MUMBAI: German media giant Bertelsmann's chief executive Thomas Middelhoff was forced to step down yesterday due to a fierce dispute over his strategy. 

A report from Reuters states that Germany's privately-owned media giant would replace Middelhoff with its media services head Gunter Thielen. Middelhoff's attempts to modernise and take the secretive newspaper and book publisher public in an attempt to challenge fellow media conglomerates AOL Time Warner and Disney faced stiff opposition from Bertelsmann's old guard. The report indicates that differences regarding the future direction of the company between Middelhoff and the company's chief shareholders were mounting. 

The announcement comes close on the heels of the resignations of Vivendi Universal chief executive Jean-Marie Messier and AOL Time Warner chief operating officer Robert Pittman earlier this month. 

A report in a German newspaper indicated that Middelhoff would head the German telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom.