Thomas Rabe, born in 1965, holds a diploma and a doctorate in economics from the University of Cologne, Germany. He started his career in 1989 at the European Commission in Brussels. From 1990 to 1996 he held various senior positions at Forrester Norall & Sutton (now White & Case) in Brussels, the state privatisation agency Treuhandanstalt, and a venture capital fund in Berlin. In 1996, he joined Cedel International (now Clearstream), where he was appointed CFO and member of the Management Board in 1998.
In 2000, Thomas Rabe became CFO and member of the Executive Committee of RTL Group. In March 2003, he was also appointed Head of the Corporate Centre. With effect from 1 January 2006, Thomas Rabe was appointed to the Executive Board of Bertelsmann AG as the Group’s CFO. From 2006 to 2008, he was also responsible for Bertelsmann AG’s music business.
Since 1 January 2012, Thomas Rabe has been CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Bertelsmann.
On 1 April 2019, Thomas Rabe was appointed CEO of RTL Group.
Since August 2022, Thomas Rabe, has taken over as Chairman of the Management Board of RTL Deutschland.
In May 2019, Thomas Rabe was appointed member of the Supervisory Board of Adidas AG and has served as Chairman since 11 August 2020.