Brussels, 05/09/2000 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has cleared the concentration between Bertelsmann AG and Mondadori Spa within Bol Italia, currently a fully-owned subsidiary of Bertelsmann. The latter heads a group of companies which operate internationally in the printing, publishing and distribution of books, music and private television, and which also provide related services. Mondadori, for its part, is part of the Italian group Fininvest and publishes books and magazines as well as graphics and printings. It is also active in direct marketing and informatics. The current activities of Bol Italia are the sale of books in the Italian language, music cassettes and products such as CDs, CD-Roms, VHS and DVD via the Internet.
According to the agreement reached, both partners will concentrate their on-line sales activities of books in the Italian language within Bol Italia. Mondadori will, to this end, acquire a 50% stake in the Bertelsmann subsidiary, which will then become a joint undertaking. The Commission felt that the parties would not be dominant on the distance sales market for books in Italy. Neither did it see a risk of coordination on any other market, such as that for the publishing of books in Italy.