This past January, Gunter Thielen wrapped up his six year tenure as C.E.O. of Bertelsmann AG, the German corporation that owns the largest American publishing operation, Random House Inc.; today the Bookseller reports that Thielen has been named chairman of the company’s supervisory board.

Bertelsmann was most recently in the news when a German magazine reported (without citing sources) that it had offered Rupert Murdoch a billion dollars for HarperCollins, the book publishing arm of News Corp.  read more »

The Prince has left the Aspen

• For starry-eyed, semi-impoverished young New York creative types, a cheap Harlem "dorm" run by a utopian semi-landlord is the obvious housing solution. But does such a happy homeland for "the overeducated and underpaid" really exist? The Times' cover story omits an address, so maybe we'll never know. (The New York Times)
• Times Square Name Game: Will the former Bertelsmann Building--1540 Broadway--be renamed after Equity Office Properties Trust? One hopes not, though Equity, "the nation's largest publicly traded office building owner and manager," has bought up the offices of pointy 1540 B-way for $525 M., a bit more than the price the group paid last year for Sixth Avenue's Verizon Building. The company, says Crain's, "has been on a tear." (Crain's)
• Toasty weather has helped the Hamptons avoid a bad rental season, though ocean-front real estate is still available for August vacationers who have entirely lost touch with reality. And up north in equally horrifying Cape Cod, rental prices are being cut as much as 25 percent. (WSJ/Real Estate Journal)
• The Metropolitan Opera will finally become elegant: Marie Schwartz has given The Met $1 million to fund a contemporary art gallery in its Lincoln Center lobby. The gallery, curated by Vogue's Dodie Kazanjian, will open elegantly on September 22. (Crain's)
• Yet it would take 135 times the amount of Ms. Schwartz's gift to buy the Aspen abode of former Saudi Ambassador Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz (above). The asking price of the 56,000-square-foot shack (bigger than the White House, and maybe as powerful) surpasses Trump's $125m tag for his Palm Beach estate. If the Aspen home is purchased at $135m, the lucky Prince will dwarf Ron Perelman's $70m sales record. (Aspen Times, via CNN/Money)
- Max Abelson]]> http://www.observer.com/node/34930#comments Real Estate Bertelsmann AG Marie Schwartz The New York Times Company Verizon Communications Inc. Thu, 13 Jul 2006 04:32:10 -0400 Observer Staff 34930 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/46615 Every year, New York's publishing world issues a collective complaint about the zoo-like nature of  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/46615#comments Bertelsmann AG Frankfurt Grove-Atlantic Inc. Morgan Entrekin Sun, 20 Oct 2002 20:00:00 -0400 Sara Nelson 46615 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/46616 Every year, New York's publishing world issues a collective complaint about the zoo-like nature of t  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/46616#comments Bertelsmann AG Frankfurt Grove-Atlantic Inc. Morgan Entrekin Sun, 20 Oct 2002 20:00:00 -0400 Sara Nelson 46616 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/42200 If you were wondering what might send the world's third-largest media conglomerate into a swivet, lo  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/42200#comments Arts & Culture Bertelsmann AG Peter Olson Random House Inc. Stuart Applebaum Sun, 07 Nov 1999 19:00:00 -0500 Elizabeth Manus 42200 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/42090 Ten weeks out of an intensive care unit, Sonny Mehta could be found in Bemel-mans Bar at the Carlyle  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/42090#comments Media Bertelsmann AG Peter Olson Sonny Mehta The Knopf Publishing Group Sun, 17 Oct 1999 20:00:00 -0400 Elizabeth Manus 42090 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/41680 Its arrival has been as secretive as that time Holden hid in Phoebe's closet.  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/41680#comments Media Barnes & Noble Inc. Bertelsmann AG Pia Pera Ralph Ellison Sun, 27 Jun 1999 20:00:00 -0400 Elizabeth Manus 41680 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/41586 Judging by the turnout for his 46th-birthday party, Bertelsmann A.G.'s chief executive, Thomas Midde  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/41586#comments Media Bertelsmann AG Joel Klein Microsoft Corporation Thomas Middelhoff Sun, 06 Jun 1999 20:00:00 -0400 Elizabeth Manus 41586 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/40950 On Dec.  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/40950#comments Media Bertelsmann AG Georg von Holtzbrinck Peter Olson Random House Inc. Sun, 17 Jan 1999 19:00:00 -0500 Elizabeth Manus 40950 at http://www.observer.com http://www.observer.com/node/40622 When Tom Wolfe took the microphone in the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago on Friday, Ma  read more »]]> http://www.observer.com/node/40622#comments Media Bertelsmann AG Chicago Chicago Cubs Random House Inc. Sun, 07 Jun 1998 20:00:00 -0400 Elizabeth Manus 40622 at http://www.observer.com