Direct Group

Direct Group Bertelsmann GmbH was a division of Bertelsmann AG, which has operated in 16 countries, book clubs, music clubs, online shops, bookstores and publishers. On 30 June 2011 it was dissolved. The remaining club operations are performed directly from the Bertelsmann Corporate Investments.

The company turnover was 1.25 billion euros in 2009. Direct Group was formed in July 2000 and was last conducted by Fernando Carro.

Corporate Structure

Direct Group had three regional organizations:

  • French speaking countries (France, Belgium, Canada, Switzerland )
  • German Speaking Countries, Iberia and Italy ( Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy)
  • English-speaking and Eastern European countries (New Zealand, Australia, Poland, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Slovakia, Russia)

Further development steps:

  • BOL China was founded on 19 December 2000. The company offered its Chinese customers more than 160,000 different books and 3,000 audio video products and 1,000 products from the games / software. BOL China was closed in 2008.
  • Club Bertelsmann, the German Bertelsmann Book Club, was founded in 1951 and had his most successful times over 6 million members.
  • Knowledge Media Publishing is a leading Lexikonverlag Europe, part of the Bertelsmann Arvato division since July 1, 2008.
  • BOL is an online bookseller in Germany, which now belongs to buch.de. Direct Group has a minority stake in Buch.de AG.
  • Medienshop.de is an online shop for books, music and movies.
  • Danubia is the book club in Austria.
  • France Loisirs has over 3,600 employees and more than 5 million members in the French- speaking world.
  • Circulo de Lectores was founded in 1962 in Spain.
  • Columbia House is the world's largest direct retailer of DVD and music. The company was spun off in 2007 from the Direct Group and sold in 2008 to Najafi.
  • Bookspan operates over 45 book clubs in the United States with over 8 million members and was spun in collaboration with Columbia House in 2007 from the Direct Group and sold in 2008 to Najafi.
  • RobinBook.ch was founded in June 2008 and is one of the first NonClub Book Direct Group Bertelsmann in Germany.
  • Viasol Travel, founded in 2008, is the travel provider Direct Group Germany.
  • Line- rich, founded in 2009, is an open book trade concept of Direct Group Germany - at three locations and on the Internet.

Management

  • Fernando Carro (Chief Executive Officer )
  • Gerd Bührig ( Executive Vice President )
  • Jörg Hagen (French speaking countries)
  • Niklas Darijtschuk ( Chief Financial Officer )

Company data

As of December 31, 2009

Types of business entity Bookselling Arvato services
241239
de