Company Overview
Highlights
Media conglomerate operates in almost 60 countries.
Random House, BMG Entertainment, Gruner & Jahr, and RTL Group are among its many properties.
Based in Germany, media giant Bertelsmann AG has a foothold in almost 60 countries. It owns book publishers, music labels, magazines and newspapers, radio and television stations, film studios, and online multimedia services. Its holdings include Random House, BMG Entertainment, magazine publisher Gruner & Jahr, and German broadcaster the RTL Group.
Founded in 1835, Bertelsmann entered the U.S. in the ’70s and ’80s with acquisitions that include Bantam Books, Arista Records, Doubleday Publishing, and RCA Records. In 2002, plans for an IPO and aggressive move onto the Web were thrown out with the ousting of then-CEO Thomas Middelhoff. Current CEO Gunter Thielen has taken an opposing strategy that includes selling off some online assets such as BOL.com or having other companies operate its sites (Amazon.com now operates Bertelsmann’s CDnow site) for a share of the profits.
The company is controlled by the Mohn family (founder Carl Bertelsmann’s descendants), and The Bertelsmann Foundation. Groupe Bruxelles Lambert acquired 25 percent of Bertelsmann in 2001 with the intention of taking its share public in 2005. But in mid-2006, the Mohns put together $5.7 billion to buy out the investment firm’s interest. The Mohns now own 23 percent of Bertelsmann, with the Bertelsmann Foundation owning the rest.