Bertelsmann

Bertelsmann

The family-owned company was founded in 1835 by Carl Bertelsmann as a small publishing house and print shop in Gütersloh. Bertelsmann became a global corporation under Reinhard Mohn, the fifth generation to manage the company. He established the book club, the foundation and expanded the group to over 100,000 employees. At the end of the 1960s, Bertelsmann acquired a majority stake in Gruner + Jahr and thus became an important player in the media industry. This was followed by the development of the TV business with the founding of RTL, Vox and a stake in n-tv. Bertelsmann also entered the online business early on with shares in AOL and the establishment of BarnesandNobles.com. Other important Group segments are the book business (Random House, Springer Wissenschaftsverlag) and the music industry (BMG). After Reinhard Mohn's death, his wife Elisabeth "Liz" Mohn took over the business, now together with her son Christoph Mohn. Mohn's grandson Carsten Coesfeld is now rumoured to be the next Bertelsmann boss. The Group is active in over 50 countries and employs more than 80,000 people (2023).

Key facts

Business Form

private

Legal Form

SE & Co. KGaA (partnership limited by shares whose general partner is a European company).

Business Sectors

Marketing services; logistics; financial services; cloud solutions for business customers; printing services; learning services; start-up investments

Ownership

Individual Owner

Media Outlets
Other Media Outlets

Other Print Outlets

ART (0;06%); Brigitte (0.89%); Capital (0.15%); Gala (2.19%); GEO (0.5%); Schöner Wohnen (0.32%); Stern (4.2%); Häuser; Couch (0.04%)

Other TV Outlets

Nitro (1.87%); RTL Super (1.33%)

Other Radio Outlets

Hitradio RTL Sachsen (0.6%); 104.6 RTL; 105‘5 Spreeradio (0.2%); JAM FM (0.2%); Radio Brocken (0.5%); 89.0 RTL; Antenne Niedersachsen (0.9%)

Other Online Outlets

Stern.de (1.37%); capital.de; rtl.de (0.91%); eltern.de (0.09%); sport.de (0.18%); geo.de (0.34%); gala.de (0.28%); brigitte.de (0.4%); schoener-wohnen.de (0.11%)

Facts

Media Business

Advertising sales

Ad Alliance GmbH (76%)

Music label

BMG (100%)

TV channel

RTL Group (76%)

Publishing

Gruner + Jahr Deutschland GmbH (76%)

Business

Logistics and Supply Chain Solutions

Arvato SE (100%)

Financial Services

Riverty Group GmbH (100%)

IT Solutions and Consulting

Arvato Systems GmbH (100%)

IT Solutions

Arvato Limited (100%)

Printing

Mohn Media Mohndruck GmbH (100%)

Printing company

GGP Media GmbH (100%)

Communication services

Territory GmbH (100%)

Production and service solutions

Sonopress GmbH (100%)

Packaging service provider

Topac GmbH (100%)

Marketing

Deutschlandcard GmbH (100%)

Education and training in the medical sector

Afya (49.2%)

Education

Alliant International University

Investment Fund

Bertelsmann Asia Investments

Venture Capital Fund

Bertelsmann Digital Media Investment

Video production

Freemantle (UK, 76%)

Book Publisher

Penguin Random House (USA, 100%)

General Information

Founding Year

1835

Affiliated Interests Founder

Carl Bertelsmann

was a printer and lithographer from Gütersloh who laid the foundations for today's global corporation by founding C. Bertelsmann Verlag. In the beginning, the publishing house published missionary, religious writings and songbooks. He was regarded as a devout Protestant and was active on the church council in his home town of Gütersloh and campaigned for the establishment of a Protestant grammar school. Carl Bertelsmann died in 1850, leaving behind five children. His son Heinrich took over the publishing house

Employees

80,418 (2023)

Contact

Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA

Carl-Bertelsmann-Straße 270

33335 Gütersloh

Telefon +49 (0) 52 41-80-0

E-Mail: info@bertelsmann.de

Website: www.bertelsmann.de

Tax/ ID Number

DE 126 770 390

Financial Information

Revenue (Financial Data/ Optional)

€ 20.2 Billion / USD 21.9 Billion (2023)

Operating Profit (in Mill. $)

€ 1.3 Billion / USD 1.4 Billion (2023)

Advertising (in % of total funding)

17.5%: € 3.5 Billion / USD 3.8 Billion (2023)

Management

Executive Board

Thomas Rabe

Chairman of the Bertelsmann Executive Board and CEO of RTL Group. Rabe joined the Group in 2000 as CFO of RTL Group. In 2006, he was brought to Gütersloh as Chief Financial Officer and Head of Bertelsmann Music Group. Six years later, he became Chairman of the Executive Board and has been CEO of RTL Group since 2019. Rabe grew up in Brussels and began his career at the European Commission after studying economics. In addition to his work for Bertelsmann, he is also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Adidas.

Supervisory Board

Christoph Mohn

Chairman of the Supervisory Board and son of Reinhard and Liz Mohn, i.e. a shareholder as part of the founding family in the sixth generation. Mohn is also family spokesperson and Chairman of the Steering Committee (BVG), Chairman of the Board of the Reinhard Mohn Foundation and a member of the Board of Trustees of the Bertelsmann Foundation.

Further Information

Active Transparency

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

4 ♥

Meta Data

The group holds investments in over 350 companies via the funds of the Bertelsmann Investments division, which are not listed here for practical reasons.
The capital shares of the Bertelsmann Foundation are attributed to the Mohn family, as the founder has extensive powers and control within the foundation.

  • Project by
    Medieninsider LOGO
  •  
    Global Media Registry
  • Funded by
    Funded by Deutsche Postcode Lotterie