NZZ Group leaves borders behind

Before the Annual General Meeting on May 5, NZZ is still looking for a new Chairman of the Board of DirectorsThe NZZ Group can look back on a successful year 2000, generating a profit of CHF 50.282 million. The main reason is an increase in advertising sales at all newspapers of the NZZ Group. The NZZ will be able to use this money, because major investments in the printing area are imminent at the Neue Zürcher Zeitung. The current rotary presses at the Schlieren printing center have been written off until 2003, are approaching the limits of their capacity and will have to be replaced. A renewal of the printing center is therefore imminent.
NZZ-Online is still in the investment phase. The service currently generates revenues only from advertising banners, which, according to the NZZ Annual Report 2000, account for 5 to 7 percent of the Swiss online advertising market. Nevertheless, the Internet is now to be transformed from a by-product into a core business.
The structures of the NZZ Group underwent significant changes last year. The regional newspapers Der Bund,
St.Galler Tagblatt and Zürich- Express have now been combined in a subholding company, Freie Presse Holding AG. A new addition to the Group is a 50 percent stake in MDD AG, Schlieren. Markus Knöpfli
Eric Honegger resigns from the NZZ Board of Directors

Eric Honegger is stepping down as Chairman of the NZZ Board of Directors at the Annual General Meeting on May 5 and will not stand for re-election to the NZZ Board of Directors, "in order to keep the NZZ company out of the public discussion about myself," as Honegger writes in a letter to shareholders. The dispute about the Swissair Group posed the danger that "the journalistic credibility and ability to act of the NZZ would also be affected," the letter continued.
For its part, the Board of Directors of the AG for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung accepted this "with regret and understanding" and announced that it would discuss the reconstitution before the AGM.
NZZ Group in figures

2000 1999 1998
in 1000 Fr. in % in 1000 Fr. in % in 1000 Fr.
Total operating income 531,862 11.0 479,208 6.2 451,036
(Change from previous year)
Operating expenses 480,495 11.0 432,944 3.4 418,766
(Change from previous year)
Corporate cash flow 90,435 9.9 82,259 7.3 76,804
(Change from previous year)
Group profit 50,282 11.2 45,196 6.8 42,308
(after deduction of minority shareholders)
Number of employees NZZ Group 1995 1864 1647
Source: Annual Report 2000 of the AG for the Neue Zürcher Zeitung