For the remaining core brands such as “Stern”, RTL wants to invest primarily in digital.
(Photo: dpa)
Hamburg/Cologne RTL Germany plans to cut around 700 of the 1,900 jobs in its magazine segment around the former publisher Gruner + Jahr. For this purpose, magazine titles will be discontinued and sales will be checked, while investments will be made in the remaining core brands such as “Stern”, especially in the digital sector, as the media group announced on Tuesday. The background to this is the imminent slippage of the declining publishing business into the red.
In concrete terms, the plans are as follows: The 13 brands “Stern”, “Geo”, “Capital”, “Stern Crime”, “Brigitte”, “Gala”, “Schöner Wohnen”, “Hauser”, “Couch”, “Geolino “, “Geolino mini” as well as the digital areas of “Eltern” and “Chefkoch” remain in the portfolio. According to the company, they account for around 70 percent of sales. Investments of around 80 million euros are planned by 2025.
All other magazine titles will be discontinued or sold. For example, RTL sees no future for offshoots of core brands such as “Geo Era” and “Geo Knowledge”, “Brigitte Woman” and “View” (Stern).
The CEO of RTL Germany, Thomas Rabe, told the German Press Agency: “Many of the titles are offshoots. We cannot imagine selling these if we keep the core brands “Geo” and “Brigitte”. Otherwise uniform brand management would not be possible.” The magazines “Guido” featuring designer Guido Maria Kretschmer and “Barbara” featuring TV presenter Barbara Schöneberger will also be discontinued. There are 23 titles in total.
RTL is considering a sale for the five brands “Business Punk”, “Art”, “PM”, “Beef!” and “Salon”. The RTL holdings in “11 Freunde” and in the Deutsche Medien-Manufaktur publishing group in Münster (“Landlust”, “Essen & Drinking”) are also up for sale. Rabe, who is also Bertelsmann boss, said about the current status: “There had been expressions of interest – verbally and in writing.”
And further: “But there were no exploratory or sales talks, let alone offers. We will start talks in the next few weeks.” First of all, they want to talk to the works council and the employees. “Then we will take our time to explore the market over the next few weeks and see who is really interested in which title and in what chronological order we release the titles.”
RTL is considering a sale for the five brands “Business Punk”, “Art”, “PM”, “Beef!” and “Salon”.
(Photo: dpa)
The RTL plans mean that around 500 jobs will be cut. This is to be done “gradually by the end of 2025”. The vast majority of the job cuts will affect Hamburg and are not planned in the editorial area, but in administrative areas.
There are also around 200 jobs that would be transferred to new owners as a result of the planned sale. With the loss of around 700 jobs, that would be more than one in three of the 1900 full-time jobs in the magazine segment, which are mainly located in Hamburg.
RTL Germany, headquartered in Cologne, had integrated the German magazine division of the Hamburg publishing house into its portfolio in 2022 and is hoping for synergies. Both areas belong to the Bertelsmann Group. In recent months, RTL has examined the magazine portfolio. There had been protests from employees and trade unionists against a possible sale of the titles of the Hamburg publishing house, which for decades was one of the most powerful media houses in Europe.
Gruner’s strategy going forward is to focus on the core brands and main titles. Thomas Rabe, RTL Germany boss
Rabe said in the dpa interview: “Gruner’s strategy in the future is to concentrate on the core brands and the main titles.” He added: “We see considerable value in the core brands. And we see significant synergy effects between the core brands of Gruner + Jahr and RTL, not only in editorial cooperation, but above all in marketing.”
Magazines still brought in 350 million euros in sales in 2022
Rabe said about the economic situation of the publishing business: “In 2022, after all deductions, the result was 1 million euros. Due to the market development in advertising and sales, but also due to increases in paper and energy costs, Gruner + Jahr would have a double-digit negative EBITA this year without measures.” Sales in this area were around 350 million euros in 2022.
Hamburg is to be retained as a magazine location. Rabe said: “We will remain with the business in Hamburg – apart from the corporate functions, which are mainly bundled in Cologne. The employees in Hamburg are to move to new premises by the end of 2024.” He did not name an exact location. “We’re looking at several locations at the moment.”
The shares in “Spiegel” and in the DDV media group, to which the “Sächsische Zeitung” belongs, remain in the Bertelsmann group, as Rabe said. “That was never up for debate.” The transactions are assigned to the Bertelsmann Investments division.
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