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109-509: So So Def was established in 1993 as a spin-off of Dupri's production company of the same moniker, through a joint venture with Sony and Columbia . Its first act was Xscape , whose debut album was released in the fall of the same year and went Platinum —as did their 2nd and 3rd albums, released in 1995 and 1998. In 1994, the label released the debut album of Da Brat , who became the 1st solo female emcee to be certified for Platinum album sales. In 1996, Kandi Burruss brought Jagged Edge to

218-432: A conflict of interest , since if Jackson's career failed, he would have had to sell his share of the catalog at a low price. Jackson sought an early exit from his contract. In July 2002, Jackson alleged that the then-Sony Music chairman Tommy Mottola was a "devil" and "racist" who did not support his African-American artists, using them merely for his own gain. He charged that Mottola had called his colleague Irv Gotti

327-565: A joint-stock company (" Aktiengesellschaft " or "AG"), renamed Bertelsmann AG. The increasingly diversifying book publishers were bundled in the Verlagsgruppe Bertelsmann publishing group at the end of the 1960s. In 1972, this company moved from Gütersloh to Munich. Key divisions remained in Gütersloh, for which a new office building was built in 1976 at the group's official location. To this day, it has remained

436-464: A partnership limited by shares (" Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien " or "KGaA"), with the general partner being a European stock corporation (" Societas Europaea " or "SE"). Also, since 2012, Thomas Rabe has been chairman and chief executive officer of Bertelsmann. In 2013, Bertelsmann floated part of its shares in the RTL Group on the stock exchange, in order to finance additional growth from

545-538: A "fat nigger ". Sony refused to renew Jackson's contract, and claimed that a $ 25 million promotional campaign had failed because Jackson refused to tour in the United States. In May 2012, Sony Music filed charges against the website IsoHunt . The plaintiff's claims in the court document filed at the Supreme Court of British Columbia read: "The IsoHunt Websites have been designed and are operated by

654-516: A 2004 merger, and a subsequent 2008 buyout. In 1995, Sony and Michael Jackson formed a joint venture which merged Sony's music publishing operations with Jackson's ATV Music to form Sony/ATV Music Publishing . In August 2004, Sony entered a joint venture with an equal partner Bertelsmann , by merging Sony Music and Bertelsmann Music Group , Germany, to establish Sony BMG Music Entertainment . However, Sony continued to operate its Japanese music business independently from Sony BMG and BMG Japan

763-600: A National Socialist model enterprise. During World War II , the C. Bertelsmann Verlag became a leading supplier to the Wehrmacht , even surpassing Franz Eher , the central publishing house of the Nazi Party . Especially in the years between 1939 and 1941, the revenues of the C. Bertelsmann Verlag skyrocketed. Jewish slave laborers were not forced to work in Gütersloh, but in printing plants in Lithuania with which

872-497: A boycott of Sony Music and all other Sony-affiliated businesses after rape allegations against music producer Dr. Luke were made by musical artist Kesha . Kesha asked a New York City Supreme Court to free her from her contract with Sony Music, but the court denied the request, prompting a widespread public and media response. Bertelsmann The Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA , commonly known as Bertelsmann ( German pronunciation: [ˈbɛʁtl̩sˌman] ),

981-572: A chief creative officer. On August 5, 2008, Sony Corporation of America (SCA) and Bertelsmann announced that Sony had agreed to acquire Bertelsmann's 50% stake in Sony BMG . The acquisition was completed on October 1, 2008. On July 1, 2009, SME and IODA announced a strategic partnership to leverage worldwide online retail distribution networks and complementary technologies to support independent labels and music rights holders. In March 2010, Sony Corp partnered with The Michael Jackson Company in

1090-633: A company established in 1958 to manufacture records, was not part of the Bertelsmann Music Group, rather it was assigned to the print and industrial division. With Doubleday , another well-known publishing house was acquired. As a result, the group ascended to become a well-known international company, and Bertelsmann was temporarily the world's largest media group. In the financial year of 1990/1991, Bertelsmann had over 45,000 employees and reached sales of 14.5 billion Deutsche Mark annually. 63% involved business outside of Germany, and

1199-606: A consortium led by Sony/ATV acquired EMI Music Publishing , making Sony/ATV the world's largest music publisher at the time. This acquisition also reunited the common ownership of pre-1986 CBS Songs (as SBK Songs) catalog to Sony/ATV. Rob Stringer became CEO of Sony Music Entertainment on April 1, 2017. He previously served as chairman and CEO of Columbia Records . Sony has experienced many changes with its international labels. In February 2012, Sony Music reportedly closed its Filipino office due to piracy , and Ivory Music and Video had been handling distribution for its catalog

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1308-618: A contract of more than $ 250 million, the largest deal in recorded music history. From 2009 to 2020, Sony owned 50% of Syco Entertainment , which operates some of the world's most successful reality TV formats , including Got Talent and The X Factor with Simon Cowell . Cowell acquired Sony's stake in 2020. Doug Morris , who was head of Warner Music Group , and later Universal Music , became chairman and CEO of Sony Music Entertainment on July 1, 2011. Sony Music underwent restructuring upon Morris's arrival; with some artists switching labels and other labels eliminated. In June 2012,

1417-792: A few months earlier in July 2011. In early 2018, their distribution deal with Ivory expired and SME resumed its operations in the Philippines, with the new offices still located in Ortigas Center , Pasig . In July 2013, Sony Music withdrew from the Greek market due to an economic crisis. Albums released by Sony Music in Greece from domestic and foreign artists would then be carried by Feelgood Records. In June 2017, Sony announced that by March 2018 it would be producing vinyl records internally for

1526-601: A full range of products and services for creative professionals. On 25 November 2020, it was reported that Bertelsmann will acquire the American publisher Simon & Schuster from ViacomCBS for more than $ 2 billion. On 14 December 2020, Bertelsmann entered talks to sell the French magazine publisher Prisma Media, a division of Gruner + Jahr, to Vivendi . The sale was completed on 31 May 2021. On 29 January 2021, Bertelsmann began to explore selling its controlling stake in

1635-499: A mass medium, as well as changes to the ownership structure. In 1993, Reinhard Mohn transferred the majority of capital shares to the Bertelsmann Stiftung and assumed its chairmanship. The foundation itself was financed by profits of the company. In 1994, Gruner + Jahr acquired the magazines of The New York Times , whereby Bertelsmann was once again able to expand its presence in foreign markets. From 1995, there

1744-702: A medium-sized enterprise to a major conglomerate, offering not only books but also television, radio, music, magazines and services. Its principal divisions include the RTL Group , Penguin Random House , BMG , Arvato , the Bertelsmann Printing Group , the Bertelsmann Education Group and Bertelsmann Investments. Bertelsmann is an unlisted and capital market-oriented company, which remains primarily controlled by

1853-492: A merger of Sony Music Entertainment and music publishing arm Sony/ATV to form the Sony Music Group. The merger was completed on August 1, 2019. As of 2023 , Sony Music Entertainment is the second largest of the " Big Three " record companies, behind Universal Music Group and followed by Warner Music Group . Its music publishing division Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV) is the largest music publisher in

1962-470: A multi-year distribution deal with Create Music Group for the So So Def label. Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment ( SME ), commonly known as Sony Music , is an American multinational music company owned by Sony Entertainment and managed by the American umbrella division of multinational conglomerate Sony Group Corporation . It is the recording division of Sony Music Group , with

2071-550: A total of five individual awards at the BRITs 2015, including Best Female Solo Artist for Paloma Faith , and Mark Ronson 's " Uptown Funk ", which picked up Best British Single. Several other of the label's artists – Foo Fighters , One Direction and Pharrell Williams – also collected awards. Sony's performance at the BRITs 2015 was the label's best in nearly 20 years, winning a total of 5 awards. In 2017, Sony Music UK celebrated

2180-606: A whole. Mark Wössner brought the subsidiaries closer to headquarters in Gütersloh. In particular, this involved business development and controlling. Under the leadership of Mark Wössner, Bertelsmann also took a stake in RTL plus , the first private TV broadcaster in Germany. In 1986, Bertelsmann acquired a majority in RCA Records and merged its activities in the music market with the new Bertelsmann Music Group . Sonopress ,

2289-453: Is Europe's largest player in the industry. The corporate group is located in Gütersloh. Bertelsmann Printing Group includes not only GGP Media, Mohn Media, Prinovis, Sonopress, Vogel Druck and several other companies, but also Be Printers . Be Printers is in turn a spin-off of Arvato, created in 2012, in order to consolidate the group's printing business. The business has been under pressure for years due to declining print editions. In 2022,

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2398-472: Is a German private multinational conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh , North Rhine-Westphalia , Germany . It is one of the world's largest media conglomerates and is also active in the service sector and education . Bertelsmann was founded as a publishing house by Carl Bertelsmann in 1835. After World War II , Bertelsmann, under the leadership of Reinhard Mohn , went from being

2507-535: Is a leading European entertainment provider, based in Luxembourg . The company runs a commercial private television and radio channels in several countries, including RTL and VOX in Germany. In 2015, with the RTL Digital Hub , the company launched a dedicated unit for web videos . In addition, production companies, such as Fremantle , are part of the RTL Group. In January 1997, Bertelsmann merged

2616-500: Is an international service provider. In its current form, the company originated in the year 1999. At that time, the print and industry sectors at Bertelsmann were restructured, whereby services received a higher priority than the print and machinery sector. Since the 1950s, Bertelsmann has been an active service provider, delivering books for other publishing companies, for example. To this day, Vereinigte Verlagsauslieferung (VVA) has belonged to Arvato. Arvato also offers services in

2725-408: Is estimated that customers were overcharged by nearly $ 500 million overall and up to $ 5 per album. British artist George Michael , signed to Columbia in the U.S. and Epic worldwide, advised Sony executives in 1990 that he would not be appearing in music videos to support his forthcoming album, Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 . Michael then accused Sony of not promoting the album at all. He sued in

2834-575: Is focused on growth in the e-commerce sector, among others. In the 1990s, critical questions arose as to the role of Bertelsmann in Nazi Germany . They were precipitated by a speech given by the chairman and chief executive officer, Thomas Middelhoff , on the occasion of his receiving the Vernon A. Walters Award 1998 in New York City . Thomas Middelhoff portrayed Bertelsmann as one of

2943-413: Is intended as a completely independent structure from Sony Music to represent only local musicians under the new brand Kiss Koala, which was later bought by the structures of former top managers of Warner Music Russia . Between 1995 and 2000, music companies were found to have used illegal marketing agreements such as minimum advertised pricing to artificially inflate prices of compact discs . This

3052-487: Is managed by the Bertelsmann Management SE. The chairman of the executive board of Bertelsmann Management SE is Thomas Rabe. Other members of the executive board include Markus Dohle , Immanuel Hermreck, Bernd Hirsch and Anke Schäferkordt. In 2012, Bertelsmann created the additional so-called Group Management Committee , in order to advise the executive board in important matters. Some members of

3161-635: Is not part of Penguin Random House, yet it does belong to the same division at Bertelsmann. Penguin Random House has its main headquarters in the Penguin Random House Tower in New York City . Since 2020, Bertelsmann owns 100% of the company. In 2022, the company achieved sales of €4.2 billion. BMG is a music publishing company based in Berlin . The BMG catalog encompasses rights to works by artists such as Céline Dion , Jennifer Lopez , Ronan Keating and Britney Spears . In 2008,

3270-636: Is the Ad Alliance , launched in 2017, in which Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland and Gruner + Jahr bundled the marketing of their advertising platforms. The marketing arms of the Spiegel publishing house, Axel Springer , and Funke Mediengruppe have since joined the Ad Alliance as well; its portfolio reaches over 99 percent of the German population. In 2019, Bertelsmann also boosted cooperation in

3379-710: Is the world's largest book publishing company. The company was created in 2013 through the merger of the publishing businesses of Bertelsmann and Pearson . With the acquisition of Random House in 1998, Bertelsmann already became the largest book publisher in the English-speaking world . 250 publishing houses on five continents are part of the company, including Random House and Penguin Books , but also Doubleday , Knopf and Viking . The German Verlagsgruppe Random House ( Goldmann , Heyne and others), based in Munich,

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3488-785: The Bertelsmann Building in New York City and located its North American headquarters there. The building was re-sold in 2004. The Berlin representative office was opened in 2003 in the Kommandantenhaus in the historic center of Berlin. As part of international activities, Bertelsmann established additional locations at the corporate level (Corporate Centers) in Beijing (2006), New Delhi (2012) and São Paulo (2012). Worldwide, with all divisions, Bertelsmann has almost 350 locations. The majority are in Europe, where

3597-620: The Brazilian media company Grupo Globo sold its domestic record label Som Livre to Sony Music for an undisclosed amount. It was approved by the Administrative Council for Economic Defense on November 4, 2021. The UK media company Somethin' Else was acquired outright by Sony Music in 2021, to form a Global Podcast Division, headed up by the Somethin' Else principles, Steve Ackerman and Jez Nelson . The new division

3706-510: The Mohn family . The nucleus of the corporation is the C. Bertelsmann Verlag , a publishing house established on 1 July 1835 by Carl Bertelsmann in Gütersloh. Carl Bertelsmann was a representative of the " Minden-Ravensberger Erweckungsbewegung", a Protestant revival movement, whose writings he published. The C. Bertelsmann Verlag, originally specialized in theological literature, expanded its publications to include school and textbooks and in

3815-687: The Vereinigte Verlagsauslieferung (VVA) emerged, Bertelsmann laid the cornerstone for its service business. In 1964, Bertelsmann purchased the already broken-up UFA from the Deutsche Bank and built on its presence in cinema and television. In 1969, Bertelsmann acquired shares in the magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr . A merger with Axel Springer , also planned at the time, for which a loan for millions had been taken out temporarily from Westdeutsche Landesbank , failed in 1970. Starting in 1971, Bertelsmann operated as

3924-479: The 1920s and 1930s increasingly entered into the field of light fiction. In Nazi Germany , the publishing house gained a prominent position with its affordable Bertelsmann Volksausgaben ("people's editions"). In particular, war adventure books such as Werner von Langsdorff's Fliegerbuch on aviation were a commercial success. Heinrich Mohn belonged to the patrons' circle of the SS and sought to turn his company into

4033-661: The 1950s and 1960s, Bertelsmann expanded its activities into new business areas. In 1956, the company entered the music market with the Bertelsmann Schallplattenring (record club). Two years later, Ariola, one of the most successful German record labels was launched, and virtually at the same time, the Sonopress record pressing plant was established. With the Kommissionshaus Buch & Ton (book and audio commissioning company), from which

4142-538: The 1970s, the Bertelsmann headquarters have been in the Gütersloh district of Avenwedde, and its layout encompasses some 26,100 square meters. The office buildings were erected in 1976 and expanded in 1990. In addition to the typical facilities, the headquarters in Gütersloh also feature the Bertelsmann University , an academic institution for Bertelsmann executives. In 1992, Bertelsmann purchased

4251-690: The Bertelsmann Executive Board ever since. The company weighed its strategic options for the Customer Relationship Management business, and in 2018 established a CRM company in cooperation with the Saham Group : The new company, Majorel , enjoys a leading market position in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. The growing education business was strengthened in 2018 through the acquisition of

4360-571: The Bertelsmann Printing Group achieved sales of €1.4 billion. The Bertelsmann Education Group is dedicated to the education sector. It was established in 2015 and has its headquarters in New York City . It includes, for example, the Alliant International University and Relias Learning. The acquisition of Relias Learning in 2014 formed the cornerstone for the Bertelsmann Education Group and

4469-543: The Bertelsmann headquarters, referred to as the Bertelsmann Corporate Center . The rapid growth of Bertelsmann led to structural and financial problems. In the 1970s, financing requirements reached their peak. From 1975 to 1980, for example, the return on sales fell below one percent. Bertelsmann also encountered new regulatory rules in its home market, in particular through laws governing mergers. Larger acquisitions became practically impossible. At

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4578-573: The C. Bertelsmann Verlag cooperated. In 1944, the Reichsschrifttumskammer (Reich Chamber of Literature) closed the publishing house to "mobilize all powers for victory". Another essential reason for this was criminal paper racketeering by some publisher's employees, which led to a trial in 1944. After World War II, the company portrayed itself to the Allied Control Authority as a Christian publisher that

4687-775: The Columbia Records productions unit was operating four plants around the United States located in Los Angeles, California ; Terre Haute, Indiana ; Bridgeport, Connecticut ; and Pitman, New Jersey . Columbia's international arm was launched in 1962 under the name "CBS Records", as the company only owned the rights to the Columbia name in North America. In 1964, the company began acquiring record companies in other countries for its CBS Records International unit and established its own UK distribution outfit with

4796-561: The French television channel M6 . Bertelsmann is a decentralized organization . This means that the divisions largely work independently. The holding handles central tasks, in the field of corporate finance , for example. In 2016, Bertelsmann introduced a new structure of eight divisions: RTL Group (television and radio), Penguin Random House (book publishing), BMG (music rights), Arvato (services), Bertelsmann Education Group (education), Bertelsmann Printing Group (printing) and Bertelsmann Investments (investments). RTL Group

4905-599: The German content market by establishing the Content Alliance , headed up by Julia Jäkel . The key players in this initiative involve the television and radio broadcasting networks of the Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, UFA TV production company, Random House publishing company, Gruner + Jahr, as well as the BMG music company. The Bertelsmann Content Alliance develops joint formats and delivers

5014-596: The Russian Federation in 1999. In 2000, the first contract was signed with the Russian group Bi-2 . For 2021, experts estimated the company's share in the Russian recording market at approximately 15-20%. Sony Music Entertainment LLC's revenue in 2021 amounted to 2.56 billion rubles ($ 42.7 million). Net profit amounted to 132.9 million rubles ($ 2.22 million). On March 10, 2022, in connection with Russian invasion of Ukraine , Sony Music Entertainment announced

5123-728: The U.S. provider OnCourse Learning , one of the Group's biggest deals in the U.S. market. OnCourse Learning offers continuing education and professional development by providing digital courses for healthcare and financial services clients. Bertelsmann, itself a strong advocate of lifelong learning, donated tens of thousands of Udacity scholarships in 2017 and 2019 to enable the advanced training of talented participants, in fields including Big Data, cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Bertelsmann has promoted stronger cooperation among its corporate divisions and has also opened up towards collaboration with other media houses. One such example

5232-475: The UFA film and television company with Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT). The merger of CLT-UFA with Pearson TV in the year 2000 marked the beginning of the RTL Group. The company is listed on the stock exchange and has been majority-owned by Bertelsmann since 2001. Following the sale of shares in 2013, the stake is 75.1%. In 2022, sales of the RTL Group were € 7.2 billion. Penguin Random House

5341-481: The UK in 1992, asking to be released from his contract. Sony ultimately prevailed in the courts in 1994, but Michael's contract was bought out by other labels. Some 11 years later, Michael licensed tracks to Sony for release. The release of Invincible was preceded by a dispute between Michael Jackson and Sony Music Entertainment. Jackson had expected the licenses to the masters of his albums to revert to him sometime in

5450-526: The United Kingdom. Since 2014, Jason Iley has been chairman and CEO of Sony Music UK. Though owned by Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Music UK has standalone operations in the UK to promote musicians within the UK. In June 2017, it was announced that Sony would be merging its two independent distribution companies The Orchard and Red Essential. In 2014, Sony had its best singles success of 33 years, with 11 number 1 singles. Sony Music artists won

5559-686: The United States was the most important foreign market. After the German reunification and the end of the Cold War , Bertelsmann also expanded to East Germany , as well as into Central and Eastern Europe . For example, in 1989 the first branch outlet of the Club Bertelsmann opened in Dresden . The later development of Bertelsmann in the 1990s was marked by the spread of the Internet as

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5668-427: The United States, a location was established for Ariola and, in 1979, Arista Records was acquired from Columbia Pictures . In the period of the 1979–1980 recession , there was discussion concerning the succession of Reinhard Mohn. In 1981, he finally moved over to the supervisory board . Dr. Juergen Kraemer, former Finance Minister of West Germany, who had previously headed up management of Gruner + Jahr, became

5777-421: The United States. With Bertelsmann Asia Investments , Bertelsmann Brazil Investments and Bertelsmann India Investments , three additional funds exist that are active in the growth regions defined by the holding. Bertelsmann Investments holds equity positions in a total of over 100 startup companies , almost all from the digital economy. In 2022, sales reached €535 million. From 1971 to 2012, Bertelsmann

5886-409: The acquisition of Oriole Records . By 1966, Columbia was renamed CBS Records and was a separate unit of the parent company, CBS-Columbia Group. In March 1968, CBS and Sony formed CBS/Sony Records , a Japanese business joint venture. In 1971, CBS Records was expanded into its own "CBS Records Group", with Clive Davis as its administrative vice president and general manager. In the 1980s to

5995-424: The agreement was "a once in a lifetime signing with the biggest male solo artist of our generation". Sony Music UK incorporated the independent sales and distribution company Essential Music and Marketing – renamed to Red Essential . In August 2016, Sony Music acquired Ministry of Sound Recordings , home to London Grammar , DJ Fresh and Sigala . On April 5, 2017, two of Sony Music UK's labels won awards at

6104-591: The annual Music Week Awards. Columbia Records was awarded A&R of the Year, and Syco was awarded Record Company of the Year. In 2021, Sony agreed to buy Kobalt neighboring rights division and independent distribution company AWAL , from the Kobalt Music Group for $ 430 million. Sony Music Entertainment Russia was the Russian music label of Sony Music Entertainment. The company opened its division in

6213-494: The areas of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Supply Chain Management (SCM) and finance, as well as information technology . The main headquarters of Arvato is Gütersloh, and additional locations exist in 22 countries. In 2022, sales of Arvato reached a volume of €5.6 billion. In January 2016, Bertelsmann bundled its printing activities in digital , offset and gravure in the Bertelsmann Printing Group . It

6322-503: The attention of the label; their debut album, A Jagged Era , was released in 1997. So So Def later released the triple platinum debut album by Lil' Bow Wow in 2000. Other acts on the label have included: Dem Franchise Boyz , Maestro Harrell , The Ghost Town DJs , INOJ , J-Kwon , Trina Broussard, 3LW , and Anthony Hamilton . In late 2002, So So Def's distribution deal with Columbia ended. The following year, Dupri moved So So Def to Arista . While many of So So Def's acts moved with

6431-467: The company was created after the group divested from the music market. Following the sale of Sony BMG , Bertelsmann had retained the rights to 200, mainly European, artists. In 2009, KKR came on board with BMG, retaining a 51% majority in the company, and Bertelsmann held 49%. Since 2013, BMG has once again become a fully owned subsidiary of Bertelsmann. In 2016, BMG became a division of Bertelsmann. In 2022, BMG had revenues of €866 million. Arvato

6540-643: The defendants with the sole purpose of profiting from rampant copyright infringement which defendants actively encourage, promote, authorize, induce, aid, abet, materially contribute to and commercially profit from." In February 2016, in a lawsuit filed at a California federal court, Sony Music Entertainment and its associated brands ( Arista Records and LaFace Records , formerly owned by Bertelsmann Music Group ) accused Belgian radio aggregator Radionomy (owned by Universal Music Group's parent Vivendi ) of copyright infringement. In February 2016, 100,000 people signed an online petition in less than 24 hours, calling for

6649-509: The early 1990s, the company managed several successful labels, including CBS Associated Records, which signed artists including Ozzy Osbourne , the Fabulous Thunderbirds , Electric Light Orchestra , Joan Jett , and Henry Lee Summer . In 1983, CBS expanded its music publishing business by acquiring the music publishing arm of MGM/UA Communications Co. CBS later sold the print music arm to Columbia Pictures . By 1987, CBS

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6758-442: The early 2000s, after which he would be able to promote the material however he pleased and keep the profits; however, clauses in the contract set the revert date years into the future. Jackson discovered that the attorney who had represented him in the deal had also been representing Sony. He was also concerned that for years Sony had been pressuring him to sell his share in its music catalog venture; he feared that Sony might have had

6867-590: The few non-Jewish media companies shut down by the National Socialists because it allegedly published subversive literature. This interpretation was severely criticized, for example, by publicist Hersch Fischler. The speech led to a broad public debate and ultimately in 1998 to the establishment of an independent historical commission (IHC) by the group. This was headed by Saul Friedländer , and additional members were Norbert Frei, Trutz Rendtorff and Reinhard Wittmann. The IHC presented an interim report in

6976-487: The financing of additional growth. The media commented the change of the legal structure "the turn of an era", as it essentially also enables the company to go public. This move was not ultimately implemented, however. Today, Bertelsmann is a company active in capital markets , issuing bonds , for example. Since 2001, the company has prepared its financial statements according to International Financial Reporting Standards . The new legal entity does not change any of

7085-624: The first time since ceasing its production in 1989. Reporting the decision, the BBC noted that, "Sony's move comes a few months after it equipped its Tokyo studio with a cutting lathe , used to produce the master discs needed for manufacturing vinyl records" but added that "Sony is even struggling to find older engineers who know how to make records". On February 5, 2019, a group of 1970s-era musicians including David Johansen and John Waite filed lawsuits accusing Sony Music Entertainment and UMG Recordings, Inc. of improperly refusing to let them reclaim

7194-452: The group earns the largest share of its revenues. Over the past years, the group has increasingly focused on the newly industrialized nations of Brazil, China and India. In Brazil, efforts have been aimed at expanding activities above all in the field of education. Bertelsmann has already been involved in China since 1992, and today all divisions are represented there. In India, Bertelsmann

7303-471: The international rights to the trademark from EMI in 1990. Japan is the only country where Sony does not have rights to the Columbia name as it is controlled by Nippon Columbia , an unrelated company. Thus, Sony Music Entertainment Japan issues labels under Sony Records. The Columbia Records trademark's rightsholder in Spain was Bertelsmann Music Group, Germany , which Sony Music subsequently subsumed via

7412-456: The label to Arista, Bow Wow and Jagged Edge were forced to remain at Columbia, due to their contracts having been with that company primarily. In 2004, per the re-consolidation of labels caused by the merger of its former Sony parent and BMG , So So Def was shifted from Arista to Zomba . In 2005, Dupri was appointed Executive Vice President of Urban Music at Virgin , causing So So Def to move again, this time over to Virgin and EMI —resulting in

7521-485: The loss of Bone Crusher and YoungBloodZ . So So Def, meanwhile, was able to retain J-Kwon and Anthony Hamilton, despite them still being signed to Zomba. In 2006, Dupri had a falling-out with Virgin, resulting in him leaving his post at the company. Intermittent, he was appointed President of urban music at Universal's Island , resulting in So So Def once again making a move to UMG's The Island Def Jam . In 2009, it

7630-677: The majority of the shares in RTL through a share swap with the Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL), which as a result owned 25.1% of Bertelsmann. Under the leadership of Thomas Middelhoff, Bertelsmann increased its involvement in the Internet, whereby above all the investment in Napster received major media attention. The aim of the acquisition, among other things, was to stem the illegal spread of copyrighted material. In 2001,

7739-433: The market leader for mathematics and physics. In the year 2000, Bertelsmann dissolved its joint venture with AOL Europe. The sale of the shares in the joint venture to America Online yielded billions to Bertelsmann. In the same year, Bertelsmann and Pearson formed the RTL Group from their TV subsidiaries. Bertelsmann initially owned a minority in the company, and gradually built up its share. Later, Bertelsmann secured

7848-497: The media noted that a relatively large number of women have been appointed to the Group Management Committee. Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA and Bertelsmann Management SE each have a supervisory board that oversees the management. In 2013, Christoph Mohn assumed the chairmanship of both bodies. From the family, Liz Mohn and Brigitte Mohn are also members of the supervisory boards of both companies. Since

7957-490: The media viewed the change critically. A consolidation phase followed, in order to solve the problems with the core business. For example, Bertelsmann sold unprofitable e-commerce firms like the online shop of Barnes & Noble , among others. Gruner + Jahr sold the Berliner Zeitung , and the scientific publisher, BertelsmannSpringer , was spun off. In the 2003 financial year, Bertelsmann announced that it

8066-412: The most successful BRIT Awards in the company's history, winning seven of the 11 awards. Sony Music UK has made key acquisitions including forming Insanity Records with Insanity Management. Craig David became the first artist to sign an album deal with Insanity Records. Sony Music UK signed Robbie Williams , who released his 11th album The Heavy Entertainment Show in 2016. Jason Iley commented that

8175-526: The move will help expand their merchandising team and take artists' merch to the next level. In January 2023, Sony Music and Alamo Records founder Todd Moscowitz launched Santa Anna, an artist and label services company. In April 2024, it was announced Sony Music Entertainment's Global Podcast Division had acquired the Los Angeles-headquartered podcast production company, Neon Hum Media for an undisclosed amount. Sony Music Canada

8284-547: The name of Sony Music Entertainment . In 2008, Bertelsmann acquired the rights to the Brockhaus Encyclopedia , and from that time on, this reference work was published by the Wissen Media Verlag . At the end of 2011, Hartmut Ostrowski suddenly announced that he was leaving Bertelsmann for unspecified personal reasons. In 2012, Bertelsmann went from being an AG to its current incorporation as

8393-424: The new chairman and chief executive officer . With this move, Bertelsmann, for the first time, was led by a manager who was not a member of the owner family. Mark Wössner became Fischer's successor as chairman and chief executive officer of Bertelsmann in 1983. The affair concerning the forged Hitler diaries occurred at the beginning of his tenure, which damaged the reputation of Gruner + Jahr and Bertelsmann as

8502-503: The operations of Sony Music and Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG), but Sony bought out Bertelsmann's stake four years later and reverted to using the 1991 company name. This buyout led to labels formerly under BMG ownership, including Arista , Jive , LaFace and J Records into former BMG and currently Sony's co-flagship record label, RCA Records , in 2011 and led to the relaunch of BMG as BMG Rights Management . Arista Records would later be revived in 2018. On July 17, 2019, Sony announced

8611-531: The other half being the publishing division, Sony Music Publishing . Founded in 1929 as American Record Corporation , it was acquired by the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1938 and renamed Columbia Recording Corporation . In 1966, the company was reorganized to become CBS Records . Sony bought the company in 1988 and renamed it SME in 1991. In 2004, Sony and Bertelsmann established a 50–50 joint venture known as Sony BMG to handle

8720-462: The ownership of Bertelsmann. As early as the 1970s and 1980s, the Mohn family built up the Bertelsmann Stiftung , which has owned the majority of shares in Bertelsmann since 1993. In addition to social responsibility, tax considerations played a role in this. Moreover, this strategy was intended to preserve the continuity of the company. Today, according to Bertelsmann, the Mohn family holds 19.1% of

8829-431: The partial withdrawal of Pearson , Bertelsmann secured a strategic three-quarters majority in the world's leading trade publishing group. Penguin Random House's publications include the memoirs of Michelle and Barack Obama . Arvato was aligned more closely with the Group through changes in management, among other measures. The heads of the division's individual "Solution Groups" have reported directly to members of

8938-532: The proceeds of the sale. In the year 2013, Penguin Random House became the world's largest publishing company. Gruner + Jahr was taken over completely by Bertelsmann in 2014. Furthermore, under the leadership of Thomas Rabe, Bertelsmann increasingly invested in the education sector: In 2014, for example, Relias Learning was acquired. The company belongs to the Bertelsmann Education Group , established in 2015. The Club Bertelsmann

9047-645: The publishing house to the sale of books, which was decisive to further growth. In 1959, the C. Bertelsmann Verlag underwent a restructuring. From that point forward, theological literature was published by the newly established Gütersloher Verlagshaus, which was consolidated with the Rufer Verlag. Fiction, poetry, and art publications were placed under the Sigbert Mohn Verlag. The C. Bertelsmann Verlag focused on nonfiction books, in particular dictionaries, guidebooks, reference books and journals. In

9156-523: The record company Sony Music Entertainment (SME) on January 1, 1991, fulfilling the terms set under the 1988 buyout, which granted only a transitional license to the CBS trademark. The CBS Associated label was renamed Epic Associated. Also on January 1, 1991, to replace the CBS label, Sony reintroduced the Columbia label worldwide, which it previously held in the United States and Canada only, after it acquired

9265-507: The rights to songs they had signed away earlier in their careers. The lawsuit cites U.S. copyright law, which gives artists who formerly bargained away their rights on unfavorable terms a chance to reclaim those rights by filing termination notices after 35 years. The plaintiffs claim that Sony and UMG have "routinely and systematically" ignored hundreds of notices, having taken the position that recordings are "works made for hire" and are therefore not subject to being reclaimed. In April 2021,

9374-408: The rights to the CBS name for music recordings but granted Sony a temporary license to use the CBS name. The sale was completed on January 5, 1988. CBS Corporation founded a new CBS Records in 2006, which was distributed by Sony through its RED subsidiary. In 1989, CBS Records re-entered the music publishing business by acquiring Nashville-based Tree International Publishing . Sony renamed

9483-567: The same time, there was an increasing saturation of the German market for the Bertelsmann Lesering, whereas the foreign book clubs earned the lion's share of revenues in this corporate division. The internationalization of Bertelsmann, initiated in the 1960s, was taken further: Among other things, Bertelsmann acquired shares in the publishing houses Plaza & Janés based in Barcelona and Bantam Books from New York City. In

9592-419: The service nonetheless had to be shut down due to legal disputes. Bertelsmann faced several claims for damages by the music industry. In order to finance additional growth of Bertelsmann, Thomas Middelhoff raised the idea of going public, which led to fundamental disagreement with the Mohn family. In 2002, Gunter Thielen became the new chairman and chief executive officer of Bertelsmann, and some members of

9701-496: The shares. The three foundations, Bertelsmann Stiftung, Reinhard Mohn Stiftung and BVG Stiftung, together own 80.9%. The Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH (BVG) has key influence on the whole group: It bundles all the voting rights of the Mohn family and foundations with ownership shares. Together, they own 100 percent in the general assemblies of the group company (Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA) and its general partner (Bertelsmann Management SE). Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA

9810-567: The suspension of operations and new releases in Russia, while Russian employees of Sony Music Group receive pay indefinitely. On September 8, Sony Music officially announced its final withdrawal from Russia. The company recalled all foreign catalogs from the Russian streaming services Yandex Music , Zvooq and VK Music, and tracks from AC/DC , Beyoncé , Britney Spears , Bring Me the Horizon and many other artists were removed. The Russian division

9919-401: The takeover of Random House . With this, the group advanced to become the largest publishing group in the English-speaking world . Random House was merged with Bantam Doubleday Dell , and the global headquarters of all Bertelsmann publishing houses were relocated to New York City. In 1999, Bertelsmann acquired the publisher Springer Science+Business Media , which, among other things, was

10028-607: The war and Sigbert Mohn was still a prisoner of war. In 1947, the Allies finally granted the company a publishing license. After currency reform in 1948, there was a market slump in the book trade that also led to the next existential crisis for the C. Bertelsmann Verlag. Under these conditions, in 1950 Bertelsmann launched the Lesering (book club) to stimulate sales. Customers ordered books via subscription and in return received discounted prices. The business increasingly shifted from

10137-504: The world. The American Record Corporation (ARC) was founded in 1929 through a merger of several record companies. The company grew over the next several years, acquiring other brands such as the Columbia Phonograph Company , including its Okeh Records subsidiary, in 1934. In 1938, ARC was acquired by the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) under the guidance of chief executive William S. Paley . The company

10246-403: The year 2000 and issued a final report in 2002. It stated, for example, that the suggestion that the C. Bertelsmann Verlag mounted resistance against National Socialism was clearly not accurate. The company's "shut-down as a publisher of the resistance" could not be proven. Historian Volker Ullrich said in the weekly Die Zeit that the notion of the company's being "a resistance publisher"

10355-401: Was a joint stock company under German law ( Aktiengesellschaft ). Subsequently, the company was transformed into a partnership limited by shares ( Kommanditgesellschaft auf Aktien ). The general partner is a European stock corporation ( Societas Europaea ). Bertelsmann's rationale for this move, among others, was the aim of opening up for investors, thus enabling them to participate in

10464-524: Was a new business division of multimedia at Bertelsmann. Its centerpiece was AOL Europe , a joint venture of America Online and Bertelsmann. Prior to that, Bertelsmann had already acquired a direct share in America Online. The multimedia division also included mediaWays and Pixelpark . In 1997, UFA merged with Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT) to become a joint entertainment group based in Luxembourg . With CLT-UFA, Bertelsmann

10573-637: Was able to decisively diversify its business. In 1998, Thomas Middelhoff succeeded Mark Wössner as Bertelsmann's chairman and chief executive officer. Thomas Middelhoff had previously already been a member of the management board of the multimedia division. Mark Wössner joined the supervisory board of the company and also became chairman of the Bertelsmann Stiftung. In March 1998, Bertelsmann sold its video game publisher, BMG Interactive, to Take-Two Interactive in exchange for 16 percent of Take Two's stock. This management change coincided with

10682-425: Was also financed with the sale of the music publishing business to Vivendi 's Universal Music Publishing Group . During the tenure of Gunter Thielen, the number of employees at Bertelsmann exceeded 100,000 for the first time. In 2008, Hartmut Ostrowski was appointed chairman and chief executive officer. Bertelsmann sold its shares of the record label Sony BMG , and since then the company has operated under

10791-501: Was done in order to end price wars of the early 1990s among discounters such as Best Buy and Target . A settlement was reached in 2002 that included music publishers and distributors Sony Music, Warner Music , Bertelsmann Music Group , EMI Music and Universal Music . In restitution for price fixing , they agreed to pay a $ 67.4 million fine and distribute $ 75.7 million in CDs to public and non-profit groups but admitted no wrongdoing. It

10900-505: Was formed when Sony Music acquired Canadian assets of CBS Records in 1990 (itself formerly Columbia Records Canada in 1954). Sony Music Canada is operated by Sony Canada , which evolved from General Distributors or Gendis, which had been founded in Winnipeg in 1954 by Albert D. Cohen , who had made a deal with Sony to market its transistor radios in the same year. Sony Music UK is owned and operated by Sony Music Entertainment in

11009-405: Was investing its music business in a joint venture with Sony . Bertelsmann and Sony each owned half the shares. With this transaction, the stakeholders sought to respond to declining sales in the music market . In addition, Gunter Thielen initiated the buyback of the shares from Groupe Bruxelles Lambert, so that the Mohn family regained complete control of Bertelsmann from 2006. This measure

11118-494: Was later renamed Columbia Recording Corporation, and changed again to Columbia Records Inc. in 1947. Edward Wallerstein, who served as the head of Columbia Records since the late 1930s, helped establish the company as a leader in the record industry by spearheading the successful introduction of the LP record . Columbia's success continued through the 1950s with the launch of Epic Records in 1953 and Date Records in 1958. By 1962,

11227-410: Was made part of the merger. The merger made Columbia and Epic sister labels to RCA Records, which was once owned by CBS rival, NBC . It also started the process of bringing BMG's Arista Records back under common ownership with its former parent Columbia Pictures , a Sony division since 1989, and brought Arista founder Clive Davis back into the fold. As of 2017, Davis was still with Sony Music as

11336-399: Was part of the resistance to Nazism and allegedly persecuted. Ties to National Socialist organizations were initially denied. After it became known that erroneous, or at least inadequate, statements had been made, Heinrich Mohn stepped down as the head of the publishing house. Reinhard Mohn , one of his three sons, took over the C. Bertelsmann Verlag, as Hans Heinrich Mohn had been killed in

11445-603: Was reported that Dupri had been terminated from his post at Island. Later in the same year, it was rumored that So So Def had moved back to Sony, where it reportedly operated under Zomba once more. In 2010, Mississippi-based independent label Malaco Records distributed So So Def's release of the Why Did I Get Married Too? soundtrack. In 2014, So So Def partnered with Primary Wave for the release of Jagged Edge 's album J.E. Heartbreak 2 . In June 2016, So So Def partnered with Epic for current distribution. In 2024, Dupri signed

11554-411: Was the largest acquisition by Bertelsmann since the purchase of Random House. In 2016, Relias acquired AHC Media, which was renamed Relias Media. In 2022, the Bertelsmann Education Group generated sales of €622 million. The Bertelsmann Investments division bundles Bertelsmann's startup investments. Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments is based in Gütersloh and since 2014 has concentrated mainly on

11663-603: Was the only " big three " American TV network to have a co-owned record company. With Sony being one of the developers behind the compact disc digital music media, a compact disc production plant was constructed in Japan under the joint venture, allowing CBS to begin supplying some of the first compact disc releases for the American market in 1983. In 1986, CBS sold its music publishing division, CBS Songs, to SBK Entertainment On November 17, 1987, Sony acquired CBS Records for US$ 2 billion. CBS Inc., now Paramount Global , retained

11772-572: Was to have teams in New York, LA and London. In 2022, Sony Music Entertainment acquired boutique branding and merchandising agency, Ceremony of Roses (CoR). CoR would handle SME's 'branding, design, media and events'. The newly acquired company would merge with Sony's existing merch division and continue under the CoR banner. The merger brought together artists like Adele , A$ AP Rocky , and Lil Nas X under one merchandising house. According to Sony,

11881-525: Was wound up, and individual distribution partners are taking legal action against it. In 2016, the printing business was bundled in the Bertelsmann Printing Group . Bertelsmann diversified its base in 2016 by introducing a structure consisting of eight divisions. In 2017, Bertelsmann also undertook moves to further strengthen its core business, among other things increasing its share in Penguin Random House from 53 to 75 percent. Through

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