News | Paris, 12/10/2013

France Honors Liz Mohn With The Legion Of Honor

The Legion of Honorit is considered one of the highest honors the Republic of France can bestow. Liz Mohn received this award yesterday from the French Ambassador in Berlin, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, for her many years of service to Franco-German understanding at Bertelsmann and the Bertelsmann Stiftung. "The relationship between our two nations is very important to me," said Mohn after the medal ceremony at the French Embassy on Pariser Platz in Berlin. “This year we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Franco-German friendship treaty – and given our shared history, we have achieved a great deal in this half-century.”

"France honors your dedication to the German-French dialog in the social and cultural domain," said the ambassador, addressing Liz Mohn. He described the Bertelsmann Stiftung, of which Liz Mohn is Vice Chair, as an important partner to numerous French institutions, and especially the renowned Institut Français. Just recently, he recalled, the two institutions had organized online and live debates and citizens' forums on the subject of growth and prosperity, in several German cities, to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Élysée Treaty.

But Bertelsmann’s involvement in France and its contribution to Franco-German understanding go back considerably further. "Bertelsmann and France have longstanding, close ties," explained Liz Mohn, against this background. She described receiving the award as "both a great honor and an incentive," adding that Bertelsmann had been active in its neighboring country since 1970 when it founded France Loisirs. "Today, 18,500 people work for Bertelsmann in France, most recently generating annual revenues of €2.5 billion."

Mohn said that this makes France one of the company’s "key markets" besides Germany and the United States. Almost all of Bertelsmann’s divisions currently have operations there – most of them for many years now: Gruner + Jahr with Prisma Media, RTL Group with the M6 family of channels and RTL Radio, and Arvato, which alone has 12,000 employees in many locations in France. BMG also operates in France now, as does BePrinters.