Bertelsmann at a Glance

Bertelsmann is a media, services and education company with about 75,000 employees that operates in some 50 countries around the world. It includes the entertainment group RTL Group, the trade book publisher Penguin Random House, the music company BMG, the service provider Arvato Group, Bertelsmann Marketing Services, the Bertelsmann Education Group and Bertelsmann Investments, an international network of funds. The company generated revenues of €19 billion in the 2024 financial year. Bertelsmann stands for creativity and entrepreneurship. This combination promotes first-class media content and innovative service solutions that inspire customers around the world.

RTL Group

RTL Group is a leading entertainment company across broadcast, streaming, content and digital, with interests in 60 television channels, seven streaming services and 37 radio stations. The Group’s families of TV channels are either number one or number two in six European countries. RTL Deutschland is the Group’s largest business unit and Germany’s first cross-media champion, operating across TV, streaming, radio, digital and publishing. RTL Group's streaming services include RTL+ in Germany and Hungary, Videoland in the Netherlands and M6+ in France. Fremantle is one of the world’s largest creators, producers and distributors of scripted and unscripted content, responsible for more than 11,000 hours of programming per year, alongside an international network of teams operating in 27 countries. Bertelsmann is the majority shareholder of RTL Group, holding 75 percent of its shares.

Penguin Random House

Penguin Random House, the world’s largest trade book publisher, is dedicated to its mission to ignite a universal passion for reading by creating books for everyone. Each year, it publishes around 14,000 new works and sells more than 700 million print books, e-books and audiobooks. With about 350 imprints across six continents, Penguin Random House comprises adult fiction, nonfiction, children's and young adult literature, primarily in English, German and Spanish. Penguin Random House’s publishing list includes more than 80 Nobel Prize laureates, 140 US Pulitzer Prize winners, and hundreds of the world’s most widely read and acclaimed authors. Penguin Random House is wholly owned by Bertelsmann.

BMG

Founded in 2008, BMG reimagined the relationship between music companies, songwriters, and artists by offering fairer contracts, greater creative freedom, and unparalleled transparency in royalties and licensing. Now the fourth-largest music company in the world, BMG combines human creativity with cutting-edge technology to connect music with global audiences. With 20 offices across 13 core markets, BMG represents more than three million songs and recordings, including some of the most iconic catalogs and works from leading artists and songwriters such as The Rolling Stones, Tina Turner, George Harrison, Blondie and more. BMG is wholly owned by Bertelsmann.

Arvato Group

Arvato Group is an internationally active service group that develops and implements customized solutions for various business processes for customers in diverse industries in more than 20 countries. The group’s solution portfolio, which ranges from supply chain solutions (Arvato) and financial services (Riverty) to IT services (Arvato Systems) and business processing services (Arvato Connect), is used by globally renowned companies from a wide variety of industries – from telecommunications providers and energy suppliers to banks and insurance companies, as well as e-commerce, IT and Internet providers. Arvato Group is wholly owned by Bertelsmann.

Bertelsmann Marketing Services

The Bertelsmann Marketing Services division is a cross-channel full-service provider for the advertising industry in which all of Bertelsmann’s direct marketing and print activities are bundled. Bertelsmann Marketing Services comprises four units: first, the German offset printers Mohn Media, GGP Media and Vogel Druck; second, the Book Printing Group in the United States, which consists of several offset and digital printers specializing in the production of books; third, the Digital Marketing Unit, which includes Germany’s leading content agency Territory, Campaign, DeutschlandCard and the Dialog business; and fourth, the Sonopress Group, with the storage media producer Sonopress and the printing and packaging specialist Topac. Bertelsmann Marketing Services is wholly owned by Bertelsmann.

Bertelsmann Education Group

Bertelsmann Education Group comprises Bertelsmann’s education activities. The group’s companies focus on the healthcare and education sectors, in particular education and training, and deliver innovative ways of teaching and learning as well as performance management solutions for students, professionals and organizations. The companies include Brazil’s leading university group for medical education and training, Afya, the US continuing education and workforce management solution provider Relias, and the professional practice-oriented Alliant International University. The Bertelsmann Education Group is wholly owned by Bertelsmann.

Bertelsmann Investments

Bertelsmann Investments (BI) comprises Bertelsmann’s global venture capital activities as well as the Bertelsmann Next growth unit. The venture capital arm includes the funds Bertelsmann Asia Investments (BAI), Bertelsmann India Investments (BII) and Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI), as well as selected fund and direct holdings in markets including Europe, the United States, Brazil, Southeast Asia and Africa. The Bertelsmann Next unit advances the entrepreneurial development of new growth sectors and business areas, including HR Tech, Mobile Ad Tech and Pharma Tech. To date, around €1.9 billion has been invested in about 500 innovative companies and funds through Bertelsmann Investments. Bertelsmann Investments currently holds over 370 active investments worldwide through its network of start-ups and funds.