Cup's Haffa empty
EM.TV topper admits errors
In an interview with German weekly Der Spiegel, Haffa admitted that he had made mistakes managing the troubled company's rapid growth, but predicted EM.TV will be on a positive course in the coming year.
Nevertheless, he said he "would have to think about the consequences" if he did not win back investor confidence.
Florian Haffa, Thomas' brother, resigned as deputy chief executive earlier this month. Der Spiegel also reported that head of business affairs Ulrich Goebel had left, although there has been no word from the company.
EM.TV's stock plunged to a low of 5.56 euros ($4.95) from a high of $102.87 following a drastic readjustment in its profit outlook and news that German stock market regulators may launch an investigation into possible insider trading.
Investors have filed several lawsuits against EM.TV, including one by a group of private shareholders concerned that execs concealed the true state of the company's finances.
The group is now looking at pre-tax profit of around $22 million -- less than 10% of its predicted $234 million -- and revenue of some $625 million.
"We have gone through a very difficult phase," Haffa said, admitting that grave errors were made while the company was experiencing a euphoric period.
"During the acquisition phase, we made the mistake of not keeping up with operations as well as we should have, given the scale of the investments," he said.
Haffa added that EM.TV execs never exaggerated the real state of the company and emphasized the need to win back investors' trust, saying some things were "already in the pipeline."
Last week the Kirch Group took a minority share in the Munich-based kidvidder and bought nearly half its 50% stake in Formula One holding company SLEC for $550 million.
EM.TV is planning to sell its 45% stake in Tele Munchen Group -- which it bought for around DM800 million ($421 million) last year -- back to TMG chief Herbert Kloiber, but according to weekly magazine Focus, Kloiber is not willing to pay more than $266 million for the stake. EM.TV has said it may be prepared to sell the stake for less than it paid.
Kirch execs continue to express support for Haffa, however. "We are confident that the (EM.TV) management will now make a success of the core business," Kirch vice president Dieter Hahn told German daily Welt am Sonntag.
(Reuters contributed to this report.)
