Two Media Giants start the New Year under new leadership and a huge microscope

-SHOMARI HINES At two of the world’s biggest media companies, this Tuesday marks the beginning of a new era. On Jan 1st 2008 Both Time Warner and Germany’s Bertelsmann AG will hail new leaders and perhaps start to head down a new path to greater domination or lack there of. For Jeff Bewkes, his appointment as Time Warner’s new CEO wasn’t a surprise to anyone. As a matter of fact, his appointment was long desired by people inside and outside the company with hopes that he will be the one to inject some energy into the overweight media giant. There is no doubt that all eyes are on Jeff Bewkes as Wall Street places bets on what his first 100 days as CEO will be like. Jeff will have to come out swinging and try his best to land as many hits as possible. At the same time, well not literally the same time due to the time difference but you get the point, German media giant Bertelsmann AG, will also roll under the leadership of new CEO Hartmut “Hart” Ostrowski. Hand picked by the Mohn Family, who holds what seems like an unbreakable grip on the media giant, Hart takes over a company that is notorious for flip flopping, but controls some recognizable brands like Columbia House, Random House and 50% of music giant Sony-BMG. For Hart, we see a serious push into digital, more consolidation and perhaps an exit from the music business not too far down the road. Like Bewkes, many eyes are on Ostrowski. We will be watching these two young men very closely.