Bertelsmann AG
Anke Schäferkordt to be appointed to Executive Board

Gerhard Zeiler, currently CEO of RTL Group and a member of the Bertelsmann Executive Board, will step down from Bertelsmann’s top management body in connection with his leaving the company as of April 18th, a decision that was announced today. Anke Schäferkordt, CEO of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, is to replace him on the Bertelsmann Executive Board. Her appointment will be formally adopted at the next session of the Bertelsmann Supervisory Board in late March.

Further to this announcement, Guillaume de Posch, who is responsible for the international TV business on the RTL Group board, will become a member of Bertelsmann’s Group Management Committee (GMC). Anke Schäferkordt and Guillaume de Posch will jointly head RTL Group together with CFO Elmar Heggen in future. Gerhard Zeiler is leaving Bertelsmann and RTL Group by mutual and amicable consent to devote himself to new professional challenges.

Gunter Thielen, Chairman of the Bertelsmann Supervisory Board, said: “I was very sorry to learn of Gerhard Zeiler’s decision. He has rendered outstanding services to Bertelsmann and RTL Group in recent years. On behalf of the Supervisory Board, I would like to thank him for this and wish him all the best for the future. I am very pleased about the planned appointment of Anke Schäferkordt to Bertelsmann’s Executive Board. Mrs. Schäferkordt has very successfully managed Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, one of our most important businesses, for years. Together with Guillaume de Posch, she will continue the successful development of Bertelsmann’s TV business and guide it into the digital future.”

Thomas Rabe, Chairman & CEO of Bertelsmann, said: “Anke Schäferkordt will enhance our work on the Board. With her appointment, the Bertelsmann Board gains not only an outstanding manager and deeply experienced TV executive, but also its first woman member. I firmly believe that mixed teams represent a competitive advantage. At the same time I am pleased that an internationally practiced TV manager is joining the Group Management Committee in the person of Guillaume de Posch; he will be able to provide valuable impetus.”
 
Rabe added that he regrets Gerhard Zeiler’s decision to leave Bertelsmann: “Gerhard Zeiler expressed the wish to tackle a new task, and I can understand that. His departure is absolutely amicable; we jointly resolved the question of who would succeed in the best interests of RTL Group. On behalf of the Executive Board, I would like to thank Gerhard Zeiler for his longstanding and significant contribution to RTL Group’s successful development into Bertelsmann’s biggest revenue and profit driver. Working on the Board with him was a valuable experience. Gerhard Zeiler set standards in the TV business.”

About Bertelsmann AG Bertelsmann is an international media company whose core divisions encompass television (RTL Group), book publishing (Random House), magazine publishing (Gruner + Jahr), and outsourcing services (Arvato) in 50 countries. In 2010, the company’s businesses, with their 100,000 employees, generated revenues of €15.8 billion. Bertelsmann stands for a distinctive combination of creativity and entrepreneurship that empowers the creation of first-rate media, communications, and service offerings to inspire people around the world and to provide innovative solutions for customers.

For further questions, please contact:
Bertelsmann AG
Andreas Grafemeyer
Senior Vice President Media Relations
Phone: +49 – 52 41 / 80 24 66
andreas.grafemeyer@bertelsmann.de