Hamburg, 10 January 2012
The members of Gruner + Jahr AG's Supervisory Board yesterday elected Thomas Rabe (46) to serve as its chairman. Rabe, CEO at Bertelsmann AG, is taking over the role from Hartmut Ostrowski, who left the Supervisory Board as of 31 December 2011. Rabe will take up the position with immediate effect.

In a parallel development, Thomas Hesse (45), currently president of global digital business and corporate strategy at Sony Music Entertainment, has been elected to the Supervisory Board of Gruner + Jahr AG as a new member in an extraordinary General Meeting. Hesse, who is set to join the Executive Board of Bertelsmann on 1 February 2012, assumed his membership of the Supervisory Board as of 1 January 2012.

Thomas Rabe, Chairman of the Gruner + Jahr AG Supervisory Board, comments: "First of all, I'd like to thank my predecessor, Hartmut Ostrowski, for his constructive and highly professional work on this committee. As a long-standing member of the Gruner + Jahr AG Supervisory Board, I'm now delighted to be able to continue actively shaping Gruner + Jahr AG's future by taking on the role of Chairman of the Supervisory Board. At the same time, I'd like to extend a warm welcome to our new Supervisory Board member, Thomas Hesse, with whom I'm looking forward to working successfully on the supervisory board of Europe's leading magazine publisher."

The Supervisory Board at Gruner + Jahr AG has 12 members and is structured as follows:

Chairman:
Thomas Rabe
Chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer, Bertelsmann AG, Gütersloh

Deputy Chairman:
Winfried Steeger
Managing Director of Jahr Holding GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg

Volker Breid
Managing Director, G+J, Hamburg

Axel Ganz
Journalist, Paris

Günther Grüger
Bertelsmann AG, Gütersloh

Dorit Harz-Meyn
Project Manager, Real Estate Management, G+J, Hamburg

Thomas Hesse
President, Global Digital Business and Corporate Strategy, Sony Music Entertainment, New York
As of 1 February 2012: Member of the Executive Board of Bertelsmann AG, Gütersloh

Angelika Jahr-Stilcken
Journalist, Member of the Supervisory Board, Jahr Holding, Hamburg

Bernd Köhler
Chairman of the G+J Works Council, Dresden

Johann C. Lindenberg
Businessman, Hamburg

Hajo Riesenbeck
Managing Director, Riesenbeck - IC GmbH, Düsseldorf

Herbert Wetzel
Chairman of the Works Council, DPV Deutscher Pressevertrieb GmbH, Hamburg

Gruner + Jahr AG's shareholders are Bertelsmann AG, Gütersloh (74,9%) and Jahr Holding GmbH & Co KG, Hamburg (25,1%).

Contact:
Claus-Peter Schrack
Head of Corporate Communications
20444 Hamburg
Telefon +49 (0) 40 / 37 03 - 31 13
Telefax +49 (0) 40 / 37 03 - 56 17
E-Mail schrack.claus-peter@guj.de