About Egmont
A leading Nordic media group shaping the media of tomorrow with award-winning storytelling and digital innovation. All of Egmont is a foundation, and we do well to do good.
Organisation
Vision
Mission
Our values
Rummelig
Rummelig is a Danish concept capturing a sense of broadness – in perspective, tolerance, willingness to think new thoughts and break new ground. We tell a world of stories in every medium imaginable. This diversity embodies an openness to everything new, and flexibility to embrace different cultures and personalities.
Passion
We care passionately about what we do. We love to create and tell stories – in the best way possible to as many people as possible. Our passion lies at the heart of all that we do.
Ambition
We are commercially minded. We are here to achieve results, both on the bottom line and within the media industry. We are ambitious about setting goals and dedicated to seeing them through to completion. Our determination to win is greater than our fear of losing.
CSR at Egmont
EUR 400m
Charitable donations since 1920
46%
Women in management
Explore our portfolio
Egmont in numbers
EUR 1,682m
Revenue in 2019
EUR 250m
EBITDA in 2019
A history of innovation and social responsibility
P. Petersens Bogtrykkeri is founded
The story of Egmont begins in a modest apartment in Copenhagen. The young typographer Egmont Harald Petersen buys a “flyswatter”, a hand-driven and simple printing machine, with support from his mother, Petrine Petersen. Being a single parent, his mother pawns all her possessions to help him buy the machine and start his own printing business P. Petersens Bogtrykkeri.
Innovating the business model
Soon the one-man business starts to develop. From printing business cards, invoices and letterheads, Egmont H. Petersen advances into printing books and magazines. The company moves into new facilities in Copenhagen, new printing machines are purchased, employees are hired, and big companies are added to the client list.
Frontrunner in colour-printing
Egmont H. Petersen is first to apply colour-printing in Denmark, bringing four-colour printing into the mainstream. He always makes sure to keep himself updated on the newest printing technics and finds inspiration from abroad and in specialist publications.
Gutenberghus is built
With increased activity and continued growth, Egmont H. Petersen decides to build a large printing house and magazine company at the centre of Copenhagen. The new building, as well as the business, is now named Gutenberghus after the inventor of the printing press, Johann Gutenberg.
The Egmont Foundation is established
Egmont H. Petersen dies in 1914, and in his will, he states that a part of his company’s profits should “be used for philanthropic purposes”. True to his wish, in 1920 his wife Elisabeth and their five children convert the business into a foundation. The object of the Foundation is to engage in commercial enterprise and thereby acquire funds to be utilised for charitable purposes, that is to improve the lives of poor and vulnerable children and families.
Bringing Donald Duck to Scandinavia
Gutenberghus obtains the licence to publish Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories in Scandinavia, including the famous character Donald Duck. It is Dan Folke, the Director of Gutenberghus at that time, who discovers the beloved character on his travels to America and brings him to Scandinavia to further develop and increase in popularity.
International expansion
After World War 2, Gutenberghus expands into other countries beyond Scandinavia. First, into the German-speaking countries, then to the UK and later the Eastern European markets.
Digital opportunities
In the late 1980s, Gutenberghus begins to explore new and exciting digital opportunities. In today’s Egmont, digital innovation and new technologies are part of every aspect of the business.
Expanding into TV and film
Gutenberghus changes its name to Egmont. Together with a group of partners from the media world, Egmont founds TV Gruppen Norge, the leading public service channel in Norway. Since 2012, Egmont has been the sole owner of TV 2. In 1992, Egmont also joins forces with the Nordics’ leading supplier of entertainment, Nordisk Film, and grows into film production and distribution.
Moving into high-growth business areas
Gaming, e-commerce and digital marketing services are all high-growth business areas which Egmont has invested heavily in during the last decade - and continues to invest in. Here, we use our competencies within organisation, communities, commerce and storytelling to grow with the modern consumer into adjacent markets. TV streaming, digital gifting solutions and digital book rights are also new growth areas.
100 years of being a foundation
2020 is a special year in Egmont: We have developed media and supported vulnerable children and young people, and combated poverty for 100 years. Giving back to society, we have donated EUR 400 million to charitable initiatives since 1920 where we became a foundation. Fantastic stories, extraordinary experiences and social indignation are what characterise us – then, now and in the future.
Develop our core and build new companies
Today, the founding ideas and values of Egmont Harald Petersen are still very much alive in Egmont. Entrepreneurship, innovation and social responsibility are at the heart of our work, making sure that we stay relevant and grow with the modern consumer. We constantly develop and renew our media with storytelling, publicism, creativity and new technologies to create the best user experiences – and on all relevant platforms. At the same time, we give back to society by supporting vulnerable children and young people.
