Bertelsmann to Launch Education Activities Unit
September 10 2015 - 07:30AM
Dow Jones News
VIENNA—--Bertelsmann SE on Thursday confirmed it launched a
separate business unit for its education activities.
The new business unit's portfolio will include e-learning
provider Relias Learning, Alliant International University and the
company's stake in online education provider Udacity, among other
assets.
The Wall Street Journal had earlier reported the German media,
education, and service-provider company will announce the
establishment of Bertelsmann Education Group—or BEG at a conference
in New York, citing people familiar with the matter.
"In the medium term, we want to generate around one billion
euros in revenues with the activities of Bertelsmann Education
Group," Chief Executive Thomas Rabe said in a news release.
Bertelsmann, Europe's biggest media conglomerate, currently also
owns brands including broadcaster RTL, magazine publisher
Gruner+Jahr and service provider Arvato. It co-owns book publisher
Penguin Random House with Pearson PLC.
For the past decade, Bertelsmann has been working to spread its
owners' financial risk by diversifying its portfolio. As part of
this new strategy, Bertelsmann has invested heavily in the
education segment, in particular in online learning providers,
while at the same time gradually selling off waning businesses such
as printing.
In October 2014, Bertelsmann acquired Relias Learning for $540
million, its biggest acquisition in the U.S. since buying publisher
Random House in 1998. In February, in what it said was a first step
toward forming its own international university network, it
invested in U.S.-based Alliant International.
Last week, the company was in initial talks to buy a minority
stake in California-based university software and technical
services provider HotChalk, people familiar with the matter
said.
Kay Krafft, who has led Bertelsmann's education business since
2014, will become BEG's chief executive. BEG will, much like
Bertelsmann's music rights unit BMG, be managed as part of the
company's corporate investments division.
All of BEG's businesses will continue to operate under their own
brands and names.
Write to Ellen Emmerentze Jervell at ellen.jervell@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 10, 2015 07:15 ET (11:15 GMT)
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