Assets and Brands
- Owns video publishing company 2 Entertain with products dual branded 2 Entertain and BBC.
- Owns Demon Music Group.
- Owns the Lonely Planet brand of guidebooks.
- Operates the BBC Shop.
- Operates the BBC Motion Gallery.
- 25% stake in production company Left Bank Pictures.
- 25% stake in Cliffhanger Productions independent production company.
- 25% stake in BBC Children's Books, an imprint of Penguin Group who hold a 75% stake.
- 15% stake in BBC Audiobooks, with other 85% owned by AudioGo. Published by AudioGo under the BBC Audiobooks or BBC Audio brands.
- Minority share in BBC Books, with Random House Group taking majority share. Books published using BBC Books brand.
- Minority stake in BBC Active, with Pearson PLC taking the majority share. The brand publishes educational material.
These commercial activities allow BBC Worldwide to return profits and dividends to the BBC to re-invest in its broadcasting operations. In 2007/08 BBC Worldwide invested £75.1m in in-house and independent programmes commissioned by the BBC. However, the BBC has often been criticised for the amount of money it makes from BBC Worldwide. Some commercial rivals protest at the advantage the company has from being associated with and being able to exploit the programme catalogue and resources of the BBC in order to provide its goods and services.
Read more about this topic: BBC Worldwide
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