Bertelsmann Nearly Triples Net Profit

First Financials After Sale Of Sony BMG

GERMAN media company BERTELSMANN AG said TUESDAY it nearly tripled its net profit for the first nine months of the year. Net profit rose to 387 million euros ($491 million) in the JANUARY-SEPTEMBER period, up from 132 million euros a year ago. Sales fell by 0.7 percent to 11.4 billion euros ($14.5 billion) from 11.5 billion euros a year ago.

The company, which is privately held, did not provide figures for its most recent quarter.

The company said the special items included about 245 million euros in charges in 2007 related to the settlement of a lawsuit relating to the company's involvement with the NAPSTER file-sharing service.

During the first nine months of the year, BERTELSMANN gave up its 50% stake of the music company SONY BMG and the NORTH AMERICAN book club business. BERTELSMANN said the sales proceeds from the SONY BMG deal, valued at $900 million, were booked in OCTOBER and aren't included in the current earnings.

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