Axel Springer AG
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| Type | Aktiengesellschaft |
|---|---|
| Traded as | FWB: SPR |
| Industry | Publishing |
| Founded | 1946 |
| Founder(s) | Axel Springer |
| Headquarters | Berlin, Germany |
| Key people | Mathias Döpfner (CEO and Chairman of the management board), Giuseppe Vita (Chairman of the supervisory board) |
| Products | Magazines, newspapers, online portals, affiliate marketing |
| Revenue | €2.894 billion (2010)[1] |
| Operating income | €428.6 million (2010)[1] |
| Profit | €252.7 million (2010)[1] |
| Total assets | €3.603 billion (end 2010)[1] |
| Total equity | €1.773 billion (end 2010)[1] |
| Employees | 11,560 (average, 2010)[1] |
| Website | axelspringer.com |
Axel Springer AG is one of the largest multimedia companies in Europe, with more than 11,500 employees and with annual revenues of about €2.9 billion.[1] The Company is active in a total of 36 countries, including Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic, Russia and Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland. It has more than 230 newspapers and magazines, more than 80 online offerings as well as holdings in television and radio stations.
It was started in 1946/1947 by journalist Axel Springer.[2] Its current CEO is Mathias Döpfner. The Axel Springer company is the largest publishing house in Europe and controls the largest share of the German market for daily newspapers; 23.6%,[3] largely because its flagship tabloid Bild is the highest-circulation newspaper in Europe with a daily readership in excess of 3.5 million.
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[edit] Newspapers, magazines, online offerings
The media offerings of Axel Springer AG are clustered in: current news, TV program information, autos, sports, computers and consumer electronics, as well as women and lifestyle.
[edit] Selection of publications
- Die Welt, the intellectual flagship of the company
- Bild, newspaper with the largest circulation in Europe
- Auto Bild, automobile magazine with the largest circulation in Europe
- Audio Video Foto Bild, magazine for consumer electronics
- Computer Bild, published in nine countries, is Europe's best-selling computer magazine
- Sport Bild, published in many countries, is Europe's biggest sport magazine
- Auto.cz, the biggest Czech internet car portal including RoadLook.tv, starting in Slovakia and Poland as well
- Fakt, the biggest daily tabloid in Poland
- Hamburger Abendblatt, local newspaper
- Berliner Morgenpost, local newspaper
- B.Z., local newspaper
- Hörzu, the oldest still existing TV program information magazine in Germany
- Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, the intellectual flagship of the company in Poland
- Watchmi, a personalized TV content discovery system [4]
- Musikexpress, a monthly music magazine
- and the German edition of the Rolling Stone
In addition, the company is active in the online marketing business with its shares in zanox, Digital Window and buy.at and owns several classified advertising online platforms such as the online career site StepStone, the real estate marketing portal immonet and price comparising platform idealo.
[edit] History
- 1946: Publisher Hinrich Springer (66) and his son Axel (34) establish the limited company Axel Springer Verlag GmbH. Launch of the NORDWESTDEUTSCHE HEFTE and the radio and TV magazine HÖRZU.
- 1948: Launch of the evening newspaper HAMBURGER ABENDBLATT, the first daily created by Axel Springer.
- 1952: Launch of the popular daily BILD.
- 1953: Axel Springer Verlag buys the publishing house DIE WELT, including the daily paper DIE WELT and the Sunday paper WELT am SONNTAG.
- 1956: Company headquarters in Hamburg is built.
- 1959: The company acquires the majority holding in Ullstein AG, including the Berlin newspapers BERLINER MORGENPOST and B.Z. and the Ullstein book-publishing business.
- 1966: Official opening of the Berlin headquarters. Hamburg remains important site.
- 1968: After the attack on the students' leader Rudi Dutschke on 11 April 1968 the APO (Extra-Parliamentary Opposition) starts acts of violence against the company.
- 1972-73: Building of the offset-printing plant in Essen-Kettwig.
- 1984: Official opening of the offset printing facility in Ahrensburg near Hamburg.
- 1985: Axel Springer Verlag AG goes public.
- 1986: The first licensed edition of AUTO BILD comes out in Italy. Other licensed editions and joint venture publications later appear in twenty European countries, Indonesia and Thailand.
- 1993: Official opening of the offset printing works in Berlin-Spandau.
- 2001: Axel Springer and T-Online establish a joint subsidiary Bild.de/T-Online AG.
- 2002: Launch of immonet.de
- 2003: Name is changed to Axel Springer AG
- 2009: Axel Springer AG acquires affiliate marketers Zanox and Digital Window as well as StepStone ASA[5]
- 2010 a $635.7 million offer by Axel for leading French real estate website operator seloger.com caused seloger shares to rise as much as 32% the most since it went public. Within 3 days Axel increased its offer 15.6% to $735 million after seloger shareholders rejected the deal.[6][7]
[edit] Critics
The Axel Springer AG is criticized by many, including German leftists and Muslims[8] because it is openly biased in its support of Israel. The Axel Springer AG refused to publish advertising campaigns of the Left Party in 2005 as well as of the socialist PDS in earlier elections.[9]
Major competitors in the German publishing market include Bauer Media Group, Bertelsmann, Hubert Burda Media and Holtzbrinck.
[edit] Attacks
In the 1960s and 1970s the company was targeted by a number of left-wing groups. It was denounced by German-American writer Reinhard Lettau in an incendiary speech at the Freie Universität Berlin; in 1968 their Berlin headquarters was blockaded by students; in 1972 the Red Army Faction claimed responsibility for six bombs placed in the Hamburg building (only three exploded and 17 people were injured);[10] and in 1975 a bomb exploded in their Paris office, the "6th of March Group" (connected to the Red Army Faction) claimed responsibility.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g "Annual Report 2010" (PDF). Axel Springer AG. http://www.axelspringer.de/dl/431754/Annual_report_2010_Axel_Springer_AG.pdf. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
- ^ www.axelspringer.com
- ^ Hans J. Kleinsteuber in Kelly. M, Mazzoleni. G and McQuail. D. eds. 2004 "The Media in Europe. The Euromedia Handbook."
- ^ Watchmi.tv
- ^ Chronicle on www.axelspringer.com
- ^ "Seloger.Com Shares Rise Most Ever as Shareholder Questions Springer Offer". 2010-09-13. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-09-13/seloger-com-shares-rise-most-ever-as-shareholder-questions-springer-offer.html.
- ^ "Axel Springer plans no higher offer for seloger.com". 2010-09-16. http://www.tradingmarkets.com/news/stock-alert/axelf_axel-springer-plans-no-higher-offer-for-seloger-com-1172232.html.
- ^ German: Springer is a speaking tube of zionist interests
- ^ German: Springer-Press boycotts Left Party
- ^ Baader-Meinhof.com
[edit] External links
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