It all began with a lithography print shop
Everything has a story – people, families, nations and, of course, companies. The story of arvato AG begins nearly 200 years ago, when Carl Bertelsmann set up a lithography print shop in Gütersloh, and thereby laid the foundation for a business which has since evolved into the Bertelsmann group’s biggest corporate division. And just as the history of individuals and entire nations is expressed in certain characteristics and traits, our company’s formative attribute across the generations has been service to customers. Today we can safely say that the service mentality is part of our DNA. What began with the printing and shipping of books and other printed products for Bertelsmann’s own publishing companies eventually grew into service for other companies. Thus arvato was born, and began to grow, continually tapping new lines of business. Until we became what we are today: a one-of-a-kind services network of international dimensions, which has taken the lead in many market segments, and now has approximately 60,000 employees worldwide.
Select Milestones at a Glance:
| 1835 | Foundation of the Bertelsmann publishing company, 11 years before, Carl Bertelsmann (1791 – 1850) establishes a lithography print shop in Gütersloh |
| 1946 | Druckbetrieb Mohn & Co. GmbH established in Gütersloh |
| 1955 | Musicafon Schallplatten GmbH founded |
| 1959 | Kommissionshauses Buch und Ton established |
| 1966 | AZ Direct GmbH established |
| 1972 | Launch of services activities in France |
| 1976 | Printer Colombiana established in Bogota |
| 1983 | Acquisition of the majority of shares in the Offset Paperback printing plant, Dallas |
| 1984 | Eurohueco gravure printing company established in Barcelona |
| 1986 | Acquisition of the American Printing and Manufactoring Group |
| 1990 | Acquisition of East Germany’s biggest printing plant, Graphische Großbetrieb Pößneck (GGP) |
| 1993 | First CRM/Loyalty program |
| 1994 | Launch of services activities in Poznan/Poland |
| 1996 | Acquisition of Setradis in Noyelles-sous-Lens/Northern France |
| 1996 | Bertelsmann Finanz Services GmbH founded (now BFS finance) |
| 1997 | Opening of the distribution center in Yaroslavl/Russia |
| 1999 | Unternehmensbereich Druck und Industrie (UDI) renamed Bertelsmann Arvato AG |
| 2002 | arvato mobile founded |
| 2004 | Acquisition of the majority of shares in the Moroccan company Phone Assistance |
| 2004 | Construction of a new, state-of-the-art gravure plant in Treviglio, Italy |
| 2005 | Acquisition of the Teleservice International group of companies, BG Group Healthcare SAS and the majority of shares in the InFoScore group |
| 2008 | Launch of the DeutschlandCard customer loyalty program; acquisition of Qualytel Teleservices S.A. in Spain |
