One of the central themes of 2019 is the establishment and expansion of alliances in the areas of media content, advertising, and technology. They create synergies and strengthen Bertelsmann in the global competition, especially with the major U.S. tech platforms.
Following the success of the Ad Alliance, an ad sales alliance created three years earlier, the Bertelsmann Content Alliance is launched in Germany at the beginning of the year. Mediengruppe RTL including RTL Radio Deutschland, UFA, Verlagsgruppe Random House, Gruner + Jahr, and BMG combine their strengths and reach in the new alliance. Wherever it makes sense, they jointly develop content, brands, and businesses, and set specific themes. The Content Alliance is to be rapidly expanded to other countries.
In the tech sector, the Bertelsmann Tech & Data network coordinates all initiatives that are meant to make Bertelsmann the technologically leading media, services and education group. Bertelsmann also launches another global scholarship program, this time offering 50,000 Udacity courses in the fields of Cloud, Data and Artificial Intelligence.
For the first time, Bertelsmann’s digital revenues exceed 50 percent – the digital transformation as one of the Group’s four strategic priorities is showing results. At the same time, the share contributed by defined growth businesses to the Group’s total revenues grows to 36 percent, up from 20 percent in 2011. Bertelsmann’s printing business, which faces structural challenges, is realigned; at the same time, the decision is made to close the Nuremberg printing site in 2021.
In 2019, Bertelsmann presented a revised version of the Bertelsmann Essentials, which have represented the shared understanding of its corporate culture since 1998. In the future, the Group will focus entirely on the values of Creativity and Entrepreneurship: creativity as the bedrock of success, and entrepreneurial freedom as a prerequisite for turning good ideas into reality. Bertelsmann believes that together, the two values make possible innovative business models, formats, products, and services that inspire people around the world.