Ringier: 32 percent of sales digital
Ringier generated around a third of its revenue from digital offerings for the first time in 2014, but turned over less and earned less. Despite a successful digital strategy and an uncertain future for print, publisher Michael Ringier wants to do everything in his power to ensure that Ringier remains a media company.
At 988.5 million francs, sales fell slightly below one billion for the first time since 1999. Profits fell from 26.5 to 21.4 million francs, Ringier announced Wednesday. The reasons cited were the sale of the Czech business and the AIO Group, which includes concert promoter Good News.
Ringier had set itself the goal for 2014 of generating more than one-third of its revenues in the digital business - at 32.1 percent, the media company achieved the goal and increased its share by more than 6 percentage points compared to the previous year. To achieve this result, Ringier has also invested heavily in restructuring: a total of CHF 1.6 billion since 2007, two-thirds of which went into digital acquisitions. Today, for example, the media company owns the Autoscout24 car platform, the DeinDeal bargain portal, and the online store of the
pet retailer Qualipet.
Kodak and Kuoni as negative examples
Publisher Michael Ringier expressed confidence at the annual media conference in Zurich that his company will not only be one of the survivors in the new digital world in a few years, but one of the winners. Unlike Kodak, Kuoni or Brockhaus, for example, which missed the boat and were cited as negative examples by Ringier CEO Marc Walder. Nevertheless, the traditional media - the printed word and the printed image - are still the core business, said publisher Ringier. It will "do everything to remain a media company," he said. But no one knows what will happen to the newspapers in a few years. In response to a question from an NZZ journalist, Ringier said in a pessimistic tone that if print were to cease to exist, "the NZZ would still have a nice building, and we would still have a company. Ringier does not disclose detailed figures on the newspaper and magazine business. Only this much: Despite a challenging market environment, Ringier has succeeded in maintaining its leading market positions. In its first year with the new editor-in-chief René Lüchinger, Blick is still the most widely read paid newspaper in Switzerland. Sonntagsblick, under Editor-in-Chief Christine Maier, also maintained its top position. The paywall for the news portal Blick.ch is still on ice.
Weko decision expected in early fall
To strengthen its position in the Swiss media market, Ringier wants to merge its magazine business in Switzerland with the German media group Axel Springer. To this end, the joint venture Ringier Axel Springer Medien Schweiz AG is to be founded. However, this foundation must be approved by the Competition Commission. Marc Walder expects the green light in early fall. The designated head of the new company, Michael Voss, had left Ringier at the beginning of April with immediate effect. A successor has not yet been appointed. Ringier is now active in 15 countries. In addition to various countries in Eastern Europe, these include countries in Asia and Africa. In Africa, Ringier operates online portals in Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana and Senegal. (SDA)
