Publicitas is finally at the end
Advertising marketer Publicitas has filed for bankruptcy with the Bülach District Court. A rescue attempt with a new business model failed because of the publishers. The former dominator of the Swiss advertising market is thus history.
In a rescue attempt, Publicitas had asked the publishers for a meeting on Wednesday. Afterwards, the more than 125-year-old traditional company sent out a communiqué stating: "Publicitas is fighting for 800 publisher votes.
Since there were no responses, Publicitas extended the deadline for comments from May 10 to May 14. Now, before the deadline expired, it turned out that too few publishers showed interest in the new business model. Employees received an invitation on Ascension Day for a Skype conference on Friday morning. The company employed around 270 people in Switzerland.
Publicitas had applied for provisional debt-restructuring moratorium on May 3. The new business model was part of the restructuring plan. At its core was a commission model, which was intended to reduce the risks for the media companies. A debt cut was also to be made. In addition, the publishers were to take a 50 percent stake in Publicitas in the future.
Administrator Urs Boller confirmed to the news agency SDA a first message of the media portal Small Report. He himself had filed for bankruptcy, and Publicitas had done the same. The application for a provisional moratorium had been withdrawn.
Litigation foreseeable
It is assumed that one or the other legal dispute could flare up around the legacy of Publicitas. The Ringier publishing house has already filed a lawsuit. It is directed against an assignment agreement for receivables between Publicitas and the financial company Thalos from Luxembourg, as communications chief René Beutner reported in the online edition of the Handelszeitung confirmed on Friday.
The Luxembourg-based company had concluded the assignment agreement with Publicitas to guarantee a restructuring loan of 15 million Swiss francs in February. Accordingly, Thalos is favored over the other creditors in the event of bankruptcy.
The publishing house Tamedia also has an assignment agreement with Publicitas. According to Tamedia spokesman Christoph Zimmer, the contract has been in place since 2016, when the contract was up for renewal and the flow of payments stalled. Whether media companies will take legal action against publisher president Pietro Supino's Tamedia publishing house because of this has yet to be determined. Zimmer stated that the agreement with the Luxemburgers was not comparable with the Tamedia contract. It hardly concerns advertising services by Thalos for the benefit of Publicitas.
Successor company in planning
Publicitas had run into difficulties after more and more publishers ended their cooperation with the company. Tamedia was the first to pull out, followed by other media companies. They all complained about poor payment practices and outstanding payments.
Tamedia spokesman Zimmer explained that the development was not positive for anyone, including Tamedia. Waiting would have made the situation even worse. Tamedia, NZZ, AZ Medien, the "Corriere del Ticino" and the Swiss Media Publishers Association announced after the application for debt-restructuring moratorium for Publicitas that they would set up a new company to handle media campaigns. Ringier was not on board for the time being.
Publicitas, like the media houses, suffered from the marked decline in print advertising. The company has been in the red several times in the past, has withdrawn from foreign business, has been shrunk and restructured. (SDA / ank)
