Significant Events in the Financial Year

At its meeting on January 26, 2016, the Supervisory Board appointed Bernd Hirsch as the new Bertelsmann Chief Financial Officer. As of April 1, 2016, he took over the department from Executive Board Chairman Thomas Rabe who had performed this function in addition to his other responsibilities on a transitional basis.

With the acquisition of Smartclip in March 2016, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland has significantly extended its options in the area of digital advertising marketing and has therefore enhanced its growth strategy. The acquisition simultaneously strengthens RTL Group’s technological competence and, in cooperation with SpotX, opens up global innovation options.

At the end of May 2016, the French G+J subsidiary Prisma Media took over Groupe Cerise, a digital media company operating in the video sector in France. Cerise develops its own technologies in order to produce and distribute content, thus ensuring that its brands reach a wide audience.

In December 2016, Bertelsmann Education Group took over Advanced Practice Strategies (APS), a provider of e-learning products for clinical assessments and performance improvement for US hospitals. With this takeover, Bertelsmann Education Group is expanding its range of acute healthcare services and strengthening its service offerings in terms of the targeted provision of online training courses and employee assessments.