GZ Media, named for the Czech Gramofonové Závody, which translates to Gramophone Record Factory, employs nearly 2,000 people, and runs its major operations in Loděnice in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. GZ Media is known as the world's largest vinyl manufacturer. Since its founding in 1951, it has supplied records across the

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc (Combloc), the Socialist Bloc, the Workers Bloc, and the Soviet Bloc, was an unofficial coalition of communist states of Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, and Latin America that were a ...

. Winslow Partners, a U.S. Private Equity Fund, briefly acquired GZ Media in 1998, only to sell it a few years later. Current GZ Media owner and president Zdenek Pelc is the longest reigning CEO in the history of the Czech Republic. Supported by American investments, GZ Media has developed into a modern business enterprise, accounting for approximately 60% of total vinyl records produced globally. According to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', GZ Media was valued at £76 million ($100 million) in 2016 and was forecast to press just over 25 million records a year. In 2015 it produced about 65,000 records per day.

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* {{Authority control Mass media companies of the Czech Republic Manufacturing companies established in 1948 1948 establishments in Czechoslovakia