Bertelsmann: Information and Much More from Answers.com http://www.answers.com/Bertelsmann?cat=biz-fin&print=true Hoover's Profile: Bertelsmann AG Contact Information Bertelsmann AG Carl-Bertelsmann-Strasse 270 D-33311 Gütersloh, Germany Tel. +49-5241-80-0 Fax +49-5241-80-9662 Type: Private On the web: http://www.bertelsmann.de Employees: 97,132 Employee growth: 6.1% u uuu uuu uuuu uu uu u u Sales: $25,458.5M One year growth: 20.2% Net income: $3,198.0M Income growth: 159.4% Officers: Honorary Chairman: Reinhard Mohn uu uu Competitors: Axel Springer R.R. Donnelley uu Company History: Bertelsmann A.G. Company Perspectives: Bertelsmann is an international media corporation. We provide information, education, and entertainment around the globe. The ultimate purpose of our community is to contribute to the advancement of society. We strive to be leaders in the markets in which we operate. Our joint efforts focus on creative content, customer relations, and strong return on capital. We want to ensure motivating and fair working conditions. We commit ourselves to the continuity and progress of our corporation. 1 of 7 2008-6-23 17:41 Bertelsmann: Information and Much More from Answers.com http://www.answers.com/Bertelsmann?cat=biz-fin&print=true Key Dates: 1835: Carl Bertelsmann starts the company, specializing in the 1850: Carl Bertelsmann dies and his son, Heinrich Bertelsmann 1887: With Heinrich Bertelsmann's death, the company comes 1945: Most of the company's buildings are destroyed by British 1950: Reinhard Mohn introduces the hugely successful Lesering, 1962: Bertelsmann takes its first step abroad, founding a book 1969: Continuing to expand into various media, Bertelsmann 1979: During 1979-1980 Bertelsmann expands into the U.S. 1986: The RCA label and Doubleday publishers are purchased, 1987: The company's global music businesses are combined to 1998: Bertelsmann takes over Random House, merging it with 2000: Europe's biggest television group, the RTL Group becomes Incorporated: 1835 as Bertelsmann Verlag NAIC: u SIC: u; 3652 Prerecorded Records & Tapes; 2721 Periodicals uu uu uuuu uuuuu uuu uuuuu uuuu uBMG. uuu u uuu uu u family; 25.1 percent was held by Belgian financier Albert Frere's uu; and 57.6 percent of the capital u Mohn family's share in Bertelsmann and appoint the company's management. uuuuu evangelical hymn books and devotional pamphlets in Pietist eastern Westphaliau uuuu u mother was to find him an apprenticeship in a bookbinderu avoid conscriptionuu uu u u uu uuuu uuuu rapidly. By the time of his death, it employed 14 people. uu uuuubestseller, the Missionsharfe (Missionary Harp), a hymnbook of which two million copies were printed. The first edition appeared in 1853. uuu u uuuu 2 of 7 2008-6-23 17:41 Bertelsmann: Information and Much More from Answers.com http://www.answers.com/Bertelsmann?cat=biz-fin&print=true u uuu uuuuu uuu u uu Bertelsmann's only child, Friederike Bertelsmann, married Johannes Mohn in 1881. Johannes Mohn was a minister's son from uuuu uu uuu uuu u uuuabdicationu u time. Like his great-grandfather, grandfather, and father before him, Heinrich Mohn had had the best possible theoretical uu u Before the war, Johannes Mohn had already had a taxable income of 100,000 marks a year. He was a millionaire. Despite uu ugalloping inflation in Germany in 1923. For the first time in the company's u u uu uuu u uuu uu uu competitors. uuu u u uuu uuuuu uu uu uu uuReinhard took charge of affairs in Gütersloh in 1947. u uuuuu u u uuuuu u uu uuuu uu uu uuu competition. Nevertheless there were still those who were uuu uuu uu u uuuu uuu usoaruu u u uworkforce of 11,000 at Gütersloh and elsewhere as opposed to the original 500 workers in 1951. uu implemented by Reinhard Mohn were to be of great significance. The first, born from necessity, was to cover the company's uuu minded actions made the Gütersloh office, far from West Germany's glittering metropolis, a greatly envied workplace. uu u These changes all took place with breathtakinguuu uuuuuu uuu u u uu 3 of 7 2008-6-23 17:41 Bertelsmann: Information and Much More from Answers.com http://www.answers.com/Bertelsmann?cat=biz-fin&print=true uuuuu uuuu Delegation of responsibility and decentralizationuuu u uuu Gütersloh. u uu u uubillionu uucolossalu u In 1981 after more than 30 years at the head of the company, Mohn moved from being chairman of the company to being chairman of the uu uu u remain in their jobs past 60 years of age. Under its new boss Dr. Mark Wössner (a former assistant to Mohn, who had made his way to the top beginning in the late uu u u uuuuuu uu uuu worldwide. u uu these developments. In 1990 alone, Bertelsmann spent DM1 billion in the newly opened eastern Germany, by starting a uuuu leading daily newspaper. The company's major moves into the U.S. market did not immediately pay off. In 1992, for instance, 21 percent of uuuu uuu u uu behemothu uuuuu uu uu uu uu u u additional US$50 million investment. This early bet on AOLu uugoldmineu forward-thinking, winning him the position of CEO of Bertelsmann in 1998. As AOL's CEO Steve Case told Business Week in u u uuuuu Bertelsmann more than US $7 billion. uuuu uu uuuu udearthuuu uuu uinfringementuuu uuuu uuuu uuuu uuu BuinessWeek Onlineuuu uumainstayu uu uu uripe for new investments. uuuu uuu uuu uuu u uRTL, and developing a relationship with Napster, Bertelsmann was paving the way to take uu world, Bertelsmann seemed willing to take chances in order to maintain and better its already enviable position in the u u 4 of 7 2008-6-23 17:41 Bertelsmann: Information and Much More from Answers.com http://www.answers.com/Bertelsmann?cat=biz-fin&print=true uuuuu uuuu uu uHeidelberg; uuu u Principal Divisions uuuu BertelsmannSpringer; Bertelsmann in the USA. Principal Competitors AOL Time Warner; Axel Springer; Walt Disney. u Barnet, Richard J., and John Cavanagh, Global Dreams: Imperial Corporations and the New World Order, New York: Simon u "Bertelsmann Gets Bigger," Business Week, April 15, 1996, p. 65. u Economist, April 9, 1988. uu Financial Times,u u Economist, November 16, 1991, p. 90. Edmondson, Gail, and Patrick Oster, "Waltz of the Media Giants," Business Week, September 12, 1994.