Business News
Thomas Götz Appointed as General Counsel and Head of the Legal Department at Bertelsmann
Monday 10. June 2013 - Ulrich Koch leaves Bertelsmann as scheduled after 20 years of service
Thomas Götz (41), currently Co-Head of Mergers & Acquisitions at Bertelsmann, will take over as the international media company’s General Counsel and Head of the Legal Department at the beginning of 2014. In this role, he will report to Bertelsmann’s Chairman & CEO Thomas Rabe. Götz succeeds Ulrich Koch, who is leaving Bertelsmann as planned at the end of 2013, after 20 successful years.
Thomas Rabe, Chairman & CEO of Bertelsmann, said: “Ulrich Koch has rendered extraordinary services to Bertelsmann as our company’s General Counsel. As head of our legal department, he was responsible for the legal formulation of all the Group’s transactions, structural adjustments and other legal affairs, and thereby played a formative role in their success. Among his greatest achievements was the settlement of the ‘Napster lawsuit’ in the U.S., an eminently important settlement for Bertelsmann, for which he received the Bertelsmann Entrepreneur Award. Bertelsmann is greatly indebted to Ulrich Koch. I look forward to continuing to work with him until the end of the year, but would also like to take this opportunity to wish him all the best in his future career plans next year, both personally and on behalf of the Executive Board.”
Thomas Rabe continued: “In Thomas Götz, an experienced lawyer will take on the function of General Counsel, one who has been closely involved in the development of Bertelsmann’s growth strategy as part of his current tasks as Co-Head of Mergers & Acquisitions. Beyond his immense expertise in M&A, Thomas Götz will bring this deep strategic understanding to his new role as head of the legal department. I am very pleased to be working even more closely with him going forward.”
Thomas Götz graduated from the University of Bayreuth with a doctorate in law in 1999. A year earlier, during his studies, he had already joined Bertelsmann’s Corporate Legal department as an in-house lawyer. As Senior Vice President of Mergers and Acquisitions, from 2007 he was primarily responsible for managing strategic M&A projects. Since 2009, Götz has jointly supervised the M&A unit with Jörn Caumanns as Co-Head of Mergers & Acquisitions. Götz most recently had the operational responsibility for Bertelsmann’s acquisition of full ownership in the music rights company BMG Rights Management.