The year 2020 began with a momentous transaction: Bertelsmann bought the remaining 25 percent of shares from co-shareholder Pearson to fully take over Penguin Random House. A historic step, as Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe emphasizes: "185 years after the founding of C. Bertelsmann Verlag by the printer and bookbinder Carl Bertelsmann, our company will become the sole owner of the global market leader in book publishing".