Gunter Thielen replaces Thomas Middelhoff, who has left the group after a difference of opinion with its supervisory board over future strategy.
Thielen was the head of Bertelsmanns Arvato division, which includes offset printing house Mohn Media and Elsnerdruck, a paperback plant.
It also owns plants in Italy, Spain and the US.
Middelhoff had been advocating that the groups controlling family, the Mohns, should loosen their grip and seek a public listing for most of Bertelsmanns stock. The Mohn family currently owns 75% of Bertelsmann, which also owns broadcaster RTL, book publisher Random House, publisher and printer Gruner + Jahr and record label BMG.
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