Names such as LYCOS, Arista Records, America On-Line, BMG Entertainment, and Bantam Publishing are all daily facets of our lives, and the only commonality they share to our perception is that they are companies whose size is almost beyond comprehension.  Their size though, is not the only link they share because each of these companies are intrinsically linked to the greater corporation of Bertelsmann AG.  Bertelsmann is headed by an executive board but much of the controlling influence is held by Reinhard Mohn.  Mohn has helped direct the company in accordance with his vision.  Under Mohn Bertelsmann has made contributions to society and the environment, gained a huge share of markets, employed over 58,000 people, taken on other media giants, and still turned a profit. 

    Mohn remained as a prisoner until 1946 when he returned to his hometown.  There he took control of his family's publishing company.  In the post war ruins of Gütersloh, he scavenged for paper and scraps to begin rebuilding his company.  He built the company around a model whose inspiration was The Book of the Month Club, which he was exposed to while imprisoned in America.  (3) 
 

    Thus, Mohndruck - Europe's leading offset printer - has submitted an annual Eco-Statement since 1991/92, giving an account of the environmental compatibility of its operating procedures. This statement is drawn up in cooperation with the independent Heidelberg IFEU Institute. In 1992, the company was awarded two first prizes by the Confederation of             German Industry, BDI, one for the "Integration of Environment Protection into Corporate Management" and the other for "Well-Made Information about the Environment". In October 1996, Mohndruck successfully passed the Eco-Audit of the European Union. 

    Gruner+Jahr established a "Department for the Environment" in the year 1990 that publishes an "Environmental Report" annually. It pursues the objective of defining ecological criteria for the entire lifestyle of its printing and press papers. This ecological commitment ranges from an energy assessment of its printing house in Hamburg via closed cycles for the solvents used in printing to the self-imposed commitment to influence the paper suppliers to buy their raw materials and cellulose exclusively from forests in the future where timber is not harvested by way of large-scale cutover." 

    In 1997, Gruner+Jahr initiated the "Living Elbe" project in cooperation with the Deutsche Umwelthilfe (German Environmental Aid Agency): Up to the year 2000, a holistic environmental protection concept is to be prepared for the whole river from its source to its mouth." (4)  Each of these Bertelsmann subsidiaries has made demonstrated efforts in service to the environment and society. 

    The Entertainment Holdings of Bertelsmann are the most internationally renown division of Bertelsmann.  BMG Entertainment is the $5.8 billion entertainment division of Bertelsmann AG.  Their holdings include all of the businesses in the areas of music, film, television, radio and storage media.  Arista Records, one of the entertainment holdings includes artists such as Whitney Houston, Kenny G., Aretha Franklin, Toni Braxton, Annie Lennox and Barry Manilow.  BMG Classics includes such important labels as RCA Victor, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Melodiya, Catalyst and ECM. In addition to classical music, jazz and New Age Music as well as Broadway and movie soundtracks form part of the BMG Classics repertoire.  Included in the BMG holdings are RCA Victor, a holding long associated with Broadway and movie soundtracks, as well as the BMG Music Service, a direct mail order service offered in the United States and Canada.  (6) 

    Bertelsmann's storage media holdings include Sonopress, one of the three leading CD manufacturers, and a developer in DVD technologies.  (7)  The final Entertainment holdings of major significance are the three European television stations held by Bertelsmann, these are RTL, RTL2, and VOX.  RTL is the most successful advertising financed commercial television station in Europe, and RTL2 is the stations offering for younger generations. 

    The Publishing houses of Bertelsmann are the aforementioned Gruner+Jahr.  As one of Europe's largest publishing houses their holdings include no less than 80 magazines and 9 newspapers worldwide.  The publishing philosophy of Gruner+Jahr is simply: quality journalism.  One of the attempts by Gruner+Jahr in the United States was a duplication of its publication Geo, the most successful geographical publication in Europe.  The publication failed to catch on, and after two years it folded with losses of some $50 million.  (3)  It seems that Gruner+Jahr are the only examples available of an unsuccessful Bertelsmann venture, with other failings in attempted acquisitions abroad, as well as content quality problems within Germany. 

    Bertelsmann's Industry holdings are services and supplements which complement many of their other holdings including  publications.  A significant example of this is Mount Media, a company which presents cultural news from the areas of literature, music and television, introduces authors and publishing houses, offers a comprehensive book catalogue to browse in and order from, as well as offering reading suggestions, chats, competitions and a variety of events.  (8)  Another example  would be "rtv" the biggest selling television program magazine in Europe.  Both of these products are compliments to the Entertainment, and Publications Holdings of Bertelsmann, and although their web sites are in German, you can be sure that they promote Bertelsmann industries. 

    The final group is New Media Holdings, this group includes on-line, multimedia, and information systems technologies.  This is one of the fastest growing divisions of Bertelsmann,  and includes their America Online holdings in Germany and France, of which Bertelsmann is a forty-five percent share-holder, the same amount that America Online itself holds.  Bertelsmann expects huge multimedia sales growth through this fairly recent endeavor.  Thomas Middlehoff, a member of the boards of both companies, told a news conference that growth in the joint venture was "clearly faster than expected" and would top one million European subscribers at least two years earlier than expected.  He went on further to state that "We expect multimedia sales to top two billion marks (1.4 billion dollars) by 2000 and for (these) sales to account for 30 to 50 percent of our annual growth rate after 2003."  (9)  Also included is Telemedia, which operates the Lycos search engine's German version.  This version offers more technologically advanced features in addition to the English versions offerings.  "European search engines also have the advantage of using not only the features of the English version of Lycos but value-added local content as well -- content, for example, from partners like Focus magazine or Bertelsmann print and electronic holdings. Thus, the European search engines are starting out with content partnerships that only became available in the United States more that a year into the evolution of online directories." (10)  With the evolution of information technologies and the on-line marketplace coupled with infrastructure improvements throughout Europe huge market share increases in Bertelsmann's New Media Holdings are inevitable. 

    Bertelsmann's New Media Holdings even spurned a rush on Netscape stock for a period.  On February 1, 1996 a director of Bertelsmann AG said that AOL and Netscape toe-touching could result in a merger -- a bit of innuendo quickly quashed by an AOL spokeswoman, who said, "We're not in merger talks with Netscape." But doth she protest too much? Despite the AOL chaperone's  strong words, she would not comment on whether AOL and Netscape have discussed dating. Thomas Middelhoff, the Bertelsmann board member, said the aim of the talks was to strengthen Netscape and AOL and oust Microsoft Corp. "An alliance could go as far as a merger," Middelhoff said on the sidelines of a conference in Bonn. "A decision will be made within four weeks." (11)  Although the deal never went through, it did cause talk and quite a bit of shake up in the market.  The possibility of a large media mogul corporation such as Bertelsmann taking on another such as Microsoft is clearly not far from a reality. 

    Another example of a partnership against a media mogul corporation has arisen for Bertelsmann against Viacom.  Viacom sought to expand into the German television market in a $1 billion deal.  Bertelsmann AG joined with France's Havas SA to develop digital pay TV in Germany and France and to counter the possibility of a Viacom and Sony partnership in Germany.  (12)  This is one more example of the possibility that large media mogul corporations are gearing up for a possible confrontation. 

    Bertelsmann increased revenues in all regions where it operates, although with distinct differences by region.  On the whole Bertelsmann is satisfied with the development of its profit levels. It is true that the operating results declined slightly, due chiefly to increased paper costs. However, the results from ordinary business activities increased by 3.5 percent, or DM 44 million to DM 1.307 billion.  The Executive Board expects moderate revenue growth and a slight increase in net income during the year ending June 30, 1997.  The business policy of the company will, as in the past, again be geared to securing a dividend of 15 percent on the Bertelsmann profit participation certificates.  (13) 

    As of today (June 30, 1997) Gunter Thielen a member of the managing board, and Chairman of the Industry sector of Bertelsmann is guardedly optimistic: "I do not expect a noticeable pickup of the price level or a distinct economic upturn. In the following business year every one of us - each at his place - must be committed, creative and work professionally. We can only be successful and continue to grow if we are flexible and attentive to our customers' wishes. We must notice the rapidly changing requirements of the market and offer interesting products as well as intelligent services."  One maxim remains incontestable for Gunter Thielen: "The protection of jobs always has priority over the rigid and merely formal compliance with restrictions arising from tariffs leading to severe international competitive disadvantages." (14)