The LP label Ariola Records was founded in 1958 which signaled the company"s entry into the music market. Bertelsmann entered the film industry with the purchase of Ufa Filmproduktionsgesellschaft in 1964. Mohn"s transition of the company culminated in 1971 with incorporation. He remained CEO and was the majority shareholder.

             The 1980"s and 1990"s saw an emphasis on foreign markets, which had begun in 1962 with Spain. In the United States, Arista Records (1979), Bantam Books (1980), Doubleday (1986), RCA (1986) and Windham Hill Records (1992) joined the Bertelsmann family. In the 1990"s the company went digital with the establishment of AOL Europe and the network company mediaWays, Europe"s second largest network provider, and in 1999 launched BOL, an international media shop. In 1998 Thomas Middelhoff became CEO and acquired Random House and concentrated book publishing in the United States under this label. .

             The year 2000 saw the creation of the RTL Group, which was taken public. It was the result of a merger between CLT-UFA and the British company Pearson TV. In 2002 Bertelsmann acquired Zomba, the world"s largest independent music company. This move, along with the addition of superstars like the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears to its stable, pushed the BMG division into third place worldwide in music publishing. In August 2004, a 50/50 merger was completed with Sony Music Entertainment to create Sony BMG Music Entertainment. Among the labels included are: Arista, Columbia Records, Epic, Jive, J Records, LaFace, RCA Records, RLG-Nashville, Sony Music Nashville, Sony Classical, BMG UK, BMG Japan, BMG Ricordi and Sony Music International.

             Currently Bertelsmann is a non-public stock corporation. Its capital shareholders are Bertelsmann Stiftung (57.6%), Groupe Bruxelles Lambert (25.1%) and the Mohn family (17.3%). Bertelsmann Verwaltungsgesellschaft controls 75% of the voting rights, representing the Mohn family and Bertelsmann Stiftung.