Tamedia in the year 2003
The successor to Christoph Marty, commercial director of Facts, is to be announced at the end of January. Her name is Sari Katriina Simola and she will take up her post on 1 June 2003. Sari Simola, born in Finland, studied German language and literature and has worked in various editorial teams and publishing houses, most recently for Ringier.
The commercial director of the Tages-Anzeiger will also be changing at the end of February. As announced back in December 2002, Dietrich Berg is leaving the company. His successor will be Maili A. Wolf. Born in Germany, she studied economics at the university of Zurich and graduated with a dissertation on marketing in the publishing industry. From 1979 to 1996, Maili Wolf worked for Ringier in various positions, after which she founded the firm Wolf Consulting. She will take up her post with Tamedia at the beginning of June.
19 March will see Tamedia tell its staff as well as the media and analysts about the 2002 financial year. The severe falls in advertising business have left deep marks in the accounts. The operating income before depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) fell by almost 51 percent to 71.7 million Swiss Francs. The net income is shown at 35.6 million Swiss Francs. The financial basis is still very solid. The equity ratio and liquidity remain high.
There was a surprising about-face in the free newspaper market: Tamedia got on board on 21 March with 20 Minuten and went without the launch of its own commuter newspaper Express, planned for 23 March. Express Zeitung AG, controlled by Tamedia, initially took over a 49.5 percent stake in 20 Minuten (Schweiz) AG. The Zürich Express appears for the last time on 30 May. After that date, it will be replaced by the Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich. The Express team, who were highly committed to preparing for the launch of the new title, will be offered other positions within the company.
At the beginning of April, the AG für Werbemittelforschung (wemf) published the latest certified circulation figures. Primarily due to Tamedia’s new circulation policy, all Tamedia titles, with the exception of Schweizer Familie, showed falling figures.
Christoph Tonini took up his position as financial director of Tamedia on 7 April. He replaced Patrick Eberle, who left the company. The change had been announced back in September 2002.
The Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich celebrated its resurrection on 2 June. It appeared in a modern design and with a new content concept. Tamedia and NZZ, the two shareholders in Tagblatt der Stadt Zürich AG, wanted to position the free newspaper clearly as an advertiser with a city journal character. A team of ten works for the Tagblatt under the leadership of Stephan Gartenmann (head of publishing and advertising) and Markus Hegglin (editor in chief). It appears from Monday to Friday and is delivered to around 140,000 households in the city.
On 10th June, the competition commission announced that it would subject the takeover of 20 Minuten by Tamedia AG and Berner Zeitung AG to a more in depth investigation. The preliminary examination had revealed that there were «indications for the founding or reinforcement of market ruling positions in the regional / local advertising markets in Berne and Zurich as well as the national readership of commuter newspapers».
Tamedia reorganized its magazines division at the end of June. The aim was to strengthen Annabelle, Facts and Schweizer Familie in the long term. Annabelle Wohnen and Annabelle Business would no longer appear after September 2003. Buyers were sought for Du and Spick. At the same time as the publication of the plans for the magazine division, Tamedia announced the end of jobbing rotary offset printing (JROP) by July 2005 at the latest. The departure from jobbing rotary offset printing and the reorganization of the magazines division led to the loss of 140 jobs. A social plan was set up for the workers concerned.
On 21 August, Tamedia published its half-yearly figures. The account income reflected the difficult situation in the advertising and readership market. At 290.6 million CHF, operating income was 13.5 % below the previous year. The EBIT was -11.1 million CHF, net income was -3.8 million CHF. The financial basis is still solid. The equity ratio was 53.5 % (54.7 % in the previous year).
The Lucerne Medienausbildungszentrum (media training centre) MAZ and Tamedia announced their collaboration on 23 August. On 1 January 2004, Tamedia transferred its media forum to the MAZ and shifted its further training activities to Lucerne. René Bortolani, who had set up and managed the media forum, left the company. The agreement with Tamedia enabled the Swiss School of Journalism to extend its offering. The extended training program runs under the label MAZ Media Forum.
The beginning of September saw the publication of readership figures for 2003 from the AG für Werbemittelforschung (Wemf). Tamedia came out well. Five titles increased their readership: the Tages-Anzeiger was up 5 %, the SonntagsZeitung was up 4 %, Schweizer Familie was up 16 %, Facts was up 8 % and Annabelle rose by 9 %. The readership of Finanz und Wirtschaft and Du remained constant.
Tamedia announced the new owner of cultural magazine Du on 11 September: Thurgau based Niggli Verlag will take on all staff if possible. Editing and publishing will remain in Zürich, while production and management will move to Sulgen, Thurgau. The decision to place the magazine in new hands had been made at the end of June. For Spick, whose sale was also decided in June, no interested buyer could be found. The children’s magazine will be published in future in cooperation with the Sailer-Verlag, Nürnberg. Commercial responsibility will remain with Tamedia.
On 19 September, the unions and management of Tamedia agreed on a social plan for the magazines division after around ten weeks of negotiations. As announced at the end of June, the restructuring of this division led to the loss of around 140 jobs. According to this social plan, Tamedia will provide a total of 11.4 million CHF for early retirements, redundancy payments and to reduce hardship.
At the beginning of October, Tamedia offloaded its non-strategic holdings. The 72 percent stake in BD Bücherdienst AG is to be sold to the Stuttgarter Verlagskontor SVK GmbH and Diogenes Verlag AG, Zurich. A letter of intent has been received from an interested party for Regor AG. Waser AG is to be incorporated into Meier Waser Druck AG, based in Feuerthalen, founded jointly by Tamedia and Meier + Cie. AG, Schaffhausen. Activities based in Buchs will cease. The two companies are working on a detailed implementation plan after receiving consent from the competition commission. The sale of non-strategic holdings and other changes within the company led to changes in the organization of Tamedia: The holdings division headed by Martin Kall is to be dissolved. The Werd Verlag and Finanz und Wirtschaft are now part of the newspaper division. The remaining holdings of up to 50 percent are to be managed by the finance division. The editor-in-chief and commercial director of the Tages-Anzeiger, who previously reported to Jürg Brauchli, will now report to Martin Kall, as was previously the case for the Werd Verlag and Finanz und Wirtschaft. The management of other activities and overall responsibility for the newspaper division remains with Jürg Brauchli.
On 9 October, Tamedia announced the start of the step by step takeover of commuter newspaper 20 Minuten. The intended purchase had been announced at the end of March. The competition commission gave their consent on 17 September. Through its subsidiary company Express Zeitung AG, Tamedia initially acquired 49.5 percent of 20 Minuten (Schweiz) AG. By the end of 2006 this will have risen to a 100 percent stake. The board of 20 Minuten (Schweiz) AG consists of: Martino Bammatter (President), Martin Kall (Vice-president), Sandro Macciacchini, Sverre Munck, Christian Stahl, Hans Christoph Tanner and Christoph Tonini. The competition commission is set to decide at a later date about the planned 17.5 % Berner Zeitung AG stake in Express Zeitung AG.
Mid October saw good news for the jobbing rotary offset printing (JROP) staff at Baslerstrasse: the plan announced by Tamedia in June, to cease operations by the middle of 2005 at the latest, will not be implemented. On 1 November, Printpark AG Jona took over the staff, plant and print jobs of the JROP. The activities will be continued and the majority of jobs will be retained. The new owners are planning to extend to run three shifts. This should improve economy and secure the Baslerstrasse site for the longer term.
24 October was the date of a change of management at Facts: the editor-in-chief of the news magazine, Hannes Britschgi, left Tamedia due to differences of opinion on the further development of Facts. Until a definitive decision is reached on a new appointment to this post, Stefan Barmettler will be leading the editorial team on an interim basis. He has been part of the Facts editorial team since the magazine’s launch and was appointed deputy editor in chief in September 2003.
Leo Arnold, co-managing director of Tamedia subsidiary Regor, left the company at the end of October. He ran the Lettershop for eleven years, together with Denys Kissling since April 2003. The 56 year old ETH engineer came to Regor from Ringier Print in the Czech Republic and is now taking on overall responsibility. Contrary to earlier reports, the Lettershop is not being sold and remains with Tamedia for the time being. For the current year, Regor anticipates turnover of around 8 million Swiss Francs and significantly better income.
At the end of November, the board of 20 Minuten appointed Marco Boselli as the new editor in chief of 20 Minuten. Rolf Bollmann, who was one of the founders of 20 Minuten, was confirmed as managing director by the board. Markus Eisenhut left the company. The change of editor in chief is a consequence of the contractual agreement between 20 Minuten (Schweiz) AG and Tamedia AG, which specified parity management for 20 Minuten.
The new budget and publicity orientation of the Tages-Anzeiger were published on 26 November. The editorial budget for 2004 amounted to almost 42 million CHF. That is 6.8 million CHF or almost 14 percent less than in 2003. The reduction led to the loss of 38 out of a total of 251 jobs. Where possible, this will be achieved by ordinary and early retirements and by reducing work quotas. 22 members of the editorial team had to be let go. On the publishing side of the Tages-Anzeiger costs also had to be reduced and three jobs lost. The savings are budgeted at 1.2 million CHF.
On 1 December, Tamedia transferred the processing of magazines in the Bubenberg printing facility to Printpark AG Jona. The solution has two benefits: Firstly, printing and processing will be in the same place, which simplifies the processes. Secondly, the utilization of the plant will be improved thanks to additional orders from Printpark, which will improve economy. The 14 staff in magazine processing will continue to be employed. The location will remain the Bubenberg printing facility until at least the beginning of 2007.
On 4th December, Christa Löpfe, editor-in-chief of Annabelle, announced that she would be standing down at the end of January 2004. Christa Löpfe was appointed as editor in chief in 1999 and has largely characterized the content and image of Annabelle in this position. Until a successor is definitively appointed, Martina Monti, deputy editor in chief since 1997, will be running the publication in the interim.