Press Release | Gütersloh, 04/03/2020

Bertelsmann’s New Annual Report Spotlights Alliances

• Interactive annual report now online
• “Building Alliances”: Collaborations strengthen market presence and underscore relevance of Bertelsmann’s businesses

The international media, services and education company Bertelsmann’s new Annual Report 2019 is now available online. This year’s publication revolves around alliances and partnerships. For Bertelsmann, the topic is of high strategic relevance in the fields of media content, advertising and technology. For example, the Bertelsmann Content Alliance, which pools the content businesses, successfully launched its operations in Germany last year.

Karin Schlautmann, Executive Vice President Corporate Communications of Bertelsmann, said: “Bertelsmann continues to advance the topic of alliances and partnerships, both within the company and with external partners. Accordingly, this year’s Annual Report focuses on many meaningful examples of collaboration in the areas of content, ad sales, and technology. In this way, we once again communicate the wide range of our creative offerings, which reach more than one billion people worldwide every day. As always, we have enriched the online version of the report with numerous extras such as videos and audio samples.”

One example of successful cooperation between several corporate divisions is the Bertelsmann Content Alliance’s media coverage of the “Arctic Drift” expedition. Since Fall 2019, the German icebreaker “Polarstern” has been drifting through the icy wilds of the Arctic, to study the Arctic climate system and its effects on the global climate for a full year. Also on board: the Bertelsmann Content Alliance as exclusive German media partner. A camera team from UFA Show & Factual will accompany the expedition exclusively over the entire period. Gruner + Jahr sent a reporter on the trip for six weeks; the G+J magazines “Stern,” “Geo,” “Geolino” and “P.M.” reported exclusively. A photographer is capturing the expedition in pictures that appear in G+J magazines and will be published in an international illustrated book – which, alongside other thematic publications, will be contributed by Prestel Verlag, a Verlagsgruppe Random House imprint. Bertelsmann’s Audio Alliance will accompany the expedition with exclusive audio content.

The annual report consists of separate “image” and financial sections. The financial section provides transparent and detailed information on the business figures of the past year. In the image section, the motto “Building Alliances” is reflected in the design, with a plus symbol that runs through the entire report. The “plus” stands for the added value of alliances and partnerships; it also illustrates the diversity of Bertelsmann’s divisions and their activities. For example, small plus signs are used to create headphones symbolizing the music company BMG, or a cloud representing Arvato’s cloud solutions.

The interactive online version (https://ar2019.bertelsmann.com/  ) of the Annual Report contains numerous extras, including videos, reading samples and useful links.

The 2019 fiscal year with its core theme of alliances is also illustrated in a 60-second video trailer that can be found on the Bertelsmann website and the Group’s social media channels.

The report on the 2019 financial year is initially available as an extended online version; the main edition of the printed report will follow in May.

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 126,000 employees and generated revenues of €18.0 billion in the 2019 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. Bertelsmann aspires to achieve climate neutrality by 2030.