- published: 02 Jan 2011
- views: 8592
Bertelsmann AG is a multinational media corporation founded in 1835, based in Gütersloh, Germany. The company operates in 63 countries and employs 102,983 workers (as of December 31, 2009). In 2008 the company reported a €16.118 billion consolidated revenue and an operating EBIT of €1.568 billion. Among its some 2000 subdivisions, subsidiaries, and branches are Random House, RTL Group, Gruner + Jahr, Arvato, and BMG Rights Management.
Bertelsmann is majority owned (77.4%) by the Bertelsmann Foundation, a non-profit organisation and political think tank founded by the Mohn family. The Mohn family owns the remaining 22.6% of the company.
The C. Bertelsmann Verlag was founded as a publishing house and print shop in July 1835 by Carl Bertelsmann. At first Bertelsmann concentrated on Christian songs and books. In 1851, led by Carl Bertelsmann's son Heinrich, the company began publishing novels. During the following years Bertelsmann expanded steadily. By 1939 the publishing house employed 401 people. During World War II, Bertelsmann was the biggest single producer of Nazi propaganda. Its owner, Heinrich Mohn, is said to have belonged to a group that donated money to the Nazi squadron SS. At the end of World War II, the publishing house was closed for some time because of illegal paper-trading. During the Nazi period, it published books by Nazi authors such as Will Vesper (who did the commemorative speech at the 1933 book burning) and Hans Grimm. In 1947, the company was re-founded by Reinhard Mohn, fifth generation of the Bertelsmann family. In 2002 a commission appointed by the company itself found that it had co-operated closely with the Nazis during the war and used Jews as cheap labour.
The Bertelsmann Foundation (German: Bertelsmann Stiftung) is the largest private operating non-profit foundation in Germany, created in 1977 by Reinhard Mohn. The Bertelsmann Foundation holds 77.4 percent of Bertelsmann AG.
The Bertelsmann Foundation is active in political, social, economic, educational, cultural and health-related issues. It does not provide grants, scholarships or project funding to others, but focuses on researching, publishing and stimulating public debate on its topics. It is active worldwide and has since inception spent around €868 million on nonprofit projects. The total budget for the 2010 fiscal year was €60.3 million, according to the foundation's annual report.
The Foundation is based in Gütersloh, with representations in Berlin, Washington D.C., and Brussels. The board includes Gunter Thielen (chairperson), Liz Mohn (deputy chairperson), Jörg Dräger and Brigitte Mohn.
Bertelsmann Foundation has been criticised for their engagement in the political field, especially in educational and labour politics, where they were allegedly promoting neoliberal ideas such as an increase of competition in education and research and for the introduction of tuition fees to the German university system. The foundation has been accused of channeling their concepts into reforms of public universities in order to eliminate e.g. free access to education and academic autonomy.