Dr. Thomas Rabe

Mr. Dr. Thomas Rabe, Chairman of the Executive Board of Bertelsmann (Gütersloh) spoke on the topic of "Challenges and opportunities for the media industry in the digital age".

Bertelsmann was founded on July 1, 1835 by Carl Bertelsmann (1791-1850) and developed into one of the largest and most international media companies in the world after the Second World War. With more than 100,000 employees in around 50 countries worldwide and revenues of €16.1 billion (financial year 2012), Bertelsmann is now the largest media company in Europe and holds leading market positions in its core businesses of television (RTL Group), books (Penguin Random House), magazines (Gruner + Jahr), services (Arvato) and printing (Be Printers). The Executive Board's work is currently focused on a long-term restructuring of the Group along four strategic guidelines (strengthening the core business, digital transformation, development and expansion of growth platforms and expansion into regional growth markets) in order to make the company stronger, more digital and more international in the coming years. With the merger of the two book publishing groups Random House and Penguin, the complete takeover of the music rights company BMG and the successful placement of shares in RTL Group, important progress has already been made in recent months.

Dr. Thomas Rabe has been Chairman of the Bertelsmann Executive Board since January 1, 2012. He is also a member of various supervisory boards, including the chairmanship of the listed company Symrise AG. After studying economics in Cologne and Aachen, he began his professional career in 1989 at the European Commission in Brussels. In 1990, he joined the law firm Forrester Norall & Sutton (now White & Case). In 1991, Thomas Rabe moved to the Treuhandanstalt in Berlin and in 1993 to Beteiligungsgesellschaft Neue Länder. In 1995 he received his doctorate from the University of Cologne. In 1998, Dr. Rabe became a member of the Executive Board of Clearstream International, shortly thereafter Chief Financial Officer. In June 2000, he moved to RTL Group in Luxembourg as Chief Financial Officer. From 2003, he was also Head of the Corporate Center.

Effective January 1, 2006, Thomas Rabe was appointed to the Executive Board of Bertelsmann AG with responsibility for Finance. Since then, he has also headed the Corporate Center in this capacity. From 2006 to 2008, he was also responsible for Bertelsmann's music business. In 2012, Dr. Thomas Rabe took over as Chairman of the company's Executive Board.

Status: Beginning of 2014