Karl-Ludwig Kley appointed to the Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann AG

At yesterday’s Annual General Meeting of Bertelsmann AG, Dr. Karl-Ludwig Kley (55) was appointed to the Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann AG. Kley, Chairman of the Executive Board of Merck KGaA, will take up his position on the board with immediate effect. At the same time, Dr. Claus-Michael Dill, CEO of DAMP Holding AG, stepped down from the Supervisory Board, his term of office having expired.

Prof. Dieter H. Vogel, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bertelsmann AG, stated: “In Karl-Ludwig Kley, the Bertelsmann Supervisory Board has gained a manager with international experience. He is familiar with the perspectives of both capital market-oriented companies and family-owned companies – both will fit in well with Bertelsmann. To Claus-Michael Dill, I would like to thank him on behalf of the entire Supervisory Board and also the shareholders for his faithful cooperation and valuable contributions to the development of the company.”

Dr. Karl-Ludwig Kley (55) has been Chairman of the Executive Board at the Darmstadt-based company Merck KGaA since the end of April. 70 percent of the listed pharmaceutical and chemicals group is owned by the family of the founder and around 30 percent of the shares are held by shareholders. Sales in 2006 amounted to around €7 billion. The doctor of law began his career in 1982 at the pharmaceutical group Bayer in the field of group finances and as the assistant to the Chairman of the Executive Board. He subsequently undertook various management functions at Bayer, including acting as Chief Financial Officer for Bayer in Japan. In 1998, Kley became Chief Financial Officer at Lufthansa AG. Since September 2006, he has been responsible at Merck for the Human Resources Department and for the integration of the Swiss Serono Group. Karl-Ludwig Kley is also a member of the Supervisory Board at Vattenfall Europe AG, MAN AG and WestLB AG.

The Bertelsmann AG Supervisory Board now comprises the following members:

Prof. Dieter H. Vogel, Managing Partner, LGB & Vogel GmbH, Düsseldorf and Shareholder of the Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Gütersloh (Chairman of the Supervisory Board)

Prof. Jürgen Strube, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, BASF AG, Ludwigshafen and Shareholder of the Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Gütersloh (Vice Chairman of the Supervisory Board)

Dr. Wulf H. Bernotat, Chairman of the Board of Management and Chief Executive Officer, E.ON AG, Düsseldorf

John R. Joyce,Managing Director, Silver Lake Partners, New York

Dr. Karl-Ludwig Kley, Chairman of the Executive Board of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt

Dr. Hans-Joachim Körber, Chairman of the Executive Board, Metro AG, Düsseldorf

Oswald Lexer, Vice Chairman of the Bertelsmann AG Corporate Works Council, Gütersloh

Prof. Joachim Milberg, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, BMW AG, Munich

Liz Mohn, Vice CEO of the Bertelsmann Stiftung, Vice Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of the Bertelsmann Stiftung and Chairwoman of the Board of Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Gütersloh

Christoph Mohn, Chief Executive Officer of Lycos Europe N.V, Haarlem

Willi Pfannkuche, Member of the Bertelsmann AG Corporate Works Council, Gütersloh

Erich Ruppik, Chairman of the Bertelsmann AG Corporate Works Council, Gütersloh

Richard Sarnoff, Chairman of the Bertelsmann AG Management Representative Committee, President, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, New York

Lars Rebien Sørensen, President and Chief Executive Officer, Novo Nordisk A/S, Bagsvaerd

Reinhard Mohn is the Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

About Bertelsmann AG

Bertelsmann is an international media company encompassing television (RTL Group), book publishing (Random House), magazine publishing (Gruner + Jahr), music (BMG), media services (Arvato), and media clubs (DirectGroup) in more than 60 countries. Bertelsmann’s claim is to inspire people around the world with first-class media and communications offerings – entertainment, information and services – and occupy leading positions in its respective markets. The foundation of Bertelsmann's success is a corporate culture based on partnership, entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, and corporate responsibility. The company strives to bring creative new ideas to market and create value.

Bertelsmann is comprised of the television channels, television production companies, and radio stations of Europe's largest entertainment group, RTL Group (RTL Television, M6, Five, Fremantle Media), and the more than 120 publishing houses of Random House, the world's largest trade book publisher (Alfred A. Knopf, Bantam, Goldmann). Gruner + Jahr is Europe's number one magazine publisher (Stern, Geo, Neon, Capital). The Sony BMG joint venture in the BMG division is synonymous with creativity and strong international music brands (Beyoncé, Dixie Chicks, Justin Timberlake, Christina Aguilera). The Arvato media and communications services division brings together distribution, service centers and customer-relationship management, state-of-the art printing manufacturing, storage media production, mobile services, and comprehensive IT services. Bertelsmann's direct-to-customer businesses are unified within the Direct Group: book, DVD, and music clubs with more than thirty-five million members worldwide (Der Club, France Loisirs), as well as book retailers in France and Portugal.

In fiscal 2006, Bertelsmann, with approximately 97,000 employees, generated revenues of 19.3 billion euros.

For further questions, please contact:

Andreas Grafemeyer

Senior Vice President Media Relations

Phone: +49 – 5241 / 80 24 66

andreas.grafemeyer@bertelsmann.de

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