Thomas Rabe

Notable work and positions

Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (since 2012)
RTL Group - Chief Executive Officer (since 2019)
Adidas - Chairman of the Supervisory Board
Penguin Random House - Chairman of the Supervisory Board

Biography

Thomas Rabe is chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann, the German media, services and education company whose divisions include the broadcaster RTL Group, book publisher Penguin Random House, magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr and the music company BMG. He joined Bertelsmann's executive board in 2006 as chief financial officer, having previously served as CFO of RTL Group and, before that, of the Luxembourg financial services firm Cedel International (later Clearstream). He was named chairman and CEO of Bertelsmann effective January 2012, succeeding Hartmut Ostrowski, and was additionally appointed CEO of RTL Group in 2019. Under his leadership Bertelsmann completed the merger of Penguin Books with Random House to form the world's largest trade book publisher, expanded into education and built out its Bertelsmann Investments fund network. Rabe holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Cologne and also chairs the supervisory boards of Adidas and Penguin Random House.