DGerman RTL Television Group and Hamburg Press Gruner + Jar Merged into a new cross-media media company with TV, radio, streaming services, online and magazines. On Friday, the Bertelsmann Group, to which the two companies belong, announced that the new company will start operations early next year. Bertelsmann CEO Thomas Rabe said in an interview with FAZ: “There is still no model for this approach.”
He pointed out that RTL And Gruner + Jahr has successfully cooperated for many years. “So if we merge them now, we won’t start from scratch.” It has not yet been decided who will be the head of the new company. “We will decide on the exact structure and personnel issues of the organization in the next few months,” Rabe said.
There should be large, overall thematic sections, such as news, business, people, food, and knowledge, and the content will be broadcast through video, audio, online, and print. “As far as the company’s top management is concerned, we will make a decision within one to two months.” The challenge is “how do we shape it while preserving the identity of each brand.”
“National Media Champion”
Since February, there has been speculation that the two media companies may merge.Rabe said: “The question we face is whether we should stick to the cooperation we already have in the joint news project and advertising market, expand cooperation or dare to take a big step and come together completely.” Who is in the individual union? beside Bertelsmann He also leads the European RTL Group.
He said that the responsible committee conducted a thorough review of this and “decided to make the third option the most promising answer to compete with global technology platforms.”For Bertelsmann, this decision was made in conjunction with global platforms (such as NetflixIntegrate Amazon Prime, Google or Facebook.
RTL has already started this work in France, the Netherlands and Belgium. “Our strategy is to establish a national media champion in Europe,” said stand upIn Germany, with the merger of RTL and Gruner + Jahr, Bertelsmann is now one step ahead of its neighbors.
Who is running for the chief position
In the media industry, Julia Jäkel’s resignation as CEO of Gruner + Jahr in April of this year is seen as the first sign that the “open process” for the future of the two companies that started in February should lead to a joint venture .
Stephan Schäfer succeeded Jäkel as the boss of Gruner + Jahr. He is also the content manager of RTL and one of Bertelsmann’s senior managers. He played a key role in promoting the project. Internally, observers believe that he will also have a greater chance of becoming the head of the new company. Also in the running is Bernd Reichart, who has been the head of Mediengruppe RTL-Deutschland since January 2019.
According to the plan, some of Gruner + Jahr’s stores such as Territory and Applike, as well as the equity of Hamburg news magazine Spiegel, will not enter RTL, but will remain in Bertelsmann Group. “If we want to systematize cooperation, it means that the editorial team is also connected through the media,” Rabe said.
