The Mohn family is one of Germany’s wealthiest and best-known due primarily to their ownership stake in the global media giant Bertelsmann. The parent group controls some of the world’s leading media brands, including the RTL Group, Penguin Random House, Gruner + Jahr, and BMG amongst others. Reinhard Mohn, the great-grandson for founding patriarch Carl Bertelsmann, is credited with taking the family business from a small German publishing house to an international media giant. Mohr was a business visionary, pioneering concepts that, in his day, were unheard of. He introduced a profit-sharing arrangement which was uncommon for the time. He also put forward the concept of the book club in 1950, which did wonders to drive book sales. Reinhard Mohn married twice, first to Magdalene whom he married in 1949 and later to Elizabeth Breckman in 1982. He had three sons, Johannes (from Magdalene), Christoph and Andreas (from Elizabeth) however, neither of the sons took over following his death in 2009. Elizabeth now runs the family business interests, which Forbes estimates at approximately $3.2 billion. The two daughters from his first marriage and youngest son Andreas were never involved in the family business.
