Settlement with Buettner and von Blottnitz

The lawsuit filed by the two former AOL Germany managers Jan Henric Buettner and Andreas von Blottnitz was settled on Saturday. Bertelsmann AG has agreed to pay the plaintiffs an amount of totaling EURO 160 million.

Ulrich Koch, Bertelsmann's General Counsel, stated: "The decision to settle is business-based. Continuing a legal process against the plaintiffs would have resulted in a great commitment of time, resources and personnel. The settlement is no admission of liability. We firmly believe in the legitimacy of our position: The final judgment reflects neither the facts nor German law, which applied in this case. The case should have been tried before a German court right from the start."

The payment now agreed upon with the plaintiffs is well below the EURO 209,310,000 judgement plus interest issued by the court. As of December 31, 2003 Bertelsmann had formed a provision of EURO 234 million. Part of this provision can now be dissolved in the current fiscal year.

For further questions, please contact:
Oliver Fahlbusch
Bertelsmann AG
Phone: 49 - 52 41 - 80 77 69
oliver.fahlbusch@bertelsmann.de

For the US:
Liz Young
Bertelsmann Inc.
Phone: 001 - 917 - 327 10 55
liz.young@bertelsmann.com

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BvB_Einigung_engl_0404.pdf	58 kB