Claus-Michael Dill and Hans-Joachim Körber elected to Bertelsmann AG Supervisory Board

Bertelsmann Supervisory Board complete again

Yesterday in Gütersloh, the Bertelsmann AG General Meeting elected two new members to the Supervisory Board. Dr. Claus-Michael Dill, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of AXA Konzern AG (Cologne) and Dr. Hans-Joachim Körber, Chairman and CEO of Metro AG (Düsseldorf), will take their seats on the Supervisory Board effective immediately. Prof. Dr. Michael Hoffmann-Becking, a longtime member, left the Supervisory Board at the same time. As former Supervisory Board Chairman Gerd Schulte-Hillen had resigned from his Supervisory Board mandate on December 31, 2003, the Bertelsmann Supervisory Board is now complete again.

Bertelsmann's Supervisory Board Chairman Dieter H. Vogel commented: "I am pleased that we have managed to win Claus-Michael Dill and Hans-Joachim Körber for the Supervisory Board. We gain two successful entrepreneurs from the financial services and retail marketing sectors, which are of great importance for Bertelsmann. On behalf of all shareholders, I would like to warmly thank Michael Hoffmann-Becking for many years of mutually trusting collaboration. In the past 20 years, he has actively accompanied Bertelsmann's rise to a leading international media company through his work in the Supervisory Board, making valuable contributions along the way."

Dr. Claus-Michael Dill (50) has been Chairman and CEO of AXA Konzern AG, AXA Versicherung AG and AXA Lebensversicherung AG since June 1999. At the same time, he is a Member of the Executive Board of the AXA Group responsible for the markets Germany and Switzerland. In the past, Claus-Michael Dill has held executive positions at several insurance companies, including on the Management Board of the Gerling Group (1995 to 1999) and Vereinte Versicherungen/Magdeburger Versicherungen AG (1993 to 1995), as well as a number of positions at Swiss Re (1987 to 1993).

Dr. Hans-Joachim Körber (57) is Chairman and CEO of the international trading group Metro AG. In particular, his responsibilities include Investor Relations, Internal Audit, Legal and Corporate Affairs, Human Resources Development and Executive Staff, Corporate Development and Corporate Communications. Hans-Joachim Körber looks back on a long career in trading. After starting out at the Oetker Group in Bielefeld, Körber has held executive positions at Metro since 1985. In 1991 Hans-Joachim Körber became a Member of the General Directorate of Metro International, Baar / Switzerland. In 1996, he was appointed to the Metro AG Management Board, of which he became the Chairman in 1999.

The Bertelsmann AG Supervisory Board is now composed as follows:

Dr. Dieter Vogel, Shareholder of Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH and Managing Partner, Bessemer, Vogel & Treichl GmbH, Düsseldorf (Chairman of the Supervisory Board)

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

Dr. Rolf-E. Breuer, Chairman of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG, Frankfurt/Main

André Desmarais, President and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Power Corporation of Canada, Montréal

Dr. Claus-Michael Dill, Chairman and CEO, AXA Konzern AG, Cologne

Sir Peter Job, Former Chief Executive Officer, Reuters Group PLC, London and Member of the Supervisory Board, Deutsche Bank AG, Frankfurt/Main

John R. Joyce, Chief Financial Officer, IBM Corp., Armonk

Dr. Hans-Joachim Körber, Chairman and CEO, Metro AG, Düsseldorf

Oswald Lexer, Vice-Chairman, Bertelsmann AG Corporate Works Council, Gütersloh

Liz Mohn, Vice-Chairwoman of the Executive Board, Bertelsmann Foundation and Chairwoman of the Board, Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Gütersloh

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

Erich Ruppik, Chairman, Bertelsmann AG Corporate Works Council and Shareholder, Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Gütersloh

Gilles Samyn, Managing Director and Vice-Chairman, Compagnie Nationale à Portefeuille S.A., Loverval (Belgium)

Richard Sarnoff, Chairman, Bertelsmann AG Management Representative Committee and Executive Vice President, Random House, New York

Christian van Thillo, Chief Executive Officer, De Persgroep NV, Brussels

Reinhard Mohn is Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board.

About Bertelsmann AG
Bertelsmann, a media company, commands globally leading positions in the major markets. Its core business is the creation of first-class media content: Bertelsmann includes RTL Group, Europe's No. 1 in television and radio, as well as the world's biggest book-publishing group, Random House, with more than 100 publishing imprints (Alfred A. Knopf, Bantam, Goldmann). Gruner Jahr, the European No.1 in magazine publishing (Stern, Geo, Capital) and the Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) with its roughly 200 labels (RCA, Jive, J Records) and artists such as Alicia Keys, Dido and Usher also stand for creativity and powerful brands. Bertelsmann's direct-to-customer businesses are bundled in Direct Group: book and music clubs with 32 million members all over the world. The Arvato division bundles the group's media services, which include the expanding units Arvato Logistics Services and Arvato Direct Services (distribution, service centers, customer relationship management), along with state-of-the-art printers, storage media production and comprehensive IT-services.

For further questions, please contact:

Oliver Herrgesell
Senior Vice President Media Relations
Phone: 49 - 5241 - 80 24 66
oliver.herrgesell@bertelsmann.com

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