The Egmont Group (officially Egmont International Holding A/S; known as Gutenberghus Group until 1992) is a Danish mediacorporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark. The business area of Egmont has traditionally been magazine publishing, but has over the years evolved to comprise mass media generally.
History
The Egmont Group was founded by Egmont Harald Petersen in 1878,[2] as a one-man printing business, but soon became a magazine business. It was originally called "P. Petersen, Printers", named after Petersen's mother, as he was still too young at the time to register his own company. The company was renamed Gutenberghus in 1914 (after the famous inventor of the printing press), a name it kept until 1992.
With the acquisition in 1963, of the Danish publisher Aschehoug, Egmont also entered the book market. From the late 1980s the Egmont Group used the close connection with Disney to expand their Scandinavian focus to a global focus, being the producer of Disney for the new Eastern European market, as well as for the Chinese market. In 1991, Egmont was co-founder of the Norwegiantelevision channelTV 2, before buying it outright in 2012.
In 1992, Egmont bought Nordisk Film. In 1997, Egmont acquired Semic Press. In 1998, Egmont acquired the children's book catalogue of Reed Elsevier.[3] In 2008, they acquired the minority stake in magazine publisher Hjemmet Mortensen which they did not already hold, from Orkla ASA.[4]
Egmont has a number of local country branches: Australia, Bulgaria (Egmont Bulgaria), China, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany (Egmont Ehapa), Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, Ukraine and United Kingdom.
Egmont is one of Scandinavia's leading media groups producing weeklies, magazines, comics, books, educational materials, activity products, movies and TV programs. The media group also operates movie theatres and TV stations, and the Egmont name is behind interactive games, game consoles, music and a wide range of digital media. Egmont publishes media in more than 30 countries, has over 5,300 employees and generated revenue amounting to over €2 billion in 2021.[1]
Egmont acquired Forma Publishing Group in October 2014.[5] In January 2015, the company shut down its American publishing division.[6]
On 1 May 2020, Egmont completed the sale of three of its publishers (Egmont Books UK, Egmont Poland, and Schneiderbuch Germany) to HarperCollins.[7]
Egmont UK publishes books and magazines for children in the United Kingdom. It is the largest dedicated children's publisher in the UK. The Head Office is in London. In May 2020, the books division of Egmont UK was sold to HarperCollins. The new imprint changed its name to Farshore in February 2021.
Egmont UK's book list includes fiction novels, illustrated picture books, pop-up and novelty books, fantasy adventures, annuals, colouring, activity and sticker books as well and Egmont's own Reading Ladder (for five- to nine-year-olds). Egmont also has a number of young adult fiction works, award-winners, classics and epic tales.
The Dean imprint (Dean & Son) offers consumer-led, bespoke publishing direct to retailers.
Egmont Magazines
In 1991, Egmont purchased the Fleetway arm of IPC Media in the UK from a company owned by Robert Maxwell, and merged it with their existing comics publishing division, London Editions, and thus became Britain's largest comic book publisher. The resultant company, Fleetway Editions, was absorbed into the main Egmont brand by 2000, having largely divested itself of its original portfolio (such as 2000 AD) and continued with only reprint and licensed material titles (e.g. Sonic The Comic). The Fleetway archive comprises those comics characters first published by IPC subsidiaries on or after 1 January 1970, together with 26 specifically named characters first published in Buster before that date.[9] In August 2016, The IPC/Fleetway library was sold to Rebellion Developments, who had previously acquired 2000 AD.[10][11]
Egmont has a charitable wing. The founder's last will and testament paved the way for Egmont's charitable work to support social, cultural and scientific causes. As a foundation, Egmont helps improve children's and young people's quality of life, donating more than 235 million Euros to social, cultural and health projects since 1920.[citation needed]
