Bertelsmann exits the music business

 The Bertelsmann media group is exiting the music business completely. As the Gütersloh-based company announced on Tuesday, it is selling its stake in the record company Sony BMG to the Japanese electronics group Sony. Sony BMG will thus become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America and will in future be known as Sony Music Entertainment. Only four years ago, the record giants Sony and BMG merged to form a joint venture. However, Bertelsmann had already begun its withdrawal from the struggling music business two years ago. At that time, the Gütersloh-based company sold its music publishing company BMG Music Publishing.
When he took office in December last year, Bertelsmann CEO Hartmut Ostrowski described the music division as having weak growth and subjected it to an in-depth review. This has now resulted in the sale of the shares to Sony BMG. In contrast, music fits into the portfolio of the Japanese entertainment giant. According to sources close to the company, the Bertelsmann shares changed hands for an amount in the region of 1.5 billion dollars.
According to Sony, the joint venture Sony BMG, led by former Bertelsmann manager Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, again suffered a decline in sales in the first half of 2008.
Bertelsmann also owns the Gruner & Jahr publishing group, the RTL Group and the American publishing house Random House.