Egmont Group

The Egmont Group is a media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark. The business area of Egmont has traditionally been magazine publishing but has over the years evolved to comprise media generally.
Since 1948 Egmont has produced and published a local Scandinavian version of Donald Duck magazine,
Egmont has a number of local country branches: China, Sweden, Bulgaria, Austria, Romania, Denmark, Czech Republic, Israel, Russia, South Africa, Switzerland, Lithuania, Croatia, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Germany, India, Hong Kong, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Taiwan, UK, Turkey, Hungary.
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 operate movie theaters 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 6,500 employees, and generates revenue amounting to EUR 1.4 billion in 2010.
== History ==
The Egmont Group was founded by Egmont Harald Petersen in 1878 as a one-man printing business, but was quick at starting 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. After the Second World War Gutenberghus, looking for new opportunities, sent its editor Dan Folke to Walt Disney Productions, and he managed to acquire a license for publishing comic magazines in Scandinavia. In 1948, the company started to publish a Donald Duck comic magazine in Sweden (as Kalle Anka & C:o) and Norway (as Donald Duck & Co), in 1949 also in Denmark (as Anders And & Co). This magazine features all the well known Disney Characters, from Mickey Mouse to Little Hiawatha under license from Disney. With the acquisition in 1963 of the Danish publisher Aschehoug, Egmont also entered the book market. From the late 80's the Egmont Group used the close connection with Disney to expanded 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 Norwegian television channel TV 2 which Egmont now owns. The following year, Egmont bought Nordisk Film. In 2008 they acquired the minority stake in magazine publisher Hjemmet Mortensen which they did not already hold, from Orkla ASA.
==Group Management==
* Steffen Kragh - President and CEO
* Hans J. Carstensen - CFO
* Torsten Bjerre Rasmussen - Executive Vice President (Egmont Magazines)
* Allan Mathson Hansen - Executive Vice President (Egmont Nordisk Film)
* Frank Knau - Executive Vice President (Egmont Kids Media)
==Egmont Divisions==
*Egmont Magazines
*Egmont Kids Media
*Egmont Books
*Egmont Nordisk Film
*TV 2 Group, Norway
== UK branch ==
EgmontUK publishes books and magazines for children in the United Kingdom, for example Toxic.
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.
EgmontUK is divided into two divisions: Egmont Press and Egmont Publishing.
=== Egmont Press ===
Egmont Press is Egmont’s author and illustrator list. It includes fiction novels, picture books, novelty books, illustrated books, fantasy adventures, and Egmont’s own Banana books (for five to nine year olds). Egmont Press also has a number of young adult fiction, award-winners, classics, and epic tales.
They publish the work of authors such as Andy Stanton, Jamila Gavin, William Nicholson, Michael Morpurgo, Catherine Forde, and Anne Fine. They are also the UK publisher of A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket which has sold over 2 million copies.
Egmont Press’s illustrators include Helen Oxenbury and Colin and Jacqui Hawkins.
=== Egmont Publishing ===
Egmont Publishing publish a wide range of formats for children of all ages: storybooks, annuals, coloring, activity, and sticker books as well as a wide range of novelty books. The Publishing list contains books featuring licensed characters, including:
*Babar
*Barbie
*Ben 10
*Bob the Builder
*Cars
*Cat Royal
*Charlie Bone
*Disney Fairies
*Disney Princesses
*Dora the Explorer
*Fireman Sam
*Flat Stanley
*Go Girl
*LazyTown
*Miffy
*Mr. Gum
*Mr. Men & Little Miss
*Nickelodeon
*Numberjacks
*Plonsters
*Postman Pat
*All About...Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
*Power Rangers
*Roy of the Rovers
*Rupert Bear
*Shaun the Sheep
*Sir Charlie Stinky Socks
*Stripy Horse
*The Little Prince
*The Rainbow Orchid
*The Wind in the Willows
*Thomas and Friends
*Tintin
*Toxic
*Tumtum and Nutmeg
*Wallace and Gromit
*Winnie-the-Pooh
*Zoey101
==Egmont Foundation==
Egmont is a commercial foundation with 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 EUR 235 million to social, cultural, and health projects since 1920.
== See also ==
* UK children's book publishers
== External links ==
* Egmont Group
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