Egmont Group
Overview
Copenhagen-based Egmont is the second-largest book publisher in Scandinavia, the largest publisher of children's books in Europe and has substantial film and magazine interests. It operates in 26 countries, with around 4,500 employees. Revenue in 2000 was US$1.1 billion, with a profit of US$33.2 million (less than some media moguls lose in gambling each year). It is owned by a charitable foundation.
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The group
Egmont dates from 1878 when young Egmont Petersen's widowed mother nobly pawned "all her worldly goods: her rocking chair, oil lamp, four saucepans - and her precious sewing machine" to fund his printing business.
His Gutenberghus group - renamed Egmont in 1992 - expanded from printing and magazine publishing into cinema advertising and book publishing. Much of the growth was fuelled by comic publishing - Gutenberghus gained the licence for Disney comics in Germany and other countries after the 1939-45 War. In 1992 it merged with the Nordisk Film group.
Egmont now comprises around 110 companies operating in Europe, Israel and Asia. Electronic assets generate around 40% of the group's revenue. Like most of its Nordic counterparts it appears to be cautiously expanding out of saturated local markets but hasn't established a substantial presence in the rest of Europe (with the exception of publishing in the UK and Germany) or seized the big money in North America. Like Bertelsmann its ownership by a foundation may inhibit future expansion.
The major areas of operation are -
book publishing - competing with Bonnier for dominance of the Scandinavian over-17 market and having the largest share of the under-17 book market in Europe
magazines and comics - family and special interest magazines in the Nordic countries (competing with Sanoma and Bonnier, comics and kids magazines across Europe and Asia
film distribution and exhibition - cinema operations and distribution (notably partnership with Columbia TriStar) in Scandinavia
games - production of board games and electronic games, and distribution of Sony PlayStation
film and video production and postproduction in Scandinavia, including animation studios and equipment rental services
broadcasting - minority interests in television stations in Sweden, Finland and Norway
It also operates cinema advertising and newspaper/magazine insert services.
Studies
There are no major English-language studies of Petersen, the Gutenberghus group or Egmont. The Egmont corporate site offers Flash-rich annual reports and other information.