Bertelsmann

Bertelsmann, or the Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA, is the largest media corporation in Germany and the country’s only media conglomerate of global significance. Established in 1835 as a Protestant publishing house in the village of Gütersloh in Central Germany, the Bertelsmann group, as of 2021, employs more than 126,000 people in about 1,200 different companies. It holds shares in television and radio channels, magazines, newspapers, and websites in about 50 countries. The group’s total revenue in 2019 amounted to 18 billion EUR. Its geographic core markets are Western Europe—in particular, Germany, France, and the United Kingdom—and the United States. In addition, Bertelsmann invests heavily in growth markets such as Brazil, India, and China. This entry opens with an overview of the company and its ...