campaign for the preservation of biodiversity . He was also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Moneybookers , an online payment provider in Europe based in London. At the end of November 2014, Skrill, the successor company, no longer had Middelhoff in the company's management.

Since 2008

From March 2008 on, Middelhoff sat on the University Council of the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster for five years .

In December 2009, Middelhoff was elected to the supervisory board of Marseille-Kliniken AG , which he took over as chairman from 2011. On August 21, 2014, he resigned from his chairmanship with immediate effect and left the company as a result. As a reason, he gave his personal "involvement in the regulation of his procedural matters", which "currently required his full strength and concentration". From May 2010, Middelhoff was a member of the university council on the finance committee of the University of Münster . At the end of November 2014, he was no longer represented on this committee.

Private life

family

Middelhoff was married to the architect Cornelie Middelhoff and they have three sons and two daughters. The marriage was divorced in 2018.

residence

In April 2013, Middelhoff moved from Bielefeld to Saint-Tropez . In December 2013, Der Spiegel reported that under French law it is "allegedly" not possible to move if you have a second home abroad, and that the change of residence nevertheless makes "the couple's creditors" nervous, so that some of the creditors call in the bailiff would have.

Open pecuniary claims

In June 2014, the media reported that a bailiff at the Essen District Court had applied for an arrest warrant against Middelhoff in order to force an asset report in connection with the unpaid claims of the Arcandor insolvency administrator amounting to 3.4 million euros . Middelhoff's former partner Roland Berger asked Middelhoff back 6.79 million euros in May 2014, which he had lent him. He had the claim served on him by a bailiff in the Essen district court, where his case of breach of trust was being heard. On June 11, 2014, in connection with Roland Berger's claims, an attempt was made at a court hearing in Middelhoff to obtain cash assets by means of a pocket seizure , but this failed because Middelhoff only had 56 euros - an amount of money below the seizure limit - with him. When a bag was seized in August 2014, Middelhoff had to surrender a valuable watch; this generated auction proceeds of 10,351 euros. According to press reports from July 2014, Middelhoff and his wife have not been servicing loans from Sparkasse KölnBonn for some time ; they owed the institute a good three million euros. Middelhoff's former financial advisor Josef Esch also obtained an enforcement title against Middelhoff for a sum of 2.5 million euros, which Middelhoff owed him mainly for the use of a yacht in the Mediterranean.

Personal bankruptcy

On July 25, 2014, Middelhoff submitted an asset report in Essen. Middelhoff contradicted press reports that he was broke by referring to liquidity at Bank Sal. Oppenheim , which, however, blocked it in a legal dispute. He also has other assets. On 31 March 2015. Middelhoff presented at Bielefeld District Court an application for personal bankruptcy . The court opened the bankruptcy proceedings on July 3, 2015.

Awards

reception

Middelhoff has been criticized for promoting universities (including the Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford and the University of Witten / Herdecke ) because he made company money available for this, while vacation and Christmas bonuses for the workforce at Arcandor and Karstadt have already been cut .

Thomas Middelhoff was the template for the protagonist Johann Holtrop in Rainald Goetz 's novel of the same name .

While in custody, Middelhoff wrote the autobiography A 115 - The Fall , which was published in September 2017. On October 20, 2017, the Stuttgart Regional Court granted an injunction by the news magazine Der Spiegel , so that the book in its original version could no longer be sold. Middelhoff had claimed in the book that the editors of the Spiegel had improperly researched, withheld facts and relied on dubious sources.

On November 23, 2017, the documentary People Up Close: Thomas Middelhoff - Crash of a Top Manager was to be broadcast on WDR, which the WDR stopped three days earlier. He had learned that the producer had made an agreement with Middelhoff to allow this influence on the script and to show the entire work before it was broadcast, which contradicted the basic journalistic rules.

Publications

literature

Web links

Commons : Thomas Middelhoff  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Stefan Kaiser: The case of Thomas Middelhoff. At the bottom. In: Economy. Spiegel Online , November 14, 2014, accessed February 22, 2016 .
  2. ↑ AOL: Middelhoff leaves board of directors. In: Economy. Spiegel Online , January 26, 2000, accessed February 23, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Reinhard Mohn : The social responsibility of the entrepreneur . C. Bertelsmann Verlag, 2003
  4. ↑ spiegel.de: High severance payments for managers: The cashiers
  5. ↑ sueddeutsche.de: Millions in parting
  6. ↑ Bertelsmann Stiftung confirms new structure . In: APA Journal . October 3, 2000.
  7. ↑ The Karstadt real estate is sold . handelsblatt.com
  8. ↑ a b Karstadt branches. Arcandor discontinues rental payments . In: Manager Magazin , June 6, 2009
  9. ^ Department store crisis. Arcandor no longer pays rent . Time online , June 6, 2009
  10. ↑ Arcandor is giving away Neckermann shares . ( Memento from June 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , December 12, 2007
  11. ↑ Without state aid, Arcandor is facing the end . In: Die Zeit , May 24, 2009.
  12. ↑ Germany1. It's getting serious for Middelhoff . In: Manager Magazin July 21, 2008
  13. ↑ Private Equity. Wallet cover with Berger and Middelhoff , Manager Magazin , June 30, 2008
  14. ↑ Marketplace. Middelhoff is still looking for bargains . In: FocusMoneyOnline , January 12, 2009
  15. ↑ LifeID 52,241th LifePR, June 30, 2008; Retrieved March 4, 2010
  16. ↑ Germany1 becomes 3W Power . In: Börsen-Zeitung , February 17, 2010, p. 10; Retrieved March 4, 2010
  17. ↑ Hedge Fund Industry Veterans Form Pulse Capital to Deliver Creative Alpha-Focused Solutions to Investors . ( Memento of October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 151 kB) Press release
  18. ^ Middelhoff hedge funds . In: Die Zeit , No. 17/2011
  19. ↑ Middelhoff is celebrating its comeback as a media boss in China . welt.de , July 22, 2013; Retrieved July 23, 2013
  20. ↑ A great deal . In: Der Spiegel . No. 9 , 2009, p. 74 ( online ).
  21. ↑ "Rescuer" Middelhoff has trouble with the judiciary . In: Handelsblatt , June 12, 2009
  22. ↑ Karstadt before the end. How managers earn money from high rents ( Memento from June 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), TV magazine Monitor No. 594, June 11, 2009
  23. ↑ Insolvency administrator is suing Middelhoff. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , July 7, 2010.
  24. ^ Judgment on the sale of department stores: Court confirms Middelhoff breach of duty at Spiegel Online , April 25, 2012 (accessed on April 25, 2012).
  25. ↑ sueddeutsche.de June 2, 2014: Former Arcandor boss Middelhoff defends commuting by helicopter
  26. ↑ Ex-Arcandor boss: Middelhoff wants 120 million euros from insolvency administrators In: Spiegel Online , accessed on December 3, 2013
  27. ↑ Middelhoff released from custody. Ex-top manager. In: Economy. Spiegel Online , April 29, 2015, accessed February 22, 2016 .
  28. ↑ Middelhoff. Descent of a star manager. Massimo Bognanni
  29. ^ Judgment against Dr. Middelhoff legally binding. Decision of February 17, 2016 - 1 StR 209/15. In: press releases. Press office of the Federal Court of Justice, February 22, 2016, accessed on February 24, 2016 (press office communication no. 46/2016).
  30. ↑ spiegel.de: Middelhoff released from custody
  31. ↑ Handelsblatt of May 13, 2016: Ex-top manager begins his detention
  32. ↑ a b Former manager Middelhoff works in Bethel | Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel. Retrieved September 13, 2017 .
  33. ↑ RP ONLINE: Christmas amnesty: Middelhoff released early from prison . In: RP ONLINE . ( rp-online.de [accessed on November 9, 2018]).
  34. ↑ Narcissist in the command center . In: Spiegel Online , July 22, 2007
  35. ↑ Ex-Arcandor boss Middelhoff has to repay millions . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , September 10, 2013
  36. ↑ Criminal case against former responsible persons of Arcandor AG ( Memento from July 13, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Essen Regional Court , press release from March 17, 2017
  37. ^ Arcandor insolvency The most famous prisoner in Germany , FAZ from May 11, 2017
  38. ↑ Process: Did Middelhoff donate supervisory boards to special payments? , WAZ of May 11, 2017
  39. ↑ Handelsblatt of January 27, 2017: Ex-manager has to go to court again
  40. ^ Proceedings against Mittelhoff provisionally suspended WDR from June 21, 2017
  41. ↑ DIE WELT: Ex-Arcandor boss: The court closes the trial against Thomas Middelhoff . In: THE WORLD . June 21, 2017 ( welt.de [accessed September 13, 2017]).
  42. ↑ Middelhoff leaves the board of directors of the "New York Times", Handelsblatt dated February 24, 2014
  43. ↑ Annual Report 2011 (PDF; 5.7 MB) Senator Entertainment AG, accessed on February 1, 2016 .
  44. ↑ [1]
  45. ↑ Press release of the University of Münster of March 7, 2008 ( Memento of November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  46. ↑ Press release from the University of Münster on February 13, 2013
  47. ↑ Committees Marseille-Kliniken AG ( memento of October 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) accessed March 6, 2010
  48. ↑ Middelhoff & Marseille - The dream team . In: managermagazin , 1/2010; Retrieved March 6, 2010
  49. ↑ Dr. Thomas Middelhoff resigns from the Supervisory Board and leaves the company ( Memento from October 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  50. ^ After Arcandor bankruptcy: Middelhoff responsible for university finances . In: Westfälische Nachrichten , May 20, 2010.
  51. ↑ [2]
  52. ↑ Thomas Middelhoff ( Memento from October 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) wiwo.de
  53. ↑ Kölnische Rundschau: Ex-Arcandor boss: The Middelhoffs are getting divorced , May 11, 2018, accessed on March 1, 2020
  54. ↑ Ex-Arcandor boss: Middelhoff moves residence from Bielefeld to Saint-Tropez In: Spiegel Online , accessed on November 30, 2013
  55. ^ Bielefeld, adieu . In: Der Spiegel No. 49 of December 2, 2013, pp. 72–73.
  56. ↑ in Handelsblatt on May 22, 2014: Roland Berger demands millions from Middelhoff .
  57. ↑ Former Star Manager: Arrest warrant for Middelhoff applied for . Article from June 13, 2014 in the portal spiegel.de , accessed on June 13, 2014
  58. ↑ Middelhoff's watch will be auctioned
  59. ↑ Auction details at Justice Auction
  60. ↑ spiegel.de July 20, 2014: 40 millionaires are supposed to pay Middelhoff's debts
  61. ↑ Millionaires should pay for Middelhoff. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , July 20, 2014.
  62. ↑ Henryk Hielscher: Middelhoff process: millions reminder in the lunch break. Wirtschaftswoche , May 19, 2014, accessed on March 31, 2015 .
  63. ↑ Almost 7 million euros in debt: Middelhoff flees through the window and downpipe. In: Focus , July 26, 2014.
  64. ↑ Middelhoff: I'm not broke. In ' Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , July 27, 2014.
  65. ↑ Ex-Arcandor boss Middelhoff: Big T. and his pursuers. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , July 28, 2014.
  66. ↑ Middelhoff files for bankruptcy. Die Zeit , March 31, 2015, accessed on March 31, 2015 .
  67. ↑ Middelhoff files for bankruptcy - "Big T" is insolvent. Handelsblatt , March 31, 2015, accessed on March 31, 2015 .
  68. ↑ Thomas Middelhoff receives the Vernon A. Walters Prize . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , June 12, 1998, p. 21.
  69. ↑ Bayreuhter model award. In: bayreuther dialoge 2019. Retrieved on August 20, 2019 (American English).
  70. ↑ Awarding of honorary doctorates to Prof. Michael Porter and Dr. Thomas Middelhoff ( Memento from May 13, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  71. ^ Honorary Doctorate
  72. ↑ Bankrupt company Arcandor sponsored elite universities. In: Spiegel Online , December 18, 2009.
  73. ↑ Volker Weidermann : The bad message of literature. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , September 1, 2012.
  74. ↑ The underrated Mr. Bock. Archived from the original on August 28, 2017 ; accessed on August 28, 2017 .
  75. ↑ a b Meedia: Sales stop for book "A115 - Der Sturz": Spiegel prevails against Thomas Middelhoff in court. Retrieved November 23, 2017 .
  76. ↑ WDR throws Thomas Middelhoff documentary out of the program. In: Der Tagesspiegel , November 22, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Middelhoff, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German manager, CEO of Bertelsmann and Arcandor AG
DATE OF BIRTH May 11, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Dusseldorf