Press Release | Gütersloh, 07/04/2024

Thomas Coesfeld Appointed to Bertelsmann Executive Board

• Appointed by Supervisory Board with immediate effect
• Coesfeld will be responsible on the Executive Board for the BMG division, which he has headed as CEO since July 2023

Thomas Coesfeld is the newest member of the Bertelsmann Executive Board. At its meeting today, the Supervisory Board of the international media, services, and education company appointed the CEO of the BMG division to the Group Executive Board with immediate effect. Coesfeld will be responsible on the Board for Bertelsmann’s music business, which he has headed as CEO since July 2023, prior to which he served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of BMG.

Christoph Mohn, Chairman of the Bertelsmann Supervisory Board, said: “My sincere congratulations to Thomas Coesfeld on his appointment to the Bertelsmann Executive Board. In his various management functions and now as CEO of BMG, he has advanced and focused the business with strategic skill and excellent entrepreneurial instincts. I am delighted that Thomas will now be contributing his experience and skills for the development of Bertelsmann as a whole as a member of the Executive Board. I wish him every success in this.”

Bertelsmann Chairman & CEO Thomas Rabe said: “I am pleased to welcome Thomas Coesfeld as a new member of the Bertelsmann Executive Board. He knows Bertelsmann well from various positions. As CEO of BMG, he has made important decisions for the future of the business, for example by bringing digital distribution in-house and using artificial intelligence in various areas of the music business. Thomas will enrich the work of the Management Board as well. I look forward to working even more closely with him.”

Thomas Coesfeld, the newest member of the Bertelsmann Executive Board and CEO of BMG, added: “I would like to thank the Supervisory Board for the trust they have placed in me. In working with my fellow Executive Board members under the leadership of Thomas Rabe, whom I thank for his constant support, I see a great opportunity and at the same time an obligation to further develop Bertelsmann and the BMG division with full commitment. I very much look forward to doing this.”

Thomas Coesfeld has served as CEO of BMG and sat on Bertelsmann’s Group Management Committee since July 1, 2023. He was appointed Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of BMG on April 1, 2021 and, among other things, helped implement the Bertelsmann Boost strategy for the music division. He had already been a member of the music company’s management board since October 2020. As CEO, Coesfeld has realigned the division with the BMG Next strategy – focusing on its high-growth core businesses of Publishing and Recorded, on digital revenue streams and the use of new technologies, and geographically even more strongly on the U.S. as the world’s most important music market. At the same time, he has further increased BMG’s profitability.

Before joining BMG, Thomas Coesfeld was a member of the Executive Board of the Bertelsmann Printing Group (now Bertelsmann Marketing Services) and Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of Mohn Media in Gütersloh. He began his Bertelsmann career in early 2016, initially working for BMG and Relias in the U.S. as a participant in the Bertelsmann Entrepreneurs Program (BEP). After studying business administration in Vallendar, Washington and Atlanta, Thomas Coesfeld began his working career as a management consultant at McKinsey in 2014.

Thomas Coesfeld is married and lives in Berlin and Gütersloh.

About Bertelsmann
Bertelsmann is a media, services and education company with more than 80,000 employees 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 Group, Bertelsmann Marketing Services, the Bertelsmann Education Group and Bertelsmann Investments, an international network of funds. The company generated revenues of €20.2 billion in the 2023 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.