Bonton Group is a media and entertainment holding company in the Czech Republic established in 1990 by co-Presidents Zdenek Kozak and Mick Hawk. The company's first product was Czech President Václav Havel reading one of his own plays.[1] Bonton Group grew from the Bonton Music record label established in May 1989 by Czech jazzman Martin Kratochvíl, who became chairman.[2]
By the late 1990s group sales reached US$50 million, and Bonton had established itself as a market leader in the Czech Republic in film, music, broadcasting and video. It operated the largest music retailer, was exclusive film distributor of major Hollywood films, and even produced the first privately made Czech film Tank Brigade (1991) which set box office records.[3]
Sales reached US$200 million before the company was largely deconsolidated in 2012. In 2014 Hawk led a group which reacquired Bonton's film production and distribution business.