Rolf Schmidt-Holtz Appointed CEO of Sony BMG, Withdraws from Bertelsmann AG Executive Board

Rolf Schmidt-Holtz (57), a member of the Bertelsmann AG Executive Board and the group’s Chief Creative Officer, has been named the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sony BMG Music Entertainment and is resigning from the Executive Board of Bertelsmann AG upon his appointment, effective immediately. His corporate responsibilities will be redistributed among the other members of the Bertelsmann AG Executive Board. Thomas Rabe (40), Chief Financial Officer, will take over the leadership of Bertelsmann’s BMG division, which comprises the 50-percent stake in Sony BMG and the wholly-owned BMG Music Publishing. Ralf Schremper (33), head of the Hamburg-based Bertelsmann Corporate Network (BCN), will now report directly to Bertelsmann AG’s Chairman & CEO Gunter Thielen.

Bertelsmann AG Supervisory Board Chairman Dieter Vogel, commented: “Rolf Schmidt-Holtz is a creative entrepreneur in the best sense of the word. Although he is leaving the Bertelsmann AG Executive Board, he will continue to have friendly ties to the group. I am confident that he will do a superb job at Sony BMG. The Supervisory Board wishes him all the best in his new position.”

Bertelsmann AG Chairman & CEO Gunter Thielen stated: “Sony BMG is gaining a media executive who is as experienced as he is successful. Rolf Schmidt-Holtz has impressively proven his flair for both the creative and economic aspects of success in the music business − and under the most difficult of market conditions – at the helm of the Bertelsmann Music Group. On behalf of my fellow Executive Board members, I thank Rolf Schmidt-Holtz for his outstanding entrepreneurial achievements on our management team. I wish him all the best and continued success in his future assignment.”

Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, CEO of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, declared: “I would like to express my appreciation to Bertelsmann for offering me tremendous entrepreneurial possibilities and such great freedom in the years past.”

Rolf Schmidt-Holtz has served as Chief Creative Officer on the Executive Board of Bertelsmann AG since July 1, 2000. In January 2001, he was additionally appointed Chairman & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG), New York. In 2004, the recorded music divisions of BMG and Sony Music were merged into the Sony BMG joint venture under his co-direction. Prior to this, the journalist and media executive held several leading executive positions at Bertelsmann, including as publisher and – from 1990 to 1994 – as Editor in Chief of the weekly magazine “Stern,” as member of the Gruner + Jahr AG Executive Board (1990 to 1994) and member of the divisional board for the “Entertainment” product line, which at the time bundled the group’s music and electronic media activities (1994 to 1997). Together with Rémy Sautter, Schmidt-Holtz became Chief Executive Officer of the newly created CLT-Ufa in January 1997, when he assumed responsibility for the German-speaking regions and the content business of Europe’s largest broadcast and TV production group, which today does business as RTL Group.

About Bertelsmann AG

The media company Bertelsmann commands globally leading positions in the major markets. Its core business is the creation of first-class media content. Bertelsmann includes RTL Group, Europe’s No.1 in television and radio, as well as the world’s biggest book-publishing group, Random House, with more than 100 publishing imprints (Alfred A. Knopf, Bantam, Goldmann). Gruner + Jahr, the European No.1 in magazine publishing (Stern, Geo, Capital) and the BMG music division – comprised of the Sony BMG joint venture (Anastacia, Alicia Keys, Beyoncé, Dido, Usher) and BMG Music Publishing – also stand for creativity and powerful brands. The Arvato division bundles the group’s media services, which include the expanding units Arvato Logistics Services and Arvato Direct Services (distribution, service centers, customer relationship management), along with state-of-the-art printers, storage media production and comprehensive IT-services. Bertelsmann’s direct-to-customer businesses are bundled in Direct Group: book and music clubs with more than 35 million members all over the world.

For further questions, please contact:

Bertelsmann AG

Andreas Grafemeyer

Senior Vice President Media Relations

Phone: +49 – 52 41 – 80 – 24 66

andreas.grafemeyer@bertelsmann.de