DECEMBER 14, 2000

EM.TV investigation underway

THE German state prosecution service has announced that it is investigating the activities of EM.TV, the half owner of the Formula One group of companies, which ran into serious trouble recently on the Neuer Markt stock exchange in Frankfurt.

THE German state prosecution service has announced that it is investigating the activities of EM.TV, the half owner of the Formula One group of companies, which ran into serious trouble recently on the Neuer Markt stock exchange in Frankfurt. EM.TV's Thomas Haffa is one of those under investigation. The company said that it had always acted in good faith and on the best information available but the prosecution service feels that downgrading a profit projection by 90% in the space of just a few weeks was a little too excessive. The company continues to trade at around 7 Euros ($6) a share. At the start of the year it was trading at 120 Euros.

The restructuring of the EM.TV assets, including the sale of the F1 shareholding to rival German media baron Leo Kirch, is being finalized but nothing is expected to happen for a while.