Rainer Wittenberg Takes Over Management Of Der Club Bertelsmann

Rainer Wittenberg (37) has been appointed the new managing director of Der Club, the market leader among book communities in Germany. As of Jan. 1, 2003, he will take on the responsibilities of Dr. Wulf Böttger (36), who is leaving the company due to personal reasons. Company and Dr. Wulf Böttger reached a mutual agreement on that. Dr. Wulf Böttger took over the German Club two and a half years ago during a difficult phase and initiated important steps in the turnaround process.

As a member of the DirectGroup Bertelsmann executive board, Rainer Wittenberg is also in charge of club businesses in Austria (Donauland), Switzerland (Media Club), the Czech Republic (Knizni Club), Poland (Swiat Ksiazki), Slovakia (Media Klub) as well as the Russian publishing house Media Moskau.

At the same time, Der Club will take over the publishing and online activities of the Wissen Media Group, part of Bertelsmann’s arvato AG division. The Wissen Media Group was formerly part of inmediaONE, the company headed by Rainer Wittenberg. It combines top products, including Europe’s biggest free knowledge portal wissen.de and the Wissen Media Verlag, with powerful brands such as WAHRIG, viamundo and Chronik, and the content management specialist Nionex. Der Club has offered Wissen Media Group products in its range in the past as well. By integrating the company, Der Club is building in-house expertise in the non-fiction publishing sector, while drawing on content from the publishers and online services that make up the Wissen Media Group.

The new shareholder structure changes nothing for Wissen Media Group customers.
Rainer Wittenberg joined Bertelsmann in 1994 after completing his degree in business. At what was then the Bertelsmann Buch AG (now: Random House), he was in charge of international book license sales. Two years later, Rainer Wittenberg became managing director of the Bertelsmann Lexikon Verlag. In 1999, he successfully integrated the direct sales unit of Bertelsmann reference works with the newly founded online portal Wissen.de and various publishers in self-help, reference and cartography. This resulted in the formation of inmediaONE in 2000.

Comments Ewald Walgenbach, DirectGroup Bertelsmann CEO and member of the Bertelsmann AG executive board: “Rainer Wittenberg stands for expertise in direct marketing and program development – the two pillars that support our club business. By successfully rehabilitating inmediaONE, he proved that he is adept at managing complex companies and turn around them. The main tasks incumbent on Rainer Wittenberg will be to convincingly position the Club in the competitive landscape and to make Club membership even more attractive. We plan to reach breakeven with the German Club during the coming year, thus creating the basis for tapping new fields of business.“

Rainer Wittenberg comments on his new job: “For the Club with its roughly four million members I see great opportunities to establish itself as a modern and leading media provider in Germany and significantly improving our competitive position. I will achieve this goal with an experienced team and motivated Club employees.“

inmediaONE, which was founded in 2000 to unite all Bertelsmann's direct-sales activities, will remain part of the arvato AG and will continue under the management of Thomas Holz (53), MBA. Thomas Holz joined Bertelsmann in 1975 and has headed the Direct Sales department since inmediaONE was founded. His responsibilities include direct sales, including Bertelsmann Lexikothek, Coron publishing and Brockhaus Direct Sales, B2B sales including Pro Futura and the Olympic Sports Library, as well as direct telesales headquartered in Salzburg.