 | |
| Formerly | Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion (1931–1954) Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (1954–1997) CLT-UFA (1997–2000) |
|---|---|
| Company type | Publicsubsidiary |
| FWB: RRTL LuxSE: RTLL MDAX component (RRTL) LuxX Index component (RTLL) | |
| ISIN | LU0061462528  |
| Industry | Mass media |
| Predecessor | Société Luxembourgeoise d'Études Radiophoniques (1929–1931) |
| Founded | 30 May 1931; 93 years ago (1931-05-30) |
| Headquarters | |
Area served |
|
Key people | |
| Products | Television Radio Streaming Content production Digital services |
| Revenue | 6,234,000,000 euro (2023) |
| 735,000,000 euro (2023) | |
| 467,000,000 euro (2023) | |
| Total assets | 9,667,000,000 euro (2023) |
Number of employees | 12,835 (2023) |
| Parent | Bertelsmann Capital Holding (76.28%) |
| Divisions | |
| Website | www |
| Footnotes / references Annual Report 2022 | |
RTL Group S.A. ("Radio Télévision Luxembourg") is aLuxembourg-based internationalmedia conglomerate, with anothercorporate office inCologne,Germany.[1][2] The company operates 56 television channels and 36 radio stations in Germany,France and other European countries. It also offers national streaming platforms, content productions and a range of digital services. Important segments of RTL Group areRTL Deutschland,Groupe M6 andFremantle.[3]
The company, in its present form, was established byBertelsmann,Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL), andPearson plc in 2000.[4] Over the years, Bertelsmann, a conglomerate based in the German city ofGütersloh, continued to increase its stake in RTL Group and currently owns just over 75% of theshares in the company after holding a stake of more than 90% in the past.[5][6] RTL Group is one of a total of eight divisions of Bertelsmann: It is responsible for more than a third of its revenue and a large share of its operating profit.[7]
It is one of the founding members of theEuropean Broadcasting Union.
The roots of RTL Group date back to the 1920s.[8] The company itself was established in 1931 as the Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion (known as CLR for short). It was one of the world's firstprivate broadcasting companies. After theSecond World War, the company ventured into the world of television broadcasting. It was renamed Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT) to reflect this new service in 1954. Under the name RTL (forRadio Télévision Luxembourg), it went on to provide its private broadcasting services in several European countries.[9] When the European media markets were liberalised in the 1980s, television became increasingly important and started to overtake radio.[8]
In the 1980s, Belgian and French media companies made up the majority of the shareholders of CLR and CLT.[10] The following decades witnessed repeated conflicts for domination within the company and among itssubsidiaries.[11][12] In the 1990s, Bertelsmann ultimately came out on top after having gradually increased its stake in the German television channel RTL.[13] Following a legal dispute with RTL/CLT,[14][11] Bertelsmann announced plans to merge the television businesses ofUFA to form the joint venture CLT-UFA in April 1996.[15] A merger agreement was signed on 8 July 1996.[16] It was approved by the CLT board of directors on 5 December,[17] and the formation of CLT-UFA was completed on 14 January 1997.[18] As a result, German television channels such as RTL Television and VOX and international broadcasting services, including M6 in France, were all brought together under one roof.[19]
CLT-UFA not only grew organically but also increased in size due to a number of acquisitions.[20] In the year 2000, Bertelsmann and Pearson announced plans to merge their television, radio, and production activities.[21] The two companies joined forces to create RTL Group, Europe's leading network of television channels and radio stations with a global content business,[22] which was rebranded FremantleMedia in 2001 (now called Fremantle).[23] This merger was designed to provide a strong European response to U.S. media dominance.[24]
RTL Group was first listed on theLondon Stock Exchange[25] on 26 July 2000.[26][27] The existing shell of Audiofina,[28] which was already a listed company, was used to simplify the administrative effort involved in thestock market launch.[29] The issue price of the RTL Group share was calculated based on the closing prices of Audiofina in Luxembourg and Brussels.[30] The RTL Group share consequently replaced the Audiofina listing.[26]
Although Bertelsmann initially only held a minority share in RTL Group, the German conglomerate managed byThomas Middelhoff set its sights on playing a leading role within the group.[31] After exchanging shares with the Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (GBL) in 2001, Bertelsmann achieved its goal of becoming the majority shareholder of RTL Group and thus secured a leading position in the European television market.[32][33]
Over the years, Bertelsmann increased its stake in RTL Group to more than 90%.[6] Bertelsmann's initial aim was to acquire full ownership of RTL Group to reduce administrative costs, but this plan failed in 2007 due to uncertainties in Luxembourg law.[34][35][36] The conglomerate responded by altering its strategy, and in 2013, it sold a minority interest in RTL Group on theFrankfurt Stock Exchange[37][38] to finance the growth of Bertelsmann and especially its digital transformation.[39] Media reports responded positively to the secondary listing of RTL Group and the resulting availability of shares open to external investors.[40]
RTL Group was already responsible for a large part of the revenue and profit of Bertelsmann in 2001.[41] In the new structure of Bertelsmann, which was introduced in 2016, the company maintained its position as an important division.[42] Since April 2019,Thomas Rabe, chairman and chief executive officer of Bertelsmann, has also simultaneously been at the helm of RTL Group.[43] Under his management, the company is pursuing the objective of strengthening its core businesses, establishing localstreaming services and further developingadvertising technologies.[44] Fostering its alliances and partnerships with other companies in the European media industry also plays an important role in the current strategy of RTL Group.[45][46]
RTL Group S.A. is the parent company of the entire corporate group. Its legal form is asociété anonyme, apublic limited company under Luxembourg law. It was entered into the Luxembourg Trade Register on 29 March 1973. The company's main corporate objective is to develop audio-visual media and to lead and manage other companies active in the same field.[47]
The key indicators of the RTL Group are (as at the financial year ending 31 December):[48]
| Year | Revenue (€m) | Net Profit (€m) | Number of employees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 6,373 | 739 | 11,011 |
| 2018 | 6,505 | 668 | 10,809 |
| 2019 | 6,651 | 754 | 10,809 |
| 2020 | 6,017 | 492 | 10,598 |
| 2021 | 6,637 | 1,301 | 10,861 |
| 2022 | 7,224 | 673 | 12,975 |
In the 2022, the revenue mainly came from advertising (40.5% television, 2.7% radio), content production (22.6%), digital activities (17.1%) and platform businesses (6.1%).[3]
RTL Group S.A. currently has a share capital of €191,845,074. It is divided into 154,742,806 shares without nominal value, which are traded on the Luxembourg[49] and Frankfurt[50] Stock Exchanges. RTL Group S.A. shares are included in the GermanMDAX,[51] a stock index for midcap companies. They are also included in theSXMP, a sector index for the European media industry.[52]
Bertelsmann holds more than 75% of the shares in RTL Group S.A. The second-largest shareholder isSilchester International Investors, a British investment company based in London, which has a stake of around 5%. This shareholding forms part of the group'sfree float, which has a stable value of between 20 and 25%.[53]
The highest authority of RTL Group S.A. is itsboard of directors,[54] in which the power to manage and control the group's business is vested. The Board of Directors has 13 members; there are currently eleven men and two women serving on the Board.Martin Taylor is the chairman of the board of directors; the other members are Carsten Coesfeld, Thomas Götz, Elmar Heggen, Immanuel Hermreck, Bernd Hirsch, Bernd Kundrun, Guillaume de Posch, Thomas Rabe, Jean-Louis Schiltz, Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, James Singh, Alexander von Torklus and Lauren Zalaznick.
The operational business of RTL Group is headed by Thomas Rabe (Chief Executive Officer, CEO), Elmar Heggen (Chief Operating Officer, COO and Deputy CEO) and Björn Bauer (Chief Financial Officer, CFO).[55] Together they form theexecutive committee of RTL Group S.A.,[56] which is supported by the group management committee and operations management committee. The management boards of RTL Group are based in Luxembourg and Cologne, Germany.[2]
The headquarters of RTL Group, according to trade law, is located in the so-called "RTL City", which is located at Boulevard Pierre Frieden in theKirchberg quarter inLuxembourg City.[57] Bertelsmann initially planned to sell the complex and lease it back in 2017[58] but ultimately decided to delay the transaction for an indefinite period.[59] Besides the Luxembourg headquarters, there is another corporate office located inDeutz, Cologne,North Rhine-Westphalia.[2]
RTL Group operates television channels, radio stations, streaming platforms, content production, a range of digital services and advertising sales. All of its business activities are assigned to 14 areas. The main segments of RTL Group areMediengruppe RTL Deutschland,Groupe M6,Fremantle andRTL Nederland. We Are Era, RTL Hungary, RTL Luxembourg and other businesses are part of another segment, as is the Group's minority interest inAtresmedia, a leading Spanish media company.[60]
RTL Deutschland is based inCologne and operates the free-to-air channelsRTL Television,VOX (entertainment),RTLup,RTL Nitro, VOXup, andntv (news), along with holding a significant stake inRTLZWEI. Most of these channels have Austrian and Swiss versions for the insertion of nation-specific advertising. It also offers pay-TV channels such as RTL Crime, RTL Living, RTL Passion and GEO Television. The company additionally operates a streaming service under the name RTL+ (formerly TV Now).
Advertising space for RTL Deutschland is sold by the advertising company Ad Alliance, which also works with other Bertelsmann companies and further partners. RTL Deutschland is also part of Bertelsmann's Content Alliance.
RTL Nederland (formerly the Holland Media Group) is a Dutch company based inHilversum. Its television channelsRTL 4,RTL 5,RTL 7,RTL 8,RTL Z,RTL Crime,RTL Lounge andRTL Telekids all have licences issued by Luxembourg. RTL Nederland also operates the streaming serviceVideoland. In June 2021Talpa Network and RTL Nederland announced an intent to merge; RTL is to hold 70% and Talpa is to hold 30% in the new company, pending approval by theDutch ACM and theEuropean Commission.[61] In January 2022 the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets stated that it could not approve the merger as of yet and that further investigation to the consequences of price, quality and innovation was necessary.[62] On 30 January 2023 the Authority announced that it would not approve the merger, citing that the merged company would become too powerful.[63] In December 2022, it was announced that the RTL Group was considering selling its Dutch TV station RTL Nederland. After merger plans failed in 2023, it was officially announced in December that RTL Group was selling RTL Nederland for 1.1 billion euros toDPG Media; the sale is set to close by mid-2024.[64]
The headquarters of the Groupe M6 media holding company are based inNeuilly-sur-Seine in Paris. The company operates the television channels6ter,M6 andW9, the channelsParis Première andTéva, as well as children's channelGulli.[65] These channels are joined by radio stations such as RTL Radio France , RTL2 and Fun Radio and the streaming service 6play. Salto, a joint streaming service byFrance Télévisions, Groupe M6 andTF1,[66] was tested and shut down in March 2023.[67][68] Groupe M6 subsidiaries M6 Film, M6 Studio, SND and Studio 89 Productions are among the best-known production and film rights companies in the French-speaking world. Although RTL Group only owns a minority interest in Groupe M6, it controls the listed company and consolidates it in its balance sheet. On 18 May 2021, Groupe M6 andGroupe TF1 announced that they had begun negotiations to merge.[69] On 16 September 2022, the merger was officially abandoned.[70] On 22 September 2022,Thomas Rabe, CEO of RTL Group's parent company,Bertelsmann confirmed that Groupe M6 is up for sale, after the failed merger with TF1 Group.[71] On 3 October 2022, RTL Group confirmed that they wouldn't be selling their stake in Groupe M6.[72]
The head office of Fremantle (formerly FremantleMedia) is located inLondon. The company, which operates in 27 territories, creates, produces and distributes content for broadcasters of RTL Group (including TV channels and streaming platforms) and other clients, for exampleAmazon Prime Video andNetflix. It not only produces films and series (for exampleDeutschland 86) but also shows. Fremantle has attracted global attention with its casting shows such asGot Talent andIdols, which have been adapted in a multitude of countries worldwide, and owns popular game shows likeThe Price Is Right andFamily Feud.
RTL Group or its predecessors previously operated or owned stakes in other TV channels or channel families, including RTL Belgium,RTL9,Channel 5,REN TV,RTL Croatia,RTL 7, andTVI.
The headquarters of RTL Belgium are in Brussels in the so-called "RTL House". Core of its business activities are the television channelsRTL-TVI and related channels such asRTL Club andRTL Plug. These also have licences issued by Luxembourg, causing some issues.[73] RTL Belgium additionally operates radio stations such asBel RTL. Almost all of its services are provided in French. In June 2021, it was announced that RTL Belgium would be sold for €250 million toDPG Media andRossel, pending regulatory approval.[74] The sale was effectuated on 31 March 2022.[75] In March 2023, RTL Belgium renounced its Luxembourgish status to become fully Belgian.[citation needed]
Observers have repeatedly criticised RTL Group for having "missed the boat in the streaming era".[76] Thomas Rabe, chairman and chief executive officer of Bertelsmann, has responded to this criticism by campaigning for the deregulation of the highly competitive television market to enable the establishment of national alternatives to the "giants ofSilicon Valley".[77]
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