The NZZ-AZ joint venture CH Media has started operations

The impact on the 2000 employees is initially unclear. The products such as Aargauer newspaper, Luzerner Zeitung and St. Galler Tagblatt he launch will not result in any changes, Monica Stephani, media spokesperson for AZ Medien, emphasized upon request.

Identical reports on national topics already appear regularly in the three newspaper titles. In the following weeks, employees will be informed about the organization and processes, Stephani continued. Therefore, it remains open for the time being how many jobs will ultimately be eliminated, for example, when the national departments of the daily newspapers are merged.

Involved in equal parts

AZ Medien and the NZZ regional media hold equal shares in the new stock corporation CH Media. With sales of 480 million Swiss francs and more than 2,000 employees, the new media company reaches around two million people. In addition to regional newspapers, CH Media also includes online portals, radio and TV stations, and magazines.

All units of AZ Medien - with the exception of the Watson online portal - are now part of the new company. The NZZ Media Group integrated its entire regional media business into CH Media. The printing plants of the two companies are also part of it. The NZZ Medien and Business Medien business units of the NZZ Media Group, as well as the licensed radio and TV stations of both companies, are not part of the integration.

In-depth review by the Weko

The Swiss Federal Competition Commission (Weko) approved the merger in August. According to the Weko, following an in-depth investigation, there are indications that the formation of the joint venture between AZ Medien and NZZ could create or strengthen a dominant position in the reader markets. This applies in particular to the daily newspapers in the Solothurn and Aargau areas. After the merger, however, other strong competitors would remain, in particular the media companies Tamedia and Ringier. (SDA)