Egmont Group

This article is about the publishing company. For the financial intelligence organization, see Egmont Group of Financial Intelligence Units.
Egmont
Private
Industry media group
Founded 1878 in Copenhagen, Denmark
Headquarters Copenhagen, Denmark
Key people
 Steffen Kragh,
President and CEO
Products books, magazines, Film, Cinemas, Interactive media, television
Revenue €1,617 million (2012)[1]
€106 million (2012)[1]
Total equity €676 million (2012)[1]
Number of employees
 6,400 (2012)
Website www.egmont.com

The Egmont Group (formerly The Gutenberghus Group) is a media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark. The business area of Egmont has traditionally been magazine publishing but has over the years evolved to comprise mass media generally.

History and profile

The Egmont Group was founded by Egmont Harald Petersen in 1878[2] as a one-man printing business, but soon became a magazine business. It was originally called "P. Petersen, Printers", named after Petersen's mother, as he was still too young at the time to register his own company. The company was renamed Gutenberghus in 1914 (after the famous inventor of the printing press), a name it kept until 1992.

Since 1948 Gutenberghus, looking for new opportunities, sent its editor Dan Folke to Walt Disney Productions, and he managed to acquire a license for publishing comic magazines in Scandinavia. In 1948 the company started to publish a Donald Duck comic magazine in Sweden (as Kalle Anka & C:o) and Norway (as Donald Duck & C:o), in 1949 also in Denmark (as Anders And & C:o). This magazine features all the well known Disney Characters, from Mickey Mouse to Little Hiawatha under license from Disney. With the acquisition in 1963 of the Danish publisher Aschehoug, Egmont also entered the book market. From the late 1980s the Egmont Group used the close connection with Disney to expanded their Scandinavian focus to a global focus, being the producer of Disney for the new Eastern European market, as well as for the Chinese market. In 1991, Egmont was co-founder of the Norwegian television channel TV 2 which Egmont now owns. The following year, Egmont bought Nordisk Film. In 2008 they acquired the minority stake in magazine publisher Hjemmet Mortensen which they did not already hold, from Orkla ASA.[3]

Egmont has a number of local country branches: Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, United States.

Egmont is one of Scandinavia’s leading media groups producing weeklies, magazines, comics, books, educational materials, activity products, movies and TV programs. The media group also operates movie theaters and TV stations, and the Egmont name is behind interactive games, game consoles, music and a wide range of digital media. Egmont publishes media in more than 30 countries, has 6,400 employees and generates revenue amounting to EUR 1.6 billion in 2012.[1]

Egmont acquired Forma Publishing Group in October 2014.[4] In January 2015, the company shut down its American publishing division.[5]

Group management

Egmont divisions

UK branch

EgmontUK publishes books and magazines for children in the United Kingdom, for example Toxic.

In 1991, Egmont purchased the Fleetway arm of IPC Media in the UK from a company owned by Robert Maxwell, and merged it with their existing comics publishing division, London Editions, and thus became Britain's largest comic book publisher. The resultant company, Fleetway Editions, was absorbed into the main Egmont brand by 2000, having largely divested itself of its original portfolio (such as 2000 AD) and continued with only reprint and licensed material titles (e.g. Sonic The Comic). The Fleetway archive comprises those comics characters first published by IPC subsidiaries on or after 1 January 1970, together with 26 specifically named characters first published in Buster before that date.[6]

EgmontUK is divided into two divisions: Egmont Press and Egmont Publishing.

Egmont Press

Egmont Press is Egmont’s author and illustrator list. It includes fiction novels, picture books, novelty books, illustrated books, fantasy adventures and Egmont’s own Banana books (for five to nine year olds). Egmont Press also has a number of young adult fiction, award-winners, classics and epic tales.

They publish the work of authors such as Andy Stanton, Jamila Gavin, William Nicholson, Michael Morpurgo, Catherine Forde and Anne Fine. They are also the UK publisher of A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket which has sold over 2 million copies.

Egmont Press’s illustrators include Helen Oxenbury and Colin and Jacqui Hawkins.[7]

Egmont Publishing

Egmont Publishing publish a wide range of formats for children of all ages: storybooks, annuals, colouring, activity and sticker books as well as a wide range of novelty books. The Publishing list contains books featuring licensed characters, including:

Egmont Foundation

Egmont is a commercial foundation with a charitable wing. The founder’s last will and testament paved the way for Egmont's charitable work to support social, cultural and scientific causes. As a foundation, Egmont helps improve children’s and young people’s quality of life, donating more than EUR 235 million to social, cultural and health projects since 1920.

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Egmont achieved new record profit". Egmont. Retrieved 12 April 2013.
  2. ↑ Eva Harrie (2009). "The Nordic Media Market" (PDF). Nordicom, University of Gothenburg. Göteborg. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "Orkla ASA sells its stake in magazine publisher Hjemmet Mortensen AS to Denmark's Egmont" Nordic Business Report 27 June 2008
  4. ↑ "Danish media group Egmont completes acquisition of Forma Publishing Group". Talking New Media. 3 October 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2015.
  5. ↑ "Egmont Publishing closes US business". Egmont. Retrieved 7 April 2015.
  6. ↑ Frank Birch (14 December 2008). "Speaking Frankly...". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  7. ↑ "Egmont Press". Egmont. Retrieved 15 April 2011.

External links