16 Facts About Mondadori

Arnoldo Mondadori Editore is the biggest publishing company in Italy.

In 1950 Mondadori returned to the information magazines, abandoned ten years earlier with the suspension, due to the war, of the monthly Tempo.

In 1952 Mondadori launched I romanzi di Urania, a twice monthly Italian science fiction magazine that contributed to the wider diffusion of this genre in Italy.

In 1960 Mondadori launched Il Club degli Editori, the first Italian mail-order book club and in 1965 became the first Italian publishing house to launch low-cost paperbacks for sale through newsstands, an experiment that would be a huge success and that was imitated by many publishers.

Between 1950 and 1965, the number of employees at Mondadori rose from 335 to 3,000 and resulted in the company's decision to construct a new building in the outskirts of Milan, specifically within the municipality of Segrate.

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In 1981 Mondadori entered the television business with the launch of the Rete Quattro TV station, which was sold to Fininvest a few years later.

In 1989, Mondadori expanded into Mexico by acquiring Editorial Grijalbo.

In 2006, Mondadori took a big step forward in its international expansion with the acquisition of Emap France, one of France's leading magazine publishers, today Mondadori France.

Mondadori was one of the first Italian publishers to enter the e-book market and in 2000 an agreement was signed with Microsoft Corporation for the creation of the first Italian site for the sale of electronic books.

In 2010 Mondadori accelerated its presence: in June, the Group's online bookstore launched a store dedicated to digital books, with a vast catalogue of titles in Italian and English.

In 2014 Mondadori bought the trademark and assets of aNobii, the global social reading platform with more than a million users around the world, of which around 300,000 in Italy, with the aim of supporting the process of growth in digital for books.

In 2012 Mondadori published Fifty Shades of Grey, the first volume of the erotic trilogy by debut London author E L James, rapidly followed by the two other titles, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed.

In 2016, the Italian Competition Authority ruled that Mondadori would have to divest the publishers Bompiani and Marsilio Editori, following its acquisition of RCS Libri.

Mondadori was then owned by three: Berlusconi's Fininvest, Carlo De Benedetti's CIR and the Formenton family.

On 20 June 1990 was the first verdict: the agreement between De Benedetti and Formenton was considered still valid; as a consequence, the Mondadori shares became owned by the CIR and Berlusconi left the chairmanship of the company.

Group based in Milan with three imprints: Electa, active in the art and history of art sector since 1945; Mondadori, which publishes illustrated books in areas such as nature, hobbies and history as well as tourist guides; and Mondadori Arte, intended to present art, architecture, design and archeology to non-specialist audiences.