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Reinhard Mohn

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Reinhard Mohn (29 June 1921 – 3 October 2009) was a German billionaire businessman and philanthropist.<ref name=":0">Template:Citation</ref> Under his leadership, Bertelsmann, once a medium-sized printing and publishing house, established in 1835, developed into a global media conglomerate.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> In 1977, he founded the non-profit Bertelsmann Stiftung,<ref name=":16">Template:Citation</ref> which is today one of the largest foundations in Germany, with worldwide reach.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Mohn received numerous domestic and international awards, including the Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, and Spain's Prince of Asturias Award.<ref name=":7">Template:Citation</ref><ref name=":15">Template:Citation</ref>

LifeEdit

BackgroundEdit

Born in 1921 as the fifth child of Agnes Mohn (née Seippel) and Template:Interlanguage link,<ref name=":1">Template:Citation</ref> Reinhard represented the fifth generation of the shareholding families of Bertelsmann.<ref name=":2">Template:Citation</ref> In 1887, his grandfather, Template:Interlanguage link, had taken over the management of the printing and publishing house from his father-in-law, Template:Interlanguage link, son of Carl Bertelsmann.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref name=":4">Template:Citation</ref>

Raised in a strict Protestant family,<ref name=":0" /> Mohn earned his German baccalaureate (Abitur) at the Evangelisch Stiftische Gymnasium Gütersloh in 1939 and went on to complete his Reichsarbeitsdienst, the official labor service of the Third Reich.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref name=":9">Template:Citation</ref> Afterwards, he volunteered for military service with the Luftwaffe, originally with the aim of becoming a pilot.<ref name=":9" /> After serving in an air-base command on the Western Front, Mohn was stationed with an anti-aircraft unit, advancing in rank from private to sergeant, and in 1942 achieving the rank of lieutenant.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> From France, via Italy, his regiment was moved to Tunisia.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> On 5 May 1943, Mohn became a U.S. prisoner of war,<ref name=":9" /> and in mid-June, he was taken across the Atlantic to Camp Concordia, an internment center in Kansas for German prisoners of war.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> According to Mohn's accounts, he was profoundly influenced by this experience;<ref>Template:Citation</ref> as one example, he began reading American management literature for the first time.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In January 1946, Reinhard Mohn returned to Gütersloh.<ref name=":0" /> His oldest brother, Hans Heinrich Mohn, had died in 1939, and Sigbert Mohn, his second-oldest brother, was still a prisoner of war. Reinhard initially took an apprenticeship as a bookseller, and later joined his father's business.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> His father, Heinrich Mohn, had come under the scrutiny of British occupation authorities because he was a supporting member of the SS, because he had donated to other Nazi organizations, and for other reasons.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> In April 1947, Heinrich Mohn transferred his publishing license to his son Reinhard, who managed the publishing business from then on.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

FamilyEdit

In 1948, Mohn married Magdalene Raßfeld, whom he knew from his school days.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> The couple had three children: Johannes, Susanne and Christiane;<ref>Template:Citation</ref> they divorced in 1982.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> Later that year, Mohn married Elisabeth Scholz,<ref>Template:Citation</ref> with whom he had had an affair since the 1950s and fathered three children in the 1960s.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> After the wedding, Mohn adopted their three mutual children: Brigitte, Christoph and Andreas.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

CareerEdit

BertelsmannEdit

In 1947, Mohn took over the management of the C. Bertelsmann publishing company, which had been largely destroyed by bombing raids during World War II.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> In 1950, he established the Template:Interlanguage link book club, which formed the basis for the fast growth of the company in the decades that followed.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> From the beginning, he closely involved employees, e.g. through the loan participation program introduced in 1951.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> In 1969, he launched an employee profit-sharing model, viewed as exemplary throughout Germany.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref name=":14">Template:Citation</ref> As a businessman, Mohn was consistent in his efforts to grow the traditional publishing business into a media conglomerate: Thus, he entered music and film production, invested in the magazine business, and promoted international expansion.<ref name=":3">Template:Citation</ref> A merger of Bertelsmann with the Axel Springer group planned in the years 1969/70 did not come to fruition.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In 1971, Mohn transformed the family company into a joint stock corporation.<ref name=":16" /><ref>Template:Citation</ref> In this way, he created another structural prerequisite for Bertelsmann's rise to one of the world's leading media groups.<ref name=":2" /> Mohn became chairman of the executive board, and in this position continued a corporate culture based on partnership,<ref>Template:Citation</ref> the essential component of which involves dialogue between management and employees.<ref name=":3" /> In 1976, he had a new corporate headquarters built, where Bertelsmann's home offices are still located today.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> During this time, Mohn also began an entry into the U.S. publishing business, of vital importance to Bertelsmann.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> The acquisition of Bantam Books (1977/1980) and Doubleday (1986) created the largest trade-book publishing group in the United States, at the time.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In 1981, Mohn moved from the executive board to the supervisory board, which he chaired for another ten years,<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> still remaining involved in business operations.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> At 70, he finally stepped down from his duties, and remained honorary chairman of the supervisory board.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> From then on, he dedicated his efforts primarily to the Bertelsmann Stiftung foundation.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":0" /> In 1999, Mohn transferred his sole control over the voting rights of roughly 90% of Bertelsmann shares to the Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft,<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> a move designed to ensure the continuity of his company.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Bertelsmann StiftungEdit

In 1977, Mohn established the non-profit Bertelsmann Stiftung,<ref>Template:Citation</ref> initially endowed with capital of 100,000 Deutsche Mark.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Mohn supported the management-driven concept of an operating foundation, independently developing and managing projects.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> He directed the Bertelsmann Stiftung to help fund the improvement of the Template:Interlanguage link and established the Carl Bertelsmann Prize (today the Reinhard Mohn Prize).<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In the 1980s, the Bertelsmann Stiftung became the key focus of Mohn's corporate citizenship activities.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> In 1993, the majority of shareholdings in Bertelsmann was transferred to the foundation,<ref>Template:Citation</ref> making the Bertelsmann Stiftung the largest shareholder in the group.<ref name="1993-10-14">Template:Citation</ref> Capital shares and voting rights were strictly separated in the gift agreement, so that neither the foundation nor the group can exert any significant controlling influence over the other.<ref name="1993-10-14" />

Mohn massively increased the Bertelsmann Stiftung's budget in the 1990s.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> In addition to projects in Germany, he supported projects in Spain, such as the Fundació Biblioteca d'Alcúdia Can Torró on Mallorca. In 1995, he founded the Template:Interlanguage link, now based in Barcelona and Madrid, as an independent subsidiary foundation<ref>Template:Citation</ref> that works to promote dual training to reduce youth unemployment.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> Founded in 2008, the Bertelsmann Foundation North America, headquartered in Washington, D.C., deals with transatlantic cooperation, among other issues.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In the early years, the founder was the sole Executive Board member of the Bertelsmann Stiftung. In 1979, a managing director was hired; from 1983, Mohn was supported by an Advisory Board, and in 1993, the Executive Board was also expanded.<ref name="Chronik">Template:Citation</ref> After 1998, Mohn withdrew from executive management: Initially, he stepped down from his position as Chairman of the Executive Board, and a year later also withdrew as the Chairman of the Advisory Board.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> As a result of several structural and personnel changes, Mohn held the interim chairmanship of both Bertelsmann Stiftung executive bodies again from the end of 2000 until mid-2001, when he was succeeded by Gunter Thielen as Chairman of the Executive Board.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> In 2004, he permanently stepped down from the Executive Board of the Bertelsmann Stiftung, but as the founder, according to the statutes, he remained a member of the Board of Trustees until he died in 2009.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

Honors (selection)Edit

Published worksEdit

From the late 1980s on, Reinhard Mohn was also involved in journalistic activities as an essayist and nonfiction book author.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> He wrote several books and magazine articles in which he dealt with topics concerning society and business.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> In 1985, he published an essay on "Vanity in the Life of the Executive", in which he decried the archetype of a self-centered managerial class.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> With his statements on this topic, Mohn's perspectives repeatedly drew controversy.<ref name=":14" /><ref>Template:Citation</ref> In 1986, with the worldwide publication of his book "Success through Partnership", he laid out the principles of corporate culture at Bertelsmann.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> In "Humanity Wins", published in 2000, he strongly advocated an executive style in a spirit of partnership as a paradigm of a modern organizational structure.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> "An Age of New Possibilities" from 2001, defined a regulatory framework, which at its core is defined by entrepreneurship.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> In 2008, his last work was published as "A Global Lesson", in which Mohn provided an autobiographical account of the formative elements of his own life.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> It was written with author Template:Interlanguage link, who also wrote the script to the film "Es müssen mehr Köpfe ans Denken kommen" (More minds need to start thinking) from Roland Suso Richter.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> This film was the gift from the Bertelsmann Executive Board to Mohn on his 85th birthday in 2006.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

MiscellaneousEdit

In 1991, on the 70th birthday of Reinhard Mohn, the Bertelsmann Executive Board established a Reinhard Mohn Endowed Chair for Corporate Governance, Business Ethics and Social Evolution at the private University of Witten/Herdecke.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In 2006, Mohn created the Template:Interlanguage link, an eponymous foundation bearing his name, which has been run since 2010 by his son, Christoph Mohn.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> After the senior Mohn's death, the foundation gained shareholdings in Bertelsmann, which Reinhard Mohn had held via an intermediary company.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In 2010, the University of Witten/Herdecke honored Mohn by establishing an Institute for Corporate Management and Corporate Governance,<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> today known as the Reinhard Mohn Institute of Management.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> It also houses the Reinhard Mohn Chair of Management, endowed in 1991, and two professorships, one for strategy and organization and one for research.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In 2011, the Bertelsmann Stiftung awarded the first Reinhard Mohn Prize,<ref name=":02">Template:Citation</ref> which upholds and advances the tradition of the Carl Bertelsmann Prize.<ref name=":12">Template:Citation</ref> This award honors internationally renowned individuals for forward-looking solutions to societal and political challenges.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

CriticismEdit

Mohn was criticized for how he dealt with the National Socialist past of Bertelsmann.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref name=":10">Template:Citation</ref> After questions arose in the 1990s as to the company's role in the Third Reich,<ref name=":11">Template:Citation</ref> Bertelsmann, with the support of Mohn, established an independent historical commission, seeking to come to terms with its involvement in the Nazi era.<ref name=":13">Template:Citation</ref> The commission presented its final report in 2002 and found that the decades-long account of its alleged involvement in a publishing company for the resistance could not be substantiated.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref> On the contrary, Bertelsmann was the largest book producer for the Wehrmacht.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>

In 2010, author and journalist Template:Interlanguage link criticized a "tax-saving interrelationship" between Bertelsmann and the foundation Bertelsmann Stiftung. The structures set up by Mohn were alleged to have saved his family billions in inheritance tax.<ref>Template:Citation</ref> However, this tax would not have been owed, according to the prevailing legal view at that time.<ref>Template:Citation</ref><ref>Template:Citation</ref>

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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Template:Prince of Asturias Award for Communication and Humanities Template:Authority control

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