RTL Deutschland
RTL Deutschland is a media company based in Cologne. The company owns the channels RTL Television, VOX, n-tv and the streaming service RTL+, among others. In 2022, the Gruner + Jahr media group was merged with RTL Deutschland. The parent company Bertelsmann already held a majority stake in Gruner + Jahr. The editor-in-chief in charge is Michael Wulf, who began his career at publishing house Axel Springer and will retire in the course of 2024.
Mother Company
RTL Group S.A.
Business Form
private
Legal Form
Limited liability company (GmbH)
Business Sectors
Funding/investment; voucher marketing; games publishing; charity; tourism
Individual Owner
Free float
17.9% of RTL Group S.A. shares are in free float and freely tradable on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
Other Print Outlets
ART; Brigitte; CAPITAL; GALA; GEO; Schöner Wohnen; Stern; Häuser; COUCH
Other TV Outlets
ntv; Nitro; RTL Super
Other Radio Outlets
Antenne Bayern (11.8%);
Radio Bob (0.6%)
Other Online Outlets
Stern.de; ntv.de; capital.de; rtl.de; eltern.de
Media Business
Advertising
Ad Alliance GmbH (100 %)
IT Services
RTL Technology GmbH (100 %)
Publishing
Gruner + Jahr GmbH (100 %)
Business
Media
RTL Group S.A. (Deutschland, Ungarn, Luxemburg, Niederlande, USA, Großbritannien, Vereinigte Arabische Emirate, Schweden, Spanien, Singapur, Portugal, Polen, Norwegen, Italien, Mexiko, Israel, Irland, Indonesien, Indien, Frankreich, Belgien, Australien, Kanada, 100 %)
Bertelsmann SE & Co KGaA (weltweit, 76 %)
General Information
Founding Year
2008
Affiliated Interests Founder
RTLplus (renamed RTL Television in 1992) was founded by CLT and UFA in 1984. The Bertelsmann Group held 40% of the shares in RTL via UFA Film und Fernsehen GmbH. The Austrian Helmut Thoma became the first director of RTLplus and, together with Bertelsmann's CEO at the time, Mark Wössner, was a driving force behind the introduction of private television in Germany.
Employees
7,500 (2024)
Contact
RTL Deutschland
Picassoplatz 1
50679 Köln
Germany
Phone: +49 (0)221 - 456-6-0
E-Mail: webmaster@rtlinteractive.de
Website: RTL.com
Tax/ ID Number
DE 814 967 412
Financial Information
Revenue (Financial Data/ Optional)
€ 2.6 Billion (2023) / USD 3 Billion
Operating Profit (in Mill. $)
€ 321 Million Adjusted EBITA (2023) / USD 350 Million
Advertising (in % of total funding)
73 %: € 2.053 Billion (2022) / USD 2.3 Billion (2022)
Management
Executive Board
CEO of RTL Germany. Schmitter previously made a career at RTL's radio division and eventually moved to the editorial department. Schmitter is also responsible for the streaming service RTL+ and the publishing business of Gruner + Jahr. He has also been a member of the Group Management Committee (GMC) at Bertelsmann since the beginning of 2024. An advisory board that advises the Bertelsmann Executive Board on strategic issues.
Chief Commercial, Technology & Data Officer at RTL Germany and Managing Director at Ad Alliance. His career began in 1993 at IP Deutschland, where he rose to the position of Managing Director. Dang studied economics at the University of Mainz and worked part-time at 3sat. He was instrumental in the founding of Ad Alliance. In addition to his media career, Dang was also active as a handball referee and officiated over 480 matches. After more than 30 years at RTL Germany, he announced his retirement in April 2024 to pursue new challenges.
Other Influential People
The family business was founded in 1835 by Carl Bertelsmann as a small publishing house with a printing press in Gütersloh. Bertelsmann became a global corporation under Reinhard Mohn, who was the fifth generation to manage the company. He founded the book club and the foundation, and expanded the group to over 100,000 employees. After Reinhard Mohn's death, his wife Liz Mohn took over the business, now in conjunction with her son Christoph Mohn. Carsten Coesfeld, a grandson of Mohn, is now being talked about as the next Bertelsmann boss.
Further Information
Headlines
Meta Data
Operating profit is only stated in an adjusted calculation (adjusted EBITA). Information on the composition of the indicator can be found in the annual report (2022, page 58).
The average exchange rate from the year of publication of the source was used for the conversions from euros to US dollars (2023: 1.08 USD / 2022: 1.05 USD).
The Bertelsmann Foundation's capital shares are attributed to the Mohn family, as the founder has extensive powers and control within the foundation.