Press Release | Gütersloh, 01/29/2019

Bertelsmann Launches New ‘Content Alliance’ in Germany

• Stronger cooperation among all Bertelsmann content businesses
• Cross-divisional offers for creative professionals, as well as development and distribution of formats
• Julia Jäkel to chair the alliance; remains CEO of Gruner + Jahr

Bertelsmann is launching a new “Content Alliance” in Germany. Starting February 1, 2019, the Bertelsmann Content Alliance will manage the collaboration among all of the international media, services and education company’s content businesses in Germany: Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, RTL Radio, the TV production company UFA, Verlagsgruppe Random House, Gruner + Jahr, and the music company BMG. Bertelsmann’s objective is to develop and market collaborative formats across all divisions and thus create comprehensive offers for creative professionals.

Bertelsmann’s new Content Alliance in Germany is to follow the lead of the successful work done by the Ad Alliance: Since 2017, the Ad Alliance has pooled the expertise of strong marketers such as IP Deutschland and G+J eMS for advertising customers and media agencies, and has been very well received in the market.

Julia Jäkel, who will remain CEO of Gruner + Jahr in addition to this new role, will chair the board of the Bertelsmann Content Alliance. The committee also includes all Managing Directors of Bertelsmann’s German content businesses: Bernd Reichart (Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland), Nico Hofmann (UFA), Stephan Schmitter (RTL Radio), Thomas Rathnow (Verlagsgruppe Random House), Stephan Schäfer (Gruner + Jahr), as well as Hartwig Masuch and Dominique Kulling (both BMG). The entrepreneurial independence of the respective businesses, as well as their journalistic and publishing independence, remain unaffected by the Bertelsmann Content Alliance.

Thomas Rabe, Chairman & CEO of Bertelsmann, said: “Bertelsmann is a creative powerhouse and will be investing close to €6 billion in creative content worldwide this year. The Bertelsmann Content Alliance in Germany will pool our Group’s content expertise in order to fully exploit the potential of our most important market. With content offerings across all media genres and new marketing opportunities, Bertelsmann will become an even stronger partner of choice for all creative professionals in Germany. This step also strengthens our position in the competition with the U.S. technology platforms. I am delighted that Julia Jäkel will lead the Bertelsmann Content Alliance in addition to her role as CEO of Gruner + Jahr. Julia combines creativity and entrepreneurship and, together with her fellow board members, will lend additional momentum to Bertelsmann’s content businesses.”

The Vox TV series “Der Club der roten Bänder”, for example, is based on a book by the author Albert Espinosa that was published in Germany by the Verlagsgruppe Random House. The UFA/Fremantle production “Munich” is based on a novel by Robert Harris, which is also published by Verlagsgruppe Random House. Gruner + Jahr published a start-up magazine to accompany the season opener of the Vox show “Die Höhle der Löwen” (Shark Tank). A few days ago, Gruner + Jahr and BMG announced their joint launch of a fan magazine about the musician Max Giesinger.

About Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann is a media, services and education company that operates in about 50 countries around the world. It includes the broadcaster RTL Group, the trade book publisher Penguin Random House, the magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr, the music company BMG, the service provider Arvato, the Bertelsmann Printing Group, the Bertelsmann Education Group and Bertelsmann Investments, an international network of funds. The company has 119,000 employees and generated revenues of €17.2 billion in the 2017 financial year. Bertelsmann stands for entrepreneurship and creativity. This combination promotes first-class media content and innovative service solutions that inspire customers around the world.