Bertelsmann Is Germany’s Most Respected Media Company

Bertelsmann is Germany’s most respected media company, and also has one of the best reputations of companies across all industries – says the latest “Imageprofile” ranking by “Manager Magazin.” The ranking is based on a representative survey, under academic supervision, of 4,050 executives. On January 18 in Hamburg, Executive Board member Rolf Buch accepted the “Media Industry” award on behalf of Bertelsmann.

This was the 16th time “Manager Magazin” has commissioned the image survey. In its current issue, out today, the magazine reports that it surveyed the overall image of 170 companies and the individual companies’ reputation regarding quality of management, financial soundness, innovation, customer focus, and sustainable business practices.

According to “Manager Magazin,” the Top 3 in the overall ranking – Audi, BMW and Apple – and the individual industry winners reveal what is important today in building a company’s reputation, i.e. sustained, solid success. “The public respects companies that come up with inspiring products, clearly think of the customer, and have a sound long-term approach to business.” And because image is relative – and carmakers as “the pride of German industry” usually get above-average scores, the business magazine makes it a priority to take a separate look at the individual industries as well, to level the “unequal starting conditions.”

As the survey’s media industry winner, Bertelsmann is on a par with Audi, BASF, Munich Re, Lufthansa, Bosch, Amazon, Apple, Miele and Fresenius, who came first in their respective industries. In the overall ranking of all 170 companies, Bertelsmann improved its placement from 43rd to 38th place; and from #2 to #1 in the industry ranking. This year’s #2 is Gruner + Jahr (after #5 last year). Last year’s winner, the FAZ group, is at #3 in this year’s media company ranking, followed by Süddeutscher Verlag and Burda.

“We are delighted about the ‘Manager Magazin’ award and the fact that, as an industry winner, we are on a par with such prestigious other companies,” declared Rolf Buch on the fringes of the awards ceremony in Hamburg. The Arvato CEO expressed his confidence that Bertelsmann’s appeal and reputation will continue to grow, because “we are active in the world’s growth regions, are constantly expanding our range of services, and possess extremely attractive content to fuel new digital offerings.”