Press Release | Gütersloh, 09/27/2022

Bertelsmann Sets High Revenues and Earnings Targets for the Years Ahead

• Management meeting at Gütersloh headquarters with more than 500 participants from 30 countries on 6 continents
• Boost growth plans: Investments of €5 to €7 billion by 2025
• Forecast for 2026: revenues of €24 billion, EBITDA of €4 billion and Group net profit of €2 billion
• CEO Thomas Rabe: “Bertelsmann is solid like a rock in times of crisis.”

Gütersloh, September 27, 2022 – Bertelsmann, the international media, services, and education company, has set ambitious long-term targets for its revenues and earnings performance. Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe told more than 500 of the Group’s top executives at the management meeting that he intends to achieve revenues of €24 billion, EBITDA of €4 billion and Group profits of €2 billion by four years from now. These targets go hand in hand with the Boost growth plans presented by the individual Bertelsmann divisions at the two-day management meeting. Between €5 and €7 billion euros are to be invested by 2025 to take Bertelsmann to this higher revenue and earnings level.

Thomas Rabe, Chairman & CEO of Bertelsmann, said: “Our five strategic growth priorities - National Media Champions, Global Content, Global Services, Online Education, and Investments – are having an impact and triggering a growth spurt for Bertelsmann. We expect our revenues to exceed the 20-billion-euro mark for the first time in the full year 2022. As part of our Boost growth plans, we will continue to invest heavily in our businesses in the years ahead. The difficult global economic situation notwithstanding, Bertelsmann has stuck to its strategy and invested around 750 million euros in the first half of 2022 alone. The broad diversification of our businesses is a major advantage for all divisions. Bertelsmann is solid like a rock in times of crisis.”

Rolf Hellermann, Bertelsmann’s Chief Financial Officer, added: “Bertelsmann’s starting position for further growth is excellent: Our businesses are resilient and operationally strong, and we have ample financial room for maneuver. We have funds of 5 billion to 7 billion euros available for investment through 2025, which we will use to further develop Bertelsmann.”

Besides Rabe and Hellermann, Bertelsmann Executive Board members Markus Dohle and Immanuel Hermreck, as well as other top executives, most of them members of the Bertelsmann Group Management Committee, presented their Boost growth plans and projects. The Management Meeting was the fourth gathering of Bertelsmann’s top executives at the company’s headquarters in Gütersloh since 2012. The more than 500 participants, more than a third of whom were women, were from all seven divisions, and came from 30 countries on six continents.

About Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann is a media, services, and education company that operates in about 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, the Bertelsmann Printing Group, the Bertelsmann Education Group and Bertelsmann Investments, an international network of funds. The company has 145,000 employees and generated revenues of €18.7 billion in the 2021 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.