Thomas Hesse

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Thomas Hesse is President of Sony BMG Music Entertainment's Global Digital Business and US Sales. He reports directly to Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, Chief Executive Officer for Sony BMG Music Entertainment. He is based in New York City.

Hesse was appointed to the position of President in charge of Global Digital Business upon the completion of the SONY BMG merger in 2004. Since the beginning of 2007 he was also put in charge of SONY BMG's physical sales activities in the US, including CDs and DVDs. He is responsible for Sony BMG’s worldwide revenues from digital exploitation via online and mobile media, as well as for New Technology and New Business Development. Hesse joined BMG in New York to serve as Chief Strategic Officer in 2002. In that role he was driving BMG’s merger with Sony Music and was also responsible for Digital Business Development and New Technology. Prior to joining BMG, Hesse was Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Strategy at Bertelsmann AG, and previously held a number of executive positions at the company's television division RTL. During his six years in television, Hesse was Secretary General of RTL Television, Germany, in charge of Program Acquisition and Distribution, and CEO of RTL NEW MEDIA. Hesse began his career in media and entertainment as a corporate consultant at McKinsey & Company, where he focused on Media and Corporate Finance.

Hesse holds a BA and MA from Oxford University, an MSc from the London School of Economics and a Doctorate in Corporate Finance from the University of St. Gallen. He studied as a concert pianist at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Hochschule für Musik in Düsseldorf, Germany.

Hesse came under fire from consumer rights advocates for comments he made in a piece that aired on National Public Radio's Morning Edition, November 4, 2005. ^[1] While being questioned about Sony's controversial use of a rootkit that acts as spyware and malware that led to the 2005 Sony BMG CD copy protection scandal, installed when a user listens to a Sony BMG CD on a computer, Hesse said, "Most people, I think, don’t even know what a rootkit is, so why should they care about it?"