Tamedia in the year 2000

As of 1 January, the management was reorganized to meet the new requirements: Jürg Brauchli, Manager of Advertising, Sales, Printing and Information Technology is also the new Assistant Chairman of the Board of Management. Kurt W. Zimmermann heads the Publishing, Newspaper, TV and New Media Department. René Gehrig takes over management of the Publisher Marketing Department as an additional member of management.

The 62-year old Annabelle gets a gentle facelift in January. Its new appearance is not only characterized by a clearer structure. It is also sexy and flaunts its tabloid elements. At the same time, this magazine moves away from glossy paper and switches from intaglio to offset printing. Annabelle Création is integrated into the organization, but still remains an independent publication.

The Schweizer Familie is redesigned in February and the content is expanded. The goal is to increasingly orientate the content toward its established readers; the majority of those are Swiss age 35 and up with a tendancy toward a conservative, value-preserving attitude to life.

Sylvia Gloor, the publishing manager of Du and Spick leaves TA-Media in March. Sylvia Gloor was employed by the company for 18 years in various positions.

Swisscom and TA-Media form a strategic partnership in April in the form of interlocking participation. TA-Media acquires 8 percent of Blue Window, the Internet service provider of Swisscom. Blue Window acquires a 15 percent share of Winner Market AG, the online classified service from TA-Media. This mutual shareholding is a pioneering principle in Switzerland. TA-Media expands its core business - the classified ads - into electronic marketplaces. At the same time, the horizontal portal Blue Window is widened by TA-Media contents making it more attractive.

Facts appears on 6 April, its 5th anniversary, with a new style in both its contents and appearance - with a clear journalistic focus, improved reader guidance and an ultra-modern layout. This news magazine has grown to a notable size: at a circulation of 104,598 copies it is read by around 609,000 people.

TV3 reworks the news concept and, starting 17 April, produces short TV3 news briefs that are broadcast Monday through Friday at 7:50 p.m. and 10:50 p.m. instead of the 20-minute News at 7 news program.

Philipp Löpfe is named the new Tages-Anzeiger Editor-in-Chief. As of May 1, Tomas Rüst and Urs Buess are also working as Assistant Editor-in-Chief and Daily Manager, Fredy Wettstein is the Sports Manager for the Tages-Anzeiger and the SonntagsZeitung and Roger Köppel is the Editor-in-Chief of Das Magazin. That means that the main editorial office once again fully staffed.

Progress is being made quickly on construction of the Werd Media Building. The highpoint is reached on May 26 and celebrated with a topping-out ceremony. All TA-Media employees are invited to the construction site.

The Coninx family, owner of TA-Media which has since branched out considerably, is on the verge of its fifth generation. They took that opportunity to reconsider their role in the company. They informed the public about their decision to offer a portion of the capital stock to staff and a wide investing public on the stock exchange 19 May. The flow of funds resulting from their entrance onto the stock exchange can be used to buy out the shareholding members of the family who want to become committed outside of TA-Media in the future. The capital stock of TA-Media is increased from 4.8 million francs to 100 million francs at the end of June.

The request to increase TA-Media's interest in Radio Zürichsee AG from 1.7 percent to 26.7 percent was approved by the Federal Council in June. The Federal Council's decision also makes it possible to continue close, successful cooperation with Radio Zürisee in the future.

TA-Media announces in July that it took over 100 percent of Verlag Finanz und Wirtschaft AG's stock as of January 1 of this year; it had already possessed a so-called still, purely financial stake of 30 percent for 10 years. The publisher is specialized in economic publications and publishes, among other things, the renowned trade gazette Finanz und Wirtschaft. This economic publication, which appears twice weekly with about 55,000 copies sold per issue, is an ideal supplement to the TA-Media portfolio.

René Moser comes to TA-Media as the new du Head of Publishing on 17 July. Moser was the Head of Administration and Sales of Monopole Pathé Films SA.

TA-Media is named the Media Enterprise of the Year by Media Trend Journal. Consultations and services in the advertising business were especially decisive in their selection.

Zürich Express receives a new layout for its first anniversary at the end of August. The SonntagsZeitung appears with a ninth section, the online section, for the first time on 3 September, the circulation of which was certified at 220,102 copies in the spring. This section has a service characteristic more than anything else.

Spick makes a fresher, clearer, friendlier and, in a way, a sassier appearance after a gentle makeover. The new Head of Publishing, Marcel Tappeiner, comes on board 1 September; he was previously employed by Micom Carat as Media Planner.

After the Tages-Anzeiger became one of the first newspapers to also offer its complete editorial content on the Internet, it expands its online news offer around the clock. A 14-member editorial news staff produces a complete selection of news on politics, economics, sports, culture and society day after day at tagesanzeiger.ch. Comprehensive specials and dossiers about central topics are also available.

A new name for a new era: in the last few years TA-Media AG has changed from being purely a printing company to a multimedia content provider that distributes its contents not only via newspapers and magazines, rather also via radio, television and the Internet. The company's new name, Tamedia, bears this in mind without denying its roots. The new slogan Tamedia: Content for People indicates the contents that the company creates and transports - by and for people. The colon in the logo indicates the content that comes from the company.

A change in the management of the Winner Group is announced in September. Marius Hagger becomes the new Managing Director of the Winner Market AG e-commerce platform as of 1 January, 2001. He replaces Jürg Grau who becomes an independent consultant.

Four family members, Rena M. Coninx Supino, Sabine Richter-Ellermann, Antje Landshoff-Ellermann and Jürg A. Hauser, leave the committee at the end of September. Newly elected to the Board of Directors, on which Hans Heinrich Coninx still sits as President, is Christina von Wackerbarth, General Director for the Television Department at the federal radio and television corporate group VRT (Vlaamse Radio en Televisie) in Brussels. Robert Karrer as Vice President and Iwan Rickenbacher, Karl Dietrich Seikel and Pietro Supino all sit as members.

On Monday, 2 October, Tamedia enters onto the stock exchange. It puts up 20 percent of its shares, meaning 2 million securities with a face value of 10 francs at an issue price of 260 francs on the main segment of the SWX Exchange. IPO Lead Manager is UBS Warburg. Tamedia staff have the opportunity to purchase stock at a 20 percent lower price. A stock option program has also been worked out for the management. All employees also receive one share as a gift. At a later date, another 13 percent of the shares are to be put in public hands.

René Lüchinger, Editor-in-Chief of Facts and the news magazine's first man asks Tamedia management to dissolve his contract as of the end of 2000. His successor will be Hannes Britschgi, previously Editing Director of the Rundschau on SF DRS.

In the second half of the year, TV3 starts a programming offensive in the entertainment area. New in-house productions such as Big Brother and Wer wird Millionär are quite successful. Second place was conquered in October with an average market share of 10.1 percent among 15 to 49-year olds between 6:00 and 11:00 p.m. An average of 24.3 percent of this same target audience follows the happenings in the Big Brother container every day. The strategy of livening up the Swiss TV market with shows strictly targeted toward a younger audience has paid off.

Tamedia, Credit Suisse and Blue Window build a common financial portal on the Internet. These three partners found Finanzfachmarkt AG for this purpose, each investing a one-third share of the capital stock. The portal, which should be accessible starting January 2001, is managed as an independent company; Markus Gisler was hired as Managing Director.

In November, Tamedia passes on online media marketing to AdLink Internet Media AG, one of Europe's largest online marketers, and simultaneously buys a 33.3 percent interest in AdLink Switzerland.

René Bortolani, Editor-in-Chief of Schweizer Familie takes on a new challenge within the company: he will build up and then direct Training and Continuing Education for Journalists unit which is a part of Personnel Management. The current Assistant Editor-in-Chief of Schweizer Familie, Daniel Dunkel, will be the new Editor-in-Chief starting 1 January 2001.

In December ImmoWinner announces its plans to build the first Swiss agent channel for real estate together with the Intercity group. The Agent Channel is to be opened up in March 2001.

Innovation was also written with a capital "I" at the printing facility in 2000. The direct printing plate exposure projects Digitaler Umbruch (Digital Make-up) and Computer to Plate were achieved. Spedition 2000, a project started in 1998, is nearing an end. 43 million francs were invested in the Bubenberg printing facility expansion and the four most modern dispatching lines that can each process between 25,000 and 30,000 newspapers per hour weighing 1.5 kilograms each with up to eight inserts.