Lesser Profits, Sales For BMG After Sony

Here’s some pictures of Bertelsmann Chief Executive Hartmut Ostrowski, speaking in annual balance press conference in Berlin, Tuesday, March 24, 2009. Media group Bertelsmann AG, whose properties range from television channels to magazines and book publishers, said Tuesday that its 2008 profit fell by a third after it shed its North American book club and sold off its stake in the former Sony BMG music company. Sony BMG is now known as Sony Music Entertainment.

Profit and sales will drop this year and the degree will depend on the “intensity and duration of the economic downturn,” Chief Executive Officer Hartmut Ostrowski said in Berlin today. Last year, net income fell 34 percent to 142 million euros ($193 million) while sales adjusted for disposals were little changed at 16.12 billion euros, the Guetersloh, Germany-based company said today.

To reduce costs, the management board members decided to forgo their 2009 bonus payments, Ostrowski said, adding that this means a 50 percent pay cut for most of them.