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Getty ImagesCOLOGNE, Germany – Media giant Bertelsmann has appointed Marcel Reichart to the newly-created position of executive vp in charge of digital development and partnerships.
Reichart joins Bertelsmann from German publishing group Hubert Burda, where he was part of senior management for the company’s digital division. He will take on his new job on October 1, reporting directly to Thomas Hesse, president of corporate development and new businesses at Bertelsmann.
Hesse, the former president of global digital business at Sony Music Entertainment joined Bertelsmann late last year and has made it clear that Bertelsmann needs to expand its digital operations if it wants to maintain its position as one of the world’s leading media companies. Bertelsmann earns the bulk of its revenue from traditional media operations, including television (as the owner of leading European broadcaster RTL Group and production giant FremantleMedia) and book publishing with subsidiary Random House.
Reichart, 39, is one of the founders and managing director of the digital media conference DLD. He also served as a board member of Venturepark, the Berlin-based media incubator set up in 2000, which attracted seed investment from the likes of Bertelsmann and Goldman Sachs. However, it shut down and was liquidated a year after its launch.
