RTL Deutschland

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.

Key facts

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

Ownership

Individual Owner

Free float

17.9% of RTL Group S.A. shares are in free float and freely tradable on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

17.9%
Media Outlets
Other Media Outlets

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

Facts

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 %)

General Information

Founding Year

2008

Affiliated Interests Founder

CLT (Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion) and UFA/Bertelsmann

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

Stephan Schmitter

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.

Other Influential People

The Mohn family

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

Active Transparency

company/channel informs proactively and comprehensively about its ownership, data is constantly updated and easily verifiable

4 ♥

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.

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