Bertelsmann 3rd Quarter Earnings Rise Sharply

FRANKFURT (AP) — Media group Bertelsmann AG said Wednesday that its third-quarter net profit rose sharply, helped by efforts to increase efficiency and cut costs.

Net earnings in the July-September period increased to euro87 million ($130 million) from euro15 million a year earlier, the company said. Operating profit rose 14 percent to euro284 million from euro249 million.

However, revenue fell 5 percent to euro3.6 billion from euro3.8 billion.

Bertelsmann, based in Guetersloh, Germany, said savings under a cost-cutting and efficiency program have come to more than euro900 million so far this year.

"Our third-quarter business performance was gratifying, particularly in the context of the economic crisis, to which Bertelsmann is responding resolutely," Chief Executive Hartmut Ostrowski said in a statement. "We're on the right path."

Bertelsmann's assets include book publisher Random House, TV broadcaster RTL, a majority stake in magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr, and the Direct Group book and media clubs.