1. Thomas Middelhoff was born on 11 May 1953 and is a German corporate manager.
24 Facts About Thomas Middelhoff
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From May 2005 to February 2009, Middelhoff then took over as chairman of the board of management of the retail group Arcandor.
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Thomas Middelhoff grew up as the third of five children in a Catholic family in Dusseldorf and Ratingen.
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Thomas Middelhoff's father worked as a sales representative in his uncle's textile factory.
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Thomas Middelhoff studied business at the University of Munster and received his doctorate at the Institute for Marketing under the supervision of Heribert Meffert.
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Thomas Middelhoff received his doctorate in 1987 from Bruno Tietz at the University of Saarbrucken with a thesis on the integrated planning of communication systems: illustrated by the introduction of Btx in retail-oriented branch systems and cooperative groups.
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Thomas Middelhoff recognized the potential of the new digital media early.
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Thomas Middelhoff made small investments into the company Pixelpark in Berlin among others, on Bertelsmann's behalf.
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In May 1995, he became a member of the governing board of AOL, and during his time in this position Thomas Middelhoff became a "close friend" of AOL's founder, Steve Case.
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From November 1998 to July 2002, Thomas Middelhoff was the CEO of Bertelsmann.
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Thomas Middelhoff expanded the book division into the world market leader by purchasing Random House and intensified the company's Internet activities by starting the online media portal BOL, which was sold to Buch.
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Besides his position at the Bertelsmann group, Thomas Middelhoff has been a member of the Board of Trustees of the non-profit Bertelsmann Stiftung, too.
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Since 2003 Thomas Middelhoff has been a member of the board of The New York Times Company responsible for the compensation committee.
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Middelhoff was removed from his position as CEO of Arcandor and Thomas Cook Group in March 2009.
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In 2014, Thomas Middelhoff was convicted on criminal charges related to his activities while head of Arcandor; he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment.
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Thomas Middelhoff separated from his wife, with whom he had five children.
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In February 2009, Thomas Middelhoff founded the investment company BLM in London with Roland Berger and Florian Lahnstein; Thomas Middelhoff became its chairman.
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In 2010, Germany1 was renamed 3W Power Holdings, the company headquarters were relocated from the British tax haven of Guernsey to Luxembourg, and Thomas Middelhoff was elected to the Board of Directors.
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In 2010, this company was split into two legally and economically independent companies: Pulse Capital Partners LLC in New York with Thomas Middelhoff as Managing Partner and RiverRock European Capital Partners LLP in London.
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Thomas Middelhoff specializes in advising investors on hedge fund selection and portfolio structuring.
21.
In 2013, Thomas Middelhoff announced he had taken on a new role as a director and partner in Hong Kong media company BT Capital.
22.
Thomas Middelhoff wrote his autobiography A 115 - The fall, which was published in September 2017.
23.
Thomas Middelhoff claimed in the book that the editors of Der Spiegel had researched improperly, withheld facts and relied on dubious sources.
24.
WDR stopped the broadcast three days before the scheduled date after learning that the producer had made an agreement with Thomas Middelhoff to show him the film before it was broadcast publicly.