broadcasting predecessor bbc enterprises founded 1979 ; 37 years ago 1979 as bbc enterprises 1995 ; 21 years ago 1995 as bbc worldwide ltd. headquarters broadcasting house london united kingdom area served worldwide key people tony hall chairman tim davie ceo parent bbc website www.bbcworldwide.com bbc worldwide ltd. is the wholly owned commercial subsidiary of the bbc formed out of a restructuring of its predecessor bbc enterprises in 1995 . the company monetises bbc brands selling bbc and other british programming for broadcast abroad with the aim of supplementing the income received by the bbc through the licence fee . in 2013 14 bbc worldwide generated headline profits of 157.4 m and headline sales of 1 042.3 m and returned 173.8 m to the bbc . 1 in 2012 13 it made a profit of 156.3 m on a turnover of 1 115.8 m. 2 the company had made a profit of 104m on a turnover of 1 085m in the previous financial year . 3 bbc worldwide s profit rate was 11.2 % in 2011 2012 up slightly from 9.6 % the previous year down from a peak of 21.5 % in 2002 2003 contrasting with 7.8 % in 2003 2004 . 4 contents 1 history 1.1 origins 1.2 bbc enterprises 1.3 acquisitions and restructuring 2 bbc worldwide profit and sales 1995 2012 3 operations 4 assets and brands 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit origins edit in addition to broadcasting the bbc has for much of its life also produced additional materials for sale the profits of which would be returned to the corporation to aid in the financing of these services . the highest profile of these early products was the listings magazine radio times but the net revenue gained from this in 1928 93 686 10s 1d only equated to 10 % of total bbc income . 5 prior to 1979 several bbc departments dealt with the exploitation and sale of bbc brands and programmes . bbc publications which produced magazines books and other supplementary materials had expanded rapidly in the late 1960s but still had difficulties with finances in 1974 the division made a loss of 14 000 . 5 this was rectified however as the economic situation eased and by 1982 bbc publications had a trading profit of 4.7 million . 5 bbc transcription services licensed bbc radio material to overseas broadcasters . the selling of television programmes was at first handled in 1958 with the establishment of a business manager post . 5 this gradually expanded until the establishment of the television promotions later renamed television enterprises department in 1960 under a general manager . 5 in its first year the department saw the sale of 550 programmes overseas with a turnover of 234 000 5 6 with a further 1 200 programmes sold the following year . 5 radio programmes were only exploited on the same level with the creation of the radio enterprises department in 1965 . however following the retirement of the radio enterprises general manager in 1969 the two departments were merged to form the bbc enterprises department . bbc enterprises edit in 1979 the department became bbc enterprises ltd. a subsidiary company wholly owned by the bbc . 5 6 by 1982 the division were expanding with divisions responsible for home video under the brand bbc video recorded audio under the brands bbc records and bbc cassettes film and merchanding . at this point the company had a turnover of 23 million . 5 on 1 april 1986 all commercial activities of the corporation including bbc publications was merged into bbc enterprises ltd. 7 in 1991 bbc world service television became the first commercially funded bbc broadcasting operation after the foreign office refused to pay for it . 8 bbc enterprises ltd was subsequently reorganised in 1995 as bbc worldwide ltd. a review of the bbc s commercial activities took place in 2004 and concluded that the sell off of bbc worldwide s assets would not be as advantageous as keeping the business and driving it harder . instead some changes to its remit focus structure and governance were made e.g. that it would only publish titles in the uk linked to bbc programmes or key genres . acquisitions and restructuring edit in 2004 bbc video merged with video collection international to form 2 entertain which was part owned by bbc worldwide ; the following year the company sold eve magazine to haymarket group 9 and in 2006 the company sold a majority stake in bbc books to publisher random house . 10 in 2007 bbc worldwide purchased a 75 % stake in the travel guide publisher lonely planet 11 acquiring the final 25 % of the company in 2011 . 12 the acquisition was part of the bbc s strategy to grow its online portfolio and to increase its operations in australia and the usa . 13 in january 2009 it was announced that ofcom had put forward the recommendation that channel 4 merge with either the commercial network five or bbc worldwide . channel 4 s preferred option of a partnership with the latter was confirmed by chief executive andy duncan who added we re in discussions with bbc worldwide at the moment and they re really very exciting . 14 in the same year the company was awarded the queen s award for enterprise in recognition of the companies growth and success . 15 in 2012 the company began to reorganise their divisions from a product based system to a location based system resulting in jana bennett leaving the company . 16 bbc worldwide sold lonely planet in 2013 to kentucky billionaire brad kelley s nc2 media for us 75 million 51.5 million significantly less than the 130.2 million the bbc had paid for the company at an 80 million loss . 17 bbc worldwide profit and sales 1995 2012 edit date headline sales 2014 profit 2014 sales cash profit cash profit rate 1995 1996 527 m 84m 332m 53m 15.9 % 18 1996 1997 630 m 115m 409m 75m 18.3 % 4 1997 1998 640 m 120m 430m 81m 18.8 % 1998 1999 726 m 120m 495m 82m 16.5 % 1999 2000 798 m 136m 560m 96m 17.1 % 2000 2001 885 m 148m 632m 106m 16.7 % 2001 2002 881 m 169m 640m 123m 19.2 % 2002 2003 879 m 188m 657m 141m 21.4 % 2003 2004 917 m 71m 706m 55m 7.7 % 2004 2005 991 m 112m 784m 89m 11.3 % 2005 2006 992 m 135m 810m 111m 13.7 % 2006 2007 1 076m 138m 916m 118m 12.8 % 2007 2008 1 134m 116m 1 004m 103m 10.2 % 2008 2009 1 219m 164m 1 074m 145m 13.5 % 2009 2010 1 256m 204m 1 158m 188m 16.2 % 2010 2011 1 119m 107m 1 085m 104m 9.5 % 2011 2012 1 115m 125m 1 115m 125m 11.2 % historical price conversion as per rpi figures from office for national statistics dataset selector . retrieved 24 august 2013 . operations edit bbc worldwide s london headquarters until 2008 . in 2013 bbc worldwide reorganised the company along geographical rather than divisional lines to better serve its audiences around the world and to position itself to take advantage of opportunities in high growth markets . the seven geographic markets are grouped into three regions north america ; uk australia and new zealand ; and global markets asia cema latin america and western europe . the two global business areas content and brands set the strategic framework and parameters for activities within the regions and keep a close connection into bbc worldwide s parent the bbc . digital is embedded throughout the business . 19 bbc worldwide is responsible for a wide range of commercial activities primarily connected in some way with the output and public purposes of the main bbc . in the past the business was divided into five operating businesses which covered the entire operations of the company channels ; content and production ; brands consumers and new ventures consumer products and sales and distributions . the channels division was formed in 2005 20 and is the company s largest generator of revenue and growth . it operates the broadcasting of several international channels and domestic networks 20 bbc america 50.1 % with amc networks bbc canada 80 % with shaw media bbc entertainment bbc first bbc brit bbc earth bbc hd bbc kids 80 % with knowledge network corporation bbc knowledge bbc lifestyle cbeebies cbbc british uktv network of 10 channels 50 % with scripps networks interactive bbc uktv in australia and new zealand the content and production division was formed in 2006 and invests the company s money into new productions by both the bbc and other independent productions . 21 it also exploits the formats of bbc programmes and alters them to be suitable for an international audience an example is the exploitation of the strictly come dancing brand to become dancing with the stars maximising revenues by receiving a production fee from the local broadcaster as well as a sum from selling the initial re versioning rights . 21 the division works alongside the sales and distribution division which sells the broadcasting rights to completed programmes made by the bbc and other producers an example being the red production company drama mine all mine for the itv network in 2004 . it includes the selling of individual clips through the bbc motion gallery to other broadcasters . in the financial year 2010 11 this division sold the rights to over 74 000 hours worth of television content . 22 the other two divisions of the company deal with the individual programme brands global brands focuses on the international recognition of the brands 23 while the consumer products division produces a variety of goods based around these brands . the work of the former includes expanding the brands into new areas the top gear live tour is a key example of this . 23 the latter creates and sells a variety of consumer products occasionally as a stake or partnership in another company including vhs and dvd releases spoken word and music audio products cd roms videogames books and magazines . 24 assets and brands edit owns video publishing company 2 entertain with products dual branded 2 entertain and bbc . owns demon music group . the bbc shops closed in 2016 although worldwide retain doctor who and top gear branded online shops . operates the bbc motion gallery . operates the bbc store . 12.2 % stake in production company left bank pictures . 25 25 % stake in cliffhanger productions independent production company . 26 25 % stake in bbc children s books an imprint of penguin group who hold a 75 % stake . 27 licences the publishing of magazine titles to the immediate media company . the titles were formerly published in house by bbc magazines . licences audio content to penguin random house uk for global sales and distribution . 28 29 titles were previously published in house by bbc radio collection and bbc audiobooks and later by audiogo in which bbc worldwide held a 15 % stake . 30 31 minority share in bbc books with random house group taking majority share . 10 books published using bbc books brand . minority stake in bbc active with pearson plc taking the majority share . 32 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 75.1 m 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