Gütersloh, 02/20/2025

Bertelsmann Invested €76 Million At Its Home Base In Gütersloh In 2024

In the past financial year 2024, Bertelsmann invested roughly €76 million in its businesses in the Gütersloh region, an increase of €6 million compared to the previous year (2023: €70 million). With 10,000 employees in greater Gütersloh, is still the region’s largest private employer. In 2024, Bertelsmann supported more than 200 organizations, associations and projects with donations totaling €250,000. As Thomas Rabe puts it, Gütersloh is and remains “Bertelsmann’s home.”

In the past financial year 2024, Bertelsmann invested roughly €76 million in its Gütersloh-based divisions, an increase of €6 million compared to the previous year (2023: €70 million). The funds flowed primarily into the business of the IT subsidiary Arvato Systems and the logistics services business of the Arvato Group. The high level of investment at the international media, services and education company’s home base is to be maintained in the current 2025 financial year.

Bertelsmann Chairman & CEO Thomas Rabe says: “Though we generated the largest share of our revenues in the U.S. for the first time in 2024, Gütersloh is and will remain Bertelsmann’s home. We have some 10,000 employees in the region, meaning more people work for Bertelsmann here than at any other of our locations worldwide. That is why we will continue to invest in the greater Gütersloh area and make our social and cultural contribution.”

Employee count in the region remains constant at around 10,000

The number of employees at the Group’s home base has remained constant for many years at around 10,000. Bertelsmann thus remains the largest private employer in the region. In August 2024, 107 new apprentices and dual students began their training at Bertelsmann companies in the region, the same number as in the previous year (2023: 107). All graduates in 2024 received a job offer within the Group.

Bertelsmann donated around €250,000 to more than 200 organizations, associations, and projects in the greater Gütersloh area in 2024 (2023: €250,000). Beyond this, donations in kind were also made, including more than 6,000 books. At Christmas, the Group donated €25,000 to the Bielefeld palliative care initiative “The Way Home” for the 18th consecutive year; Bertelsmann has supported the initiative with around €475,000 since 2006. Other highlights in the 2024 event year included the opening of the permanent exhibition “Bertelsmann is all this and more” by world-renowned Photographer Jim Rakete at the Gütersloh Corporate Center, and the well-known “Blue Sofa Gütersloh” cultural events featuring forest ranger Peter Wohlleben and author Melanie Raabe at Theater Gütersloh.

Puccini exhibition coming to Gütersloh at the end of October

Numerous events are already planned for 2025. A Bertelsmann Forum with NRW Minister President Hendrik Wüst will take place on April 9. And on June 3 and 4, Bertelsmann will once again host a Group-wide management meeting at Theater Gütersloh. Around 500 top international managers from across the Group will come to Gütersloh for the event. The Bertelsmann Party takes place in Berlin on September 11, and the long-established pensioners’ party in Gütersloh’s Stadthalle on December 1. As part of the city’s anniversary celebrations, Bertelsmann will bring the exhibition “Opera Meets New Media – Puccini, Ricordi and the Rise of the Modern Entertainment Industry” to Theater Gütersloh from October 29, 2025 to January 4. The exhibition has previously been on view at the Bertelsmann representative Office ‘Unter den Linden’ in Berlin and at La Scala in Milan, among other venues. The “Blue Sofa” will also make a guest appearance in Gütersloh again, with further details to be announced in due course.