Bonnier Annual Review 2008

2008
The Skandia movie theater in Stockholm, built
in 1923. The interior was designed by renowned
Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund.
Friends,
In 2008, Barack Obama became the first
presidential candidate to demonstrate what
an intelligent use of the Web can mean to an
election campaign. Microblogging gained
center stage as the campaign released news
via Twitter, and online communities like
Facebook and Myspace were effectively leveraged for grassroots advocacy. On the video
front, Will.i.am’s iconic “Yes we can” music
video was viewed more than 15 million times
on YouTube.
The year 2008 also taught us that news
reporting no longer is about media telling the
audience what happened—it’s an interactive
information flow in which all parties can participate via sites like Twitter, Flickr, Newsmill
and Jaiku. Networking itself became a media
form, and we began to live more and more of
our lives online. When Apple launched the 3G
version of the iPhone, it caused nothing less
than a revolution for the mobile Internet, with
more than 500 million applications available
for user download.
At Bonnier, we started the year with the
launch of a new Research & Development unit,
led by Sara Öhrvall. Their task is to identify
opportunities to develop and initiate new
projects in a fast-changing media world. The
R&D department sits next to the business
area CEOs for maximum information sharing
at Bonnier’s new open-plan headquarters,
where we moved in April.
Our biggest acquisition this year was the June
addition of C More Entertainment, which
established Bonnier for the first time in the
premium-pay TV market, which is truly exciting. But a lot of other things also took place in
2008.
In August, three hundred participants from
110 companies and 15 countries around the
Bonnier world gathered at the first-ever
GRID conference in Stockholm to network
with colleagues and gain inspiration. Among
the notable speakers were world-renowned
percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, Booker
Prize-winning author Kiran Desai, TED director June Cohen, web pioneer Nova Spivack
and Hollywood CEO Jim Berk. GRID 2008
was a resounding success, and the planning
for GRID 2009 is already well underway.
In October, we announced the start of a new
global job rotation program, GROW, which
currently offers 16 different positions in
six countries: Sweden, Finland, Denmark,
Estonia, the United States, and Australia. The
program gives Bonnier employees around the
world the opportunity to visit a new country,
meet fun people, gain new knowledge, and
learn about different cultures over a period
of three months. Bonnier is an international
company, and this is the first time that we
have physically made that a part of our appeal
for employees.
In 2008, we saw the end of the economic
boom that has prevailed worldwide since
2002. What started as the burst of the U.S.
housing bubble proved to be a global banking
and financial crisis, whose impact on the
world economy we can not yet predict. But
everybody can agree that the market conditions will be considerably more severe in the
years to come.
In 2009, Bonnier will be organized in a slightly new way, with operations in seven business
areas. Casten Almqvist remains the CEO of
Bonnier Business Press, Torsten Larsson will
lead Bonnier Broadcasting, Bonnier Entertainment and Bonnier Evening Paper. Maria
Curman continues on as the CEO of Bonnier
Books and Ulrika Saxon has newly been appointed CEO of Bonnier Magazine Group and
Bonnier Morning Paper. Together with CFO
Göran Öhrn, our new Chief Communications
Officer Mårten Lyth, and our new head of the
central M&A department, Frida Westerberg,
we now have the entire team in place. And we
are going to need it. Likewise, we depend on
all the remarkable and inspiring individual
efforts that make this company so strong.
It’s going to be a tough year. I think we are
prepared for it.
Jonas Bonnier
CEO, Bonnier AB
Stockholm, February 2009
iden·ti·ty
iden·ti·ty
Pronunciation: \ī-den-t-tē, -, -de-n-\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle French identité, from
Late Latin identitat-, identitas, probably
from Latin identidem repeatedly, contraction
of idem et idem, literally, same and same
Date: 1570
1. sameness in all that constitutes the
objective reality of a thing : oneness
2. the distinguishing character or personality
of an individual : individuality
Except from Merriam Webster’s English
dictionary
“Identity” is a collection of characteristics that
define a person or company. It’s those traits
that we take special pride in—our concept of
who we are, how we define and distinguish
ourselves and how we relate to others. It’s
how we answer the question, “Who are you?”
Identity is essential for self-respect and recognition. It defines us, and creates expectations. Identity is not only about appearance
and a set of beliefs, it’s also a roadmap for our
actions.
Identity stems from our roots, and directs us
into the future. If the properties of identity
are changed, we are no longer the same person or company.
The theme of this annual report is identity.
This is us.
Chris Cote
TransWorld SURF
Oceanside, California,
USA
Chris Cote sits in the big-boss chair at the
world’s best surf magazine. This, of course, is
what he calls it, because he practically gave
birth to TransWorld SURF way back in 1999.
And like most successful people, he’s had had
some big adventures on his way to the top.
Unlike most editors-in-chief, however, Chris’s
adventures include being a pro surfer and
spending a few years as a roadie for a top rock
band.
Maybe destiny brought Chris to TransWorld
SURF. He started out as a toddler on a boogie
board in a town called Encinitas in Southern
California. Everybody around him surfed:
his stepdad, his brother, and pretty much the
whole the neighborhood. Surfing wasn’t really
a decision—if you grew up where Chris Cote
grew up, you surfed. But Chris didn’t fall in
love with surfing as a little kid. He had vicious
ADD, and would alternate bouts of surfing
with playing ninja and videogames. That all
changed in junior high school, when his focus
honed in on the sport.
“All I could think about was surf, surf, surf,” he
says. “My friends and I started to compete in
contests nearly every weekend and the better
we got, the more we wanted to surf. I made it a
point to surf as much as I could, and due to the
proximity of my house to the beach, I could go
every single day, two or three times a day on
weekends.”
With that much practice, Chris got pretty good
and won sponsors that paid him a monthly
salary. Technically, he was a professional, but
as Chris puts it, he was a “real half-assed pro.”
“The drums are like your team riders—you
have to take care of them and make sure the
boss is happy with the way they perform.
And the rewards are fun—girls, touring the
country, making a lot of money. I guess you get
all those when you’re a team manager too—
minus the money.”
After a few years touring with the band, Chris
returned to California in 1999, where he got a
call from an executive at TransWorld Media,
who wanted to start a new surf magazine.
“I had written for a few magazines in the past
and had developed a reputation for being a
smart ass, and that’s what Transworld was
looking for in a writer. To make a long story
short, I was hired as a staff writer and helped
conceive the magazine in its infancy. I was one
of the sperm donors to the fetus of TransWorld SURF.”
sucks, surfing cures you and revitalizes you
like nothing else. I love to surf, I love to make
people laugh, and to be able to combine both of
my passions and make it my livelihood is truly
a blessing. Damn, that sounded so sappy.”
“To be able to combine both of my
passions and make
it my livelihood is
truly a blessing.”
In the early days, the staff at TransWorld
SURF was just a bunch of friends hanging out
and doing what they loved—surfing, making
jokes, partying, and getting paid to do it. They
set out to make a magazine that broke all the
rules and pushed the limits of what could be
said in print.
“We pissed a lot of people off back then,” Chris
says. “We got kicked off newsstands, people
wrote angry letters, there were protests—it
was awesome!”
That was ten years ago, when Chris was at the
bottom of the totem pole. So, how did he get to
the top?
“I was always afraid of big waves and that really
“I killed and ate everybody in my way,” he
held back the progression of my surfing. But
jokes.
everybody liked my personality and thought I
was funny, so they kept paying me and putting
The truth is, he was good at his job. Chris
me in ads. I did well in some international surf
found that he loved conceiving ideas for the
contests, appeared in magazines, got free surfmagazine, and he inserted himself in every
boards and clothes—life was good,” Chris laughs. aspect of the business.
“Eventually, I realized I was never going to
“I went to every meeting I could, I attended
be one of the top dogs in the sport, but I still
every industry event I could, and basically
really loved being involved with the surf world. poured everything I had into the magazine.
I think the marketing guys for the companies
I selfishly did everything I could to make
I represented thought the same thing because
myself the face and voice of the magazine and
they started offering me jobs. It was like, ‘we
eventually the Web site.”
can’t pay you to surf anymore, but we can pay
you to run the team for us.’”
When the founding editor left the company
in 2006, Chris was offered the top spot, and
So Chris made the leap from team rider to
he jumped at the opportunity. And a couple of
working stiff and became team manager and
years into the job, he’s still glad he did.
marketing assistant for the surfing brands
Billabong, Reef, Hurley, Spy and Arnette. The “It’s been the most exciting, challenging, fruswork was fun, but eventually he got bored and
trating, and rewarding experience I’ve ever
decided to take a gig as drum tech for the band had,” Chris affirms. “The best part of working
Blink 182. Sounds random, but according
for a surf magazine is traveling around the
Chris, life as a roadie is not so different from
world surfing. When deadlines are looming
life as a team manager.
and stress makes you feel like everything
A personal favorite: MacBook Pro
“I love my MacBook Pro, it’s my lifeline. And
basically everything that is special to me that
I’ve created in the last five or so years is on it—
so, I love it. I also love my big bouncy workout
ball – it helps keep my back loose, and it also
helps put my baby to sleep when I hold him
and bounce him on it. My third love is my
Fender Stratocaster—a simple, perfect guitar.”
Jonas Bonnier
Bonnier AB
Stockholm, Sweden
In 2003, all employees at the Bonnier
Magazine Group in Stockholm received an
announcement that they would be boarding
a rented jumbo jet bound for a conference in
Malta. That evening, a rock band made up of
staff members including CEO Jonas Bonnier,
a former musician, performed a concert. The
stage was alive with a flurry of flashing lights
and exploding smoke bombs.
Upon arrival at their hotel rooms, all 350
guests discovered that they had each received
a book from Jonas Bonnier.
While receiving books as gifts is hardly remarkable for employees of a media group like
Bonnier, this was different. The books weren’t
simply taken from the stock of Bonnier’s various publishing houses—they were personal
gifts, hand-chosen by Jonas from bookshops
throughout Stockholm.
Each book was individually selected and
signed with a handwritten note explaining
why Jonas thought accountant X or receptionist Y would enjoy that particular book.
“I spent a week finding and choosing the
books,” Jonas recalls. “Maybe it was a silly
use of my time as CEO. I don’t know. But I like
to give away books, and always have. There
was a bit of chaos though, when we arrived in
Malta. As it turned out, all of the Post-it notes
explaining who would receive each book had
fallen off in the boxes during the flight. But
everything worked out in the end.”
Did everyone get a different title?
“No, I had fifteen books as a starting point.
These were fifteen novels that are so fantastic
that I knew everyone simply had to love them.
So some were given the same title, but for different reasons. Of the 350 books in total, there
were about 190 different titles.”
In 2003, Jonas Bonnier was CEO of Bonnier
Magazine Group, one of the 175 companies
that make up the Bonnier Group. In January
2008, he assumed the position of CEO for
the entire Bonnier Group, overseeing 12,000
employees in 20 countries.
Born in 1963, Jonas Bonnier is 17 years
younger than his predecessor, Bengt Braun.
That a person with the Bonnier surname
would become CEO of the Bonnier Group may
seem obvious and predetermined. But Jonas,
whose great-great-great-grandfather was
Albert Bonnier, had entirely different plans
when growing up.
“When I was 17 or 18, the only thing I knew
for certain was that I wasn’t going to work for
Bonnier. I wasn’t interested in either offices or
careers. I played music and wrote prose.”
Jonas Bonnier debuted as a novelist at the age
of 25, and has since published an additional
five novels. “Actually, I’ve written more than
that, but all of them haven’t been published.”
When his first novel was published in 1988,
Jonas Bonnier studied at Stockholm University. At the time, he supported himself as a
middle school teacher, with plans of earning
a doctorate in literature. Eventually, when he
started his first job within the Bonnier Group,
his work consisted of writing.
“Back then, I worked for the Bonnier Book
Club. My job was to write the catalog texts
that presented each of the different books. I
really liked the job, and I saw it as a challenge
to write compelling texts for the more unusual
books that normally wouldn’t be bestsellers.
I was delighted when we sold 14,000 copies
of a new edition of Choderlos de Laclos’s Les
Liaisons Dangereuses, which is actually quite
a challenging French epistolary novel.”
What way is that?
“Everything Bonnier has done in the past
200 years has to do with a person’s desire to
express ideas for others. As long as we stay
true to this, we’re doing the right thing. It’s not
about idealism. We’re very good at harnessing
and commercializing the will to express and
convey ideas. And we will continue to do so.”
“Our core business is publishing. Every time
we’ve thought that mail-order book sales were
going so well that we could even sell pots and
pans by mail, it’s been a total failure. And the
only thing that’s commercially viable in the
long run is quality. If you do something well
enough, people will be willing to pay for it.”
“My most important
task is to make sure
that we have the
Five years ago, when you published your
right people in the
most recent novel, you said in an interview
that you still saw yourself primarily as a
novelist. As CEO of the Bonnier Group, do you company. If we do,
still feel this way?
I believe the future
“When I get up in the morning, I don’t feel like
a novelist or a CEO. I just feel slow and sleepy.
What I am, is one thing, what I do for a living
will surprise us all.”
is another. And I am extremely fortunate to
be able to get up every morning and believe
that I have a choice. Right now, I am defiantly
choosing the role of CEO.”
What do you think is most important for your
work in 2009?
“Not to confuse quick decisions with shortsighted decisions.”
What exactly do you mean by that?
“We’re entering a very, very challenging year,
economically. It’s going to demand a lot of
quick, tough decisions. At the same time, it’s
important not to let these quick decisions be
driven by shortsighted thinking, which happens quite easily. We always have to maintain
the larger perspective.”
How will Bonnier evolve in the coming years
with you as CEO?
“I don’t like to speculate on what will happen in
the future. This is something I learned when I
wrote TV and film scripts. There was no point
in telling your friends that you had written a
feature film, because you never knew whether
it would actually be filmed. I can not look into
the future. Nor do I believe that there is one
true path for Bonnier. I believe there are several parallel approaches. My most important
task is to make sure that we have the right
people in the company. If we do, I believe the
future will surprise us all. In a good way.”
A personal favorite: My dog, Siri, a 7-year-old
golden retriever
“The whole family loves Siri. She’s so much
like Phoebe in the TV series Friends that we
almost named her Phoebe instead. Siri runs
our lives. When she decides to get up at 6:15 in
the morning, we get up at 6:15. Is she smart?
No, she’s actually less bright than other dogs.
Anybody who wants a smart dog should get a
cat instead. A dog is always happy to see you—
always friendly, and always faithful.”
Carl-Johan Bonnier
Bonnier AB
Stockholm, Sweden
The story of Sweden’s largest and most influential fiction publishing house, with five of
the six Swedish winners of the Nobel Prize in
literature, began when Albert Bonnier arrived
by boat in Stockholm on a crisp autumn day
in 1835.
Albert Bonnier was just 15 years old. He
disembarked onto the docks of Riddarholmen with his entire fortune in his pocket—
eight shillings—uncertain of the future that
awaited him. Two years later he had started
Albert Bonniers Förlag and, by the age of 17,
published the company’s first book, Proof
That Napoleon Never Existed, a satirical
lampoon by a French physicist.
literature students regularly book tours of
the portrait gallery, where they literally walk
through Sweden’s cultural history.
As Carl-Johan Bonnier describes the paintings—one of which depicts a gloomy August
Strindberg gazing down at his visitors—he
pauses at a group portrait in which Erik Axel
Karlfeldt is among others seated at a table. Of
the six Swedish-born winners of the Nobel
Prize in literature, Erik Axel Karlfeldt is the
one Karl Otto Bonnier missed.
“This was probably the only time he cried in
public. Erik Axel Karlfeldt’s manuscript had
mistakenly been sorted out at the publishing
house, without Karl Otto getting a chance
to read it. Consequently, Karlfeldt turned to
another publisher. Karl Otto Bonnier never
forgot this,” Carl-Johan Bonnier says as we
pass the bronze bust of Karl Otto Bonnier that
greets visitors at the entrance.
Albert Bonnier was the son of Gerhard Bonnier, who was born in Dresden as Gutkind
Hirschel and later moved to Copenhagen
where he started a lending library, a bookshop
and a publishing house. An 1804 book of Danish short crime fiction was the first publication from Gerhard Bonnier’s publishing house, What does it mean to be chairman of the
and thus the very first Bonnier book. However, Board of Directors at a modern media group
that is also a 200-year-old family company?
due to financial problems, Gerhard Bonnier’s
publishing company was rather short-lived.
“It’s a challenge, but it’s also invigorating. It’s a
joy to have the pleasure of carrying on the traIn contrast, the publishing house started
dition of enterprise and book publishing that
by his son, Albert Bonnier, survived to be
Bonnier has pursued for 200 years. To make
inherited, generation after generation. Today,
sure the company continues to grow, that it’s
the company releases approximately 170 titles
passed on through the family—this historical
a year and is one of the cornerstones of the
tradition adds to its value. It’s the compass
Bonnier Group.
that guides us forward.”
Albert Bonnier, in turn, passed the company onto one of his sons, Karl Otto Bonnier,
who has since been called Swedish literature’s “master herb gardener.” Perhaps no
other publisher has done more for Swedish
literature than Karl Otto Bonnier. He was the
publisher behind August Strindberg, Gustaf
Fröding, Hjalmar Söderberg, Selma Lagerlöf
and Verner von Heidenstam, some of whom
he defended in critical court trials regarding
freedom of the press.
In 1909, Karl Otto Bonnier acquired Nedre
Manilla, an eighteenth-century villa on the island of Djurgården in Stockholm. Aside from
using Nedre Manilla as a residence, Karl Otto
Bonnier added an annex, where he displayed
his collection of portraits of Swedish authors.
At the time of this writing in 2009, one of his
descendents, Carl-Johan Bonnier, lives in
Nedre Manilla. Carl-Johan Bonnier is chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bonnier
Group.
The villa is divided into two sections: the
private residence and a house dedicated to the
portrait collection. This annex, designed by
Ragnar Östberg, is currently used to represent
Albert Bonniers Förlag. Groups of art and
What does this tradition consist of?
“One of the founding values of the Bonnier
enterprise is free speech. Our company has a
tradition of protecting diversity and freedom
of speech. This applies to books, newspapers
and other media. We have a very rich tradition
of distributing quality literature, regardless of
its viewpoint.”
“Historically, this has been an important task.
Albert Bonniers Förlag has defended authors
(August Strindberg and Gustaf Fröding) in
court trials when there were attempts to censor their writings. We have defended Dagens
Nyheter (Sweden’s largest daily newspaper)
when antiliberal forces sought to take over.
The evening paper, Expressen, was started
during World War II in order to combat
Nazism. After the fall of the Soviet Union,
Dagens Industri (Sweden’s equivalent to the
Financial Times) made sure that countries on
the opposite side of the Baltic Sea were immediately given their own independent business
publications.”
“It’s a joy to have the
pleasure of carrying
on the tradition of
enterprise and book
publishing that
Bonnier has pursued
for 200 years.”
“We, as owners, are
not in the business
of spreading our
own viewpoints.”
“We have a strong tradition of editorial
independence. We, as owners, are not in the
business of spreading our own viewpoints.”
Owners who avoid influencing the content of
their publications are unusual in an international perspective.
“This is a tradition we have in the Nordic
countries. To what extent we at Bonnier have
contributed to this, I can’t say, but this tradition lies at the center of everything we do.”
Are there any potentially lucrative ventures
that Bonnier has missed out on due to its
strong journalistic values?
“I don’t think that good journalistic practices
and profitability need to imply a conflict of
interest. In the short term this can of course
be true. Shareholders could certainly claim
that the publishing of Swedish lyric poetry is
unprofitable and should therefore be discontinued. But one could equally assert, which
I think is true, that for Bonnier’s long-term
publishing enterprise, this kind of publication
is important. It gives credibility, attracts the
best authors to the publishing house and helps
to discover new talents. So, in the long run,
even Swedish lyric poetry can be profitable
from an economic perspective.”
The incessantly changing media world is
otherwise not known for long-term thinking.
“This is the advantage of being a family-owned
company. These kinds of companies are
quite common in the media industry. Media
companies have seldom had the same need for
capital as companies in other industries, and
have therefore been able to maintain ownership within the family.”
What does the ownership of Bonnier look like
today?
“The ownership structure has changed from
having a single owner 200 years ago to having
over 80 owners today, all of whom are family
descendants. However, just like all other companies we have a general shareholders’ meeting that appoints a nominating committee,
which nominates a Board of Directors, which
appoints a management staff. It is mandated
that the Board of Directors will always have a
majority of professionals who don’t belong to
the family.”
“We have a shareholders’ agreement that
is valid until 2030. It stipulates, among
other things, that shareholders may trade
internally. But one cannot trade externally
without agreement from 70 percent of the
owners. We even work towards constantly
teaching the younger, newer joint owners
about responsible stock ownership. They
meet here and participate in seminars
where they can get to know each other and
our traditions.”
What was the most important issue for the
Bonnier Group in 2008?
“During the year, we appointed a new
president and CEO. Traditionally, we haven’t
changed our top executive often, so this is a
significant change. The 45-year-old Jonas
Bonnier taking over from 61-year-old Bengt
Braun represents a rejuvenation and a generational shift. The dramatic downturn of the
market was also a decisive factor in the past
year. We have experienced what is possibly
the most rapid economic change we have ever
seen.”
How is Bonnier affected by all of the rapid,
drastic changes in the media industry?
“The evolution of the media industry has
brought enormous opportunities for big
changes. We are in the middle of a paradigm
shift unlike any since the invention of the
printing press. At the same time, we’ve
experienced major changes before in our 200year history. Bonnier’s story stretches back
to a single business concept: to spread good
stories, news, entertainment and information.
This has always been the foundation. The only
difference is the changing media forms in
which this can occur.”
“When it became possible to produce printed
newspapers in the 1800s, we invested in this.
We did likewise when it became possible to
print colored weeklies in the 1900s. As it then
became possible to produce moving images,
we established ourselves in that industry, and
so on. The biggest difference now, as the distribution becomes digital, is that the product
offering becomes infinitely more diverse. At
the same time, this provides advertisers with
greater possibilities to better target their
audiences.”
What is the most exciting part of your job,
personally?
“When I started within the company, its tradition led directly to a greater involvement than
if I had worked someplace else. I also have fun
working with books, newspapers, TV and film.
These are products that everyone has an opinion about, which is a very motivating force.
I’m not sure I would think it was as much fun
if we were to sell ball bearings.”
A personal favorite: Ski track in Härjedalen
The mountain ski track between Helags and
Fjällnäs in Härjedalen on a sunny day in April.
The mountain scenery is absolutely fabulous.
Siv Bublitz
Ullstein Buchverlage
Berlin, Germany
In his role as permanent secretary of the
Swedish Academy, it was Horace Engdahl who
stood before an assembled global press every
year, for a decade, to declare who had received
the Nobel Prize in literature. However, at the
end of 2008, the intellectual giant announced
that this would be his final year at the post.
When asked by a newspaper what he would
now do instead, he replied: “I’m going to sit in
cafés in Berlin and express myself clearly.”
Visiting Berlin, it’s easy to understand his
choice of cities. The new, pulsating destination—where artists, musicians and writers
from around the world flock to the cultural
scene and cheap apartments—stands out again
as Europe’s cultural center. History is alive in
every corner of Berlin, inspiring and compelling you to express yourself more clearly.
Before Adolf Hitler came to power, the house
of Ullstein was the largest and most profitable media publisher in Europe. Run by the
Jewish family Ullstein, it published four
dailies, weeklies and monthlies, as well as two
million books a year. All of this was taken over
by the Nazis. During the bombing raids, the
company’s entire block along Kochstrasse
was completely demolished. In 2004, Ullstein
Buchverlage, now purely a book publisher,
returned to the heart of Berlin and into a
newly renovated nineteenth-century building
at Friedrichstrasse 126.
Siv Bublitz is publisher and CEO at Ullstein
Buchverlage. Her office overflows with books
published by Ullstein, Econ, List, Claassen,
Propyläen, Marion von Schröder and Allegria.
Aside from bookshelves, there’s nothing on
the walls. No hanging pictures, posters or
photographs.
“Working here, I’m often reminded of the tradition of the house of Ullstein,” Siv says. “This
was a family who had the courage to launch a
liberal paper in the latter half of the nineteenth century when Bismarck’s laws had put
up all kinds of obstacles for the free press. And
who later became book publishers in the same
liberal and open-minded way. They published
authors such as Bertolt Brecht, Erich Maria
Remarque and Lion Feuchtwanger. It’s a huge
motivation to carry on what they once built.”
How did you end up in this business? What’s
your background?
“I’ve always been a voracious reader. Books
meant the world to me when I was a kid.
Literally. Because, as a kid growing up in the
city, there just isn’t much that you’re allowed
to explore on your own. Books are full of
people to meet, places to go and adventures to
experience. Later on, I became curious about
literature as a subject, its history, the way
language can be used to create images, style,
rhythm, meaning. I spent seven years, partly
in Germany, partly in England, studying English, German and Philosophy, and enjoying it
very much. During that time, I had done some
freelance editorial work. After finally getting
my degree, publishing was a natural choice. I
thought it was a great idea to actually make a
living of what I like to do most: reading books!”
What’s the driving force behind your work?
What’s your passion in this business?
“To my mind, publishing is about two things:
choosing good books and finding as many
readers for them as possible. Both are a
challenge. There is a world of books-in-themaking out there, and for our lists we have to
find the best of them. I believe that diversity is
important to good publishing. Books are very
much about seeing the world from different
angles—a publishing house should reflect
that.”
“To my mind,
publishing is about
two things: choosing good books and
finding as many
readers for them as
possible. Both are a
challenge.”
“Once we are enthusiastic about a book, the
next most important question is what we can
do for it as a publisher. How do we find readers,
how do we attract attention in a country in
which half the population will never read a
book, while 90,000 new titles are published
each year? I think these are the two main
features of good publishing, and I’m passionate about both of them.”
Can you imagine working in another line of
business?
“Absolutely not.”
Why is literature important?
“The question sounds a bit as though literature
needs to be promoted by giving reasons why
it should be preserved rather than being left
to extinction. I think that misses the point.
Literature is a force of culture like the wind is
a force of nature. Wherever language exists,
literature exists. As humans, we perceive the
world through language and imagination, and
literature is imaginative language. It’s our way
to make sense of the world. As Joan Didion put
it: ‘We tell ourselves stories in order to live.’”
What are the biggest professional challenges
ahead of you in the next couple of years?
“For one, we’ll have to face the challenges
of new technology and adapt it to serve the
purposes of good publishing. In 2008, we
launched a new Web site at Ullstein. It’s been
a great success, and it’s much more than just
a marketing tool for our books. It’s a way to
communicate directly with our readers.”
“On a more general scale, books are competing
for attention with other media, and above all
they are competing with many other books.
This is a problem the publishing industry has
had for years, but it is a problem it can solve.
We should be more selective—in our authors’
interest as well as our own.”
A personal favorite: Life and Fate
“The book that impressed me most in the last
few years is Vasily Grossman’s magnificent
novel Life and Fate. It is set in the shadow
of World War II, conveying all the violence
of war and totalitarian rule. But the story
that evolves around a few memorable main
characters is a celebration of the human spirit
and its battle for dignity and freedom. It’s
been called the twentieth-century equivalent
of War and Peace, and it’s certainly a modern
masterpiece.”
Mattias Fyrenius
TV4.se
Stockholm, Sweden
Despite its relatively late debut in 1990, Sweden’s TV4 has rapidly grown into the country’s
largest television channel. Today, it is also
Sweden’s largest independent media house,
with some 20 channels throughout Scandinavia and an equal number of Web sites.
From the outside, the TV4 office looks more
or less like TV stations always have since the
mid-twentieth century. Two security guards
emerge from the building carrying props for
a game show. In the corridor, journalists mix
with researchers, and pop stars chat with
politicians who’ve just appeared on a morning
talk show. Clusters of people hover around
various coffee machines.
What is new is the way viewers watch the
programs that are produced there. Aside from
the fact that television sets are getting larger,
wider and above all, flatter, more and more
people are watching TV programs on computers and mobile phones.
This motivates Mattias Fyrenius, the director
of new media at TV4.
“The expression ‘new media’ is already starting to sound a bit dated. You might just say
that it’s anything but traditional television,”
Mattias explains as he studies the coffee
maker, deliberating over what to brew.
“The coolest thing about this job is trying to
understand all the changes happening around
us. It’s fascinating to see how these changes
influence us as viewers and users. And how
they affect our advertisers as well.”
Many in the television business seem to hope
that everything will just return to the way it
used to be.
“That attitude is suicidal. Those who think,
‘this is all very scary, let’s keep it at arm’s
length,’ are doomed to die. To survive in our
business, everyone needs to take action. But
we’re not talking about a total revolution. The
program listings and regular TV shows will
be around for many years to come. You can
already see how the program listings are
changing to reflect what’s important in them.”
In what way?
“It’s no coincidence that costs for broadcasting sports events are soaring. Live
broadcast television that is sent here and
now is becoming even more important. For
example, a live broadcast of the World Cup
championship in soccer will work fine as a
live sending 30 years from now. And certain
event shows, like American Idol, will also
survive well. On the other hand, all types of
purchased material—programs that aren’t
live or don’t have a live feeling—are going to
have problems.”
TV4 has also launched more than half a dozen
smaller channels. Will the smaller channels
take over from the larger ones?
“Lately, we’ve seen an exciting development
where the larger channels are under pressure
from many of the smaller upstarts. But I think
we’re going to see a leveling off of this trend.
The small channels are not going to take over.
In fact, they are going to experience a lot of
pressure from the on-demand channels. For
instance, why would anyone watch a conventional movie channel on a set program when
they can watch any film they like—whenever
they like?”
How do you watch TV today?
“I’m a pretty linear viewer when it comes to
regular TV programming, but I also watch
a lot more Web-based programs. It’s dangerous to use myself as a point of reference.
Still, when I read all the reports and market
research, I recognize myself. From having
been typical viewers, people are now watching
more short film clips on the web—so-called
wow!-clips. Next we’ll be seeing more professional clips and, finally, entire programs.”
Prior to joining TV4 three years ago, Mattias
worked at Svenska Dagbladet, one of Sweden’s
largest morning dailies, where he was head of
their Internet and mobile ventures. Earlier, he
managed the Web portal for another group.
“The Internet has developed in such a way
that I’ve lost faith in large and wide portals—
particularly for players in the field of TV. You
need a clear profile to succeed on the Web.
That’s why we’ve chosen a different strategy at
TV4—namely to develop some 14 specialized
sites. We currently have an online channel for
soccer, hockey, weather, food and so on. We
take them area by area.”
How do you keep yourself updated with
what’s happening? How do you keep pace
with the rapid development?
“I read a tremendous number of media-related
publications. But first and foremost, I follow
a certain group of people out in the world
because of the interesting ways they think
and act. These are not even people I’ve met.
I just keep track of how they work. You need
a number of eyes and ears out there. This
way, you get a sense of where new trends and
developments are bubbling up. Then you can
investigate more deeply.”
Many people feel anxious for fear of not keeping pace.
“That’s right. And you should feel this sometimes. But I’m ridiculously fascinated with the
latest trends and how these influence me as a
media consumer as well as how they influence
our business.”
What do you think will be the next big change?
“According to the old media logic, the goal has
always been to entice users, readers or viewers to come to you. If you’re going to read my
article, you have to do it in my newspaper. If
you’re going to see my TV program, you have
to do it on my TV channel. This has been the
industry obsession. But I think that we need
to reverse this way of thinking. We should be
thinking more about how we can gain access
to users. Instead of Mohammed going to the
mountain, the mountain should come to
Mohammed.”
“A contestant on Swedish Idol performed an
audition that gained a lot of publicity. Shortly
afterward, some 350,000 people viewed the
film clip on TV4.se—a fantastic figure. But
when you checked out YouTube, the four clips
that were there had already attracted some
600,000 viewings. Suddenly, we had nearly
triple the total number of viewers for one of
our film clips.”
According to the old media logic you would
have concluded: Okay, we need to stop
YouTube.
“Exactly. But instead, we actively collaborate
with YouTube and submit the clips ourselves.
We also cooperate with the daily press and
upload clips to their sites. With the kind
of viewer volumes you start to get, you can
certainly find even better conditions for
advertisers.”
“I follow a certain
group of people out
in the world because
of the interesting
ways they think and
act. These are not
even people I’ve met.”
A personal favorite: John Deere
“John Deere, the world’s best tractor, was
manufactured by a company founded in 1837.
It is known for its legendary green color, a
logotype of a deer and the slogan: ‘Nothing
runs like a Deere.’ We have a John Deere
from 1975 at our country house. I like the
romantic thought of sitting on a tractor with
a grass straw in my mouth. And it’s fantastically rewarding and calming to drive a tractor,
particularly as a contrast to my work in the
digital world.”
Jens Henneberg
Bonnier Publications
Copenhagen, Denmark
As executive vice president and editorial
director for Bonnier Publications in Copenhagen, Jens Henneberg is responsible for 50
magazine titles throughout Scandinavia. And
for a person in charge of 50 publications in a
fast-paced, unpredictable market, there’s no
such thing as solid ground.
This feeling of instability took on a whole
new meaning when Henneberg was at the
North Pole, where there’s literally no land
mass at all—only an extremely fragile sheet
of ice, which splits and transforms every day.
Beneath this is nothing but the exposed sea,
four thousand meters deep.
“I have a passion for
constant improvement. It’s always
Jens Henneberg started his career as a journalpossible to make a
ist 23 years ago at Illustreret Videnskab. Since
then, he has worked his way up to the execumagazine just a tiny
tive-level position he has today. Bonnier Publications is located in its own building on Strandbit better.”
boulevarden in Copenhagen. In the company
cafeteria on the ground floor, employees can
of self-assurance and balance. Ten years ago,
while hiking in Hong Kong, we walked for
thirty hours, non-stop. The knowledge that I
can survive a night without sleep allows me to
rest more easily.”
choose from half a dozen Danish smørrebrød
for lunch, with odd but delicious combinations
such as liver paste and crispy bacon.
“The only way to know that you’ve finally made
it to the North Pole is that the GPS systems
After lunch, the employees return to their
go wild and start acting strange,” says Henoffices and their waiting computers. Everyone
neberg. “There’s no stone or flag to mark the
has Jens Henneberg’s guiding words in mind:
spot. One day, when we’d struggled for 10
find a smarter way to create our magazine
kilometers, we ended up only five kilometers
than we did yesterday.
closer to our goal. During the day, the ice had
shifted five kilometers in the wrong direction.” “I have a passion for constant improvement.
It’s always possible to make a magazine just a
It’s tempting to draw parallels between this
tiny bit better—find a better way to illustrate,
and the media industry during a recession.
a better way to investigate, and so on.”
If you look at the company’s list of publications, you’ll see that Jens Henneberg preaches
what he practices—with titles such as Aktiv
Træning (Active Fitness), I Form (In Shape),
Digital Foto (Digital Photo), Gør Det Selv
(Do-it-yourself) and Illustreret Videnskab
(Science Illustrated). Bonnier Publications
even publishes the Scandinavian editions of
National Geographic. Above Henneberg’s
desk hangs a world map from National Geographic, the Arctic mass unfolding, blank and
unexplored.
Jens Henneberg is one of just 500 people in the
world who have been there—fewer than the
number who have conquered Mount Everest.
A journey to the North Pole begins with a
flight from Svalbard and an additional fourhour flight directly north. Each year, a team
of Russians constructs a temporary landing
strip on the ice. From this spot, the expeditions use long-distance skates to cover the
final stretch, which normally takes more than
a week. Finally, a Russian military helicopter
arrives for the return flight.
“You cannot sweat during the expedition.
Nothing will dry. It simply turns to ice. Many
people make the mistake of dressing too
warmly.”
Can you apply any lessons from these travels
to your professional life?
“Yes, I can, actually. After the North Pole
experience, I know I can handle pressure for
long periods of time. This gives me a sense
What are the advantages of a magazine, compared to other media?
“Through the combination of text, photos
and illustrations on paper, a magazine can
more clearly and more pedagogically explain
connections. It can convey anything from
complex physics to how to remodel your
house. Editing and presenting are our core
values. We aren’t forced to compete with TV or
the Internet, mainly because magazines aren’t
compelled to be the first to report news.”
“I admire Ingmar Bergman. He was a fantastic
storyteller. To realize his vision, he had to
choose the right tools, the right actors and
actresses, the right photographer and setting, and so on. The same is true of magazine
publishing. We have to find what is right for
each article.”
It’s unusual in today’s media world to find
people who are truly passionate about print.
“To lose our faith in print would be the worst
thing that could happen. We have to be leaders in our field and drive the development of
our medium, using the same care that many
people devote to digital media today,” says
Henneberg, before taking a swig of coffee.
Printed on the white mug is the phrase, “Get
out of the comfort zone.”
“I had these mugs made myself. I sent them to
all of our chief editors and directors as a constant reminder that we should never do things
out of habit or comfort. We should dare to step
into unknown territory.”
A personal favorite: Anna Karenina,
by Leo Tolstoy
“I read Anna Karenina because I’m involved
in the expansion of Bonnier Publications
into Russia. The Nordic market is becoming
saturated. Everyone should read the Russian
classics. They’re not difficult to read. Anna
Karenina is a fantastic novel filled with timeless psychological insights and depth.”
Thorbjörn Larsson
Dagens Nyheter
Stockholm, Sweden
As long as anyone can remember, Dagens
Nyheter has been Sweden’s leading morning
newspaper. Decade after decade, it’s been
both elevated and weighted down by its own
history, much like many of the world’s major
newspapers. During the past three years,
however, Dagens Nyheter has taken on a
new life. In 2007, the paper suddenly announced that it had created its own mobile
phone, together with Nokia. It was such a
radical venture that it made headlines in 60
countries.
“I was editor-in-chief at a high school newspaper. I had written a lead about a gymnastics
instructor who teased the students who were a
bit overweight and who couldn’t jump over the
pommel horse. When the paper was published
I was called into the principal’s office, where
my grades were penalized. When my mother
found out she started to cry, asking, ‘What’s
going to happen now?’ My father perked up.
‘Thorbjörn, you need to become a lawyer or a
journalist and fight for those who are vulnerable.’”
On July 11, 2008, the iPhone came to Sweden.
A few days prior, on July 5, Dagens Nyheter
had already launched a special site optimized
for the iPhone. Before Apple launched their
product, advertisements in the paper prodded
the issue with the headline: “We have the site.
When is the phone coming?”
In Sweden there are two leading evening
newspapers, Expressen and Aftonbladet—
which have always competed to take the lead.
For 44 years, Expressen had the larger readership of the two. During Thorbjörn Larsson’s
time as editor-in-chief of Aftonbladet, from
1987 to 1997, Aftonbladet managed to surpass
Expressen in distribution.
Behind the scenes of this new approach was
Thorbjörn Larsson, a legendary Swedish
newspaper figure who, in September 2006,
became editor-in-chief of Dagens Nyheter.
For many years, he had led projects involving mobile phones and electronic reading
pads. Thorbjörn notes, however, that it was
circulation manager Johan Othelius, along
with mobile director Johan Brandt, who were
behind the iPhone ads.
“Dagens Nyheter was a strong brand with a
high level of credibility. But the paper had experienced losses, and was reluctant to change.
If you think you can rest on your laurels
during an economic downturn, you’re going
to have problems. It was time to reassess our
system of distribution.”
Thorbjörn sits, or rather stands, at his desk
in the newspaper’s offices. True to his belief
in adaptability, his desk can be raised and
lowered.
What have you contributed in your time here
as editor-in-chief?
“What I’ve contributed is really the same thing
I’ve been doing during my entire career in the
newspaper industry: I’ve initiated reforms.
A newspaper has to dare to do new things, to
look around the corner and question whether
all is well. Because all is never well. The paper
must live up to the name Dagens Nyheter
(Daily News). It cannot be Yesterday’s News.”
Thorbjörn Larsson has worked in the newspaper industry since the 1960s. He has taken
on every possible role in his field: reporter,
assistant editor, news chief, managing editor,
editor-in-chief, CEO, corporate director and
chairman of the board of directors in a series
of companies. Through all his long stints as
editor-in-chief, however, he has written just
one lead.
After fulfilling this longstanding dream,
Thorbjörn resigned as editor-in-chief of
Aftonbladet. He then went on to the television
industry, becoming CEO of TV4 in 1998.
In 2002, Thorbjörn joined the staff of his previous rival, becoming chairman of the board
of directors of Expressen. Understandably,
this created quite a stir in the Swedish media.
Equally sensational was his 2006 comeback
as editor-in-chief, this time with Dagens
Nyheter.
At the time, the editorial staff of DN.se
consisted mainly of contract employees who,
as soon as they learned the job, were forced
out due to union regulations and replaced
by new contract employees. Now DN.se is its
own organization, with Charlotta Friborg as
managing editor and Thorbjörn Larsson as
publisher. At long last, they’ve got their own
sales team. As recently as three years ago, Dagens Nyheter had a very unclear approach to
all new forms of distribution. In the autumn
of 2008, DN.se was named the best Swedish
daily Internet newspaper by the magazine
Internetworld.
Internetworld wrote in their motivation:
“Worth noting is also the initiative, DN Factlab,
which has the ambition of providing readers
with access to the original facts and raw data
needed for individual research.”
We live in a new media world in which technology offers new possibilities for journalists
and readers alike—something Thorbjörn
Larsson witnesses every day in the company
of his two children. Neither is a journalist,
but both are bloggers. His son writes about
politics and social issues, his daughter about
“everything social.”
“I’m not afraid of
change. Quite the
“When the situation was looking most dire
opposite, I believe
at Aftonbladet, I used to say: ‘Every time
an Aftonbladet reader dies, an Expressen
it’s something
reader is born. How long will we accept this?’ I
often think of this in my work here at Dagens
necessary and
Nyheter. It’s extremely important to take care
of all your loyal readers. However, they are not
stimulating.”
the ones who will be the readers of the future.”
What do you think you are best at?
“I’m not afraid of change. Quite the opposite, I
believe it’s something necessary and stimulating. It’s also an advantage that I’ve been an
editor for so long. I’ve been sports editor and
front page editor, and I understand how a
newspaper works from top to bottom. I know
very little about technology, but I’ve always
been extremely interested in its possibilities.”
“If you think technology is a threat then you
shouldn’t be an executive. When I worked at
Aftonbladet (which, on the Internet, has been
the most successful of all Swedish newspapers) we had a five-year head start because no
other large newspaper in Sweden cared about
the Internet.”
Improving Dagens Nyheter’s Web site, DN.se,
has been one of Thorbjörn’s top priorities
since taking over in the autumn of 2006.
A personal favorite: Neil Armstrong
“On March 1, 1969, I started at Aftonbladet as
an assistant editor. On July 21st of the same
year, I was on the editorial staff when Neil
Armstrong took his first steps on the moon.
Now this was newspaper publishing! For me,
this was confirmation that nothing is impossible. Later, as an executive, I would constantly
hear: ‘We can’t do this. It’s impossible.’ And
every time I’d make the same comparison: ‘If
a person could walk on the moon years ago…’.
I’m a little worried that I said this so often that
everyone who worked with me in those days
still probably rolls their eyes every time they
hear me mention Neil Armstrong. I usually say
that I’ve been in the line of fire, that I see possibilities in crises, that nothing is impossible.”
Åsa Rydgren
Bonnier Tidskrifter
Stockholm, Sweden
Since the 1920s, monthly and weekly publications have made up one of Bonnier’s most
iconic divisions. Bonnier Nova is now one of
many publishing houses in the group, one of
the six corporate divisions within Bonnier
Tidskrifter (Bonnier Magazines).
What distinguishes Bonnier Nova from the
other subdivisions for magazines—Bonnier
Specialtidningar and Bonnier Populärpress
—is something you notice immediately upon
entering the reception area on Sveavägen,
in Stockholm. Cases of magazines have just
arrived from the press to be unpacked in
the early afternoon. As they’re set up in the
showcases at the entrance, they feel brand
new in every sense. In part, this is because
Bonnier Nova was started as a “greenhouse”
for newly planted titles that, so far, are less
recognized and have smaller circulations
than the larger, more established titles of its
sister companies.
“The idea with Bonnier Nova is to publish
magazines that can be small, yet profitable,”
says publishing director Åsa Rydgren. “I don’t
think the market for magazines is trending
toward more big titles of the type that dominated in the last century. I think it will become
more and more segmented. The greatest
challenge for us is to find small pockets of
profitability.”
Walking through the editors’ landscape, it
becomes clear how this is put to practice. In
one of the rooms, three people sit at their
computers waving cheerfully as we pass by.
This is the entire full-time staff of Queen, a
new magazine about European monarchs
and royal families. The next room houses the
magazine På Landet (In the Countryside).
It is also produced by a team of only three.
chose the most heavily trafficked area on the
floor for her office.
“There are the bathrooms, and over there
are the post boxes,” she directs as she points
through the office’s window panes. “Nothing
can escape me. I don’t want to be a hidden
boss. It should be easy to get a hold of me.”
When Åsa says she’s worked for half of her
life at Bonnier, she means it literally. “Yes, 23
of my 46 years.” During that time, she has
changed jobs every third year. She began as
beauty editor at Vecko-Revyn, a magazine
for young women, and has worked her way
through the whole spectrum of publications:
“babies, food, royalty—yes, pretty much
everything.”
“The best thing about Bonnier is the love
for the written word. And that you get the
opportunity to develop. I think it’s healthy
to change jobs once in awhile. The quality of
our magazines depends on sharp-minded
colleagues. Our products are never static—
we reinvent them over and over again. One
boring cover, one boring cover story and we’re
finished. It’s important to maintain the energy
and the motivation to make that extra leap
again and again.”
As a director, how do you make sure your colleagues keep that motivation?
“By finding people who are passionate about
what they do. If they lose their glow, you see
it right away. They just get worse. No matter
how well trained they are or how much money
they earn, it doesn’t help. They lose their
energy and we lose our business.”
Today, Vecko-Revyn is practically two different magazines working in tandem—the print
version and the Web version, Veckorevyn.com.
Each sits in a separate room with separate
editorial staffs.
“Vecko-Revyn is now probably more vulnerable to competition within its target group than
ever before. It needs to rethink its situation,
which is one explanation for why it ended up
here at Bonnier Nova.”
What is the driving force in your own work?
“I love magazines. I’m always striving to do
something even better. I’m the same at home.
My kitchen is a constant work-in-progress. If
I put the jar over here instead, it’ll be a little
better. I’m sure it can have its excesses, but I
can’t leave well enough alone.”
“I want a bit of fight,
a little resistance.
It’s like a marriage.
The decisive factor
isn’t love or hate—
it’s whether the
person has stopped
caring anymore.”
What are signs that someone has lost their
passion?
“They start to take the easy way out. They
“Of course, all magazines use freelance writers. come up with fewer ideas and are a bit less
But the fact that we all sit here together on
agitated when they’re confronted. It’s a good
the same floor means that we can also share
to be angry at times. If I, as publishing direca lot of services, such as administration and
tor, say I’d like something done differently
accounting. This way, it’s actually quite easy
and the editor-in-chief just nods her head to
to produce a whole magazine with so few
say, ‘okay, I guess we’ll do that,’ then that’s
employees.”
a sign of someone who’s lost their passion. I
want a bit of fight, a little resistance. It’s like
“The various magazines at Bonnier Nova can
a marriage. The decisive factor isn’t love or
A personal favorite: Så länge skutan kan gå,
also interact with one another, even if they’re
hate—it’s whether the person has stopped
a ballad by Evert Taube (1890–1976), in many
writing about totally different things. Once a
caring anymore.”
respects Sweden’s national singer
month, all of the sub-editors go out and have
lunch together at my expense, but without my
The clear exception among the fresh, new
“Something that has a very special place in
presence as publishing director. It can be kind
magazine titles at Bonnier Nova is Veckomy heart is a ballad by Evert Taube: ‘Så länge
of lonely to be a sub-editor. They sometimes
Revyn, a publication with a history stretching
skutan kan gå’, preferably when Evert sings
need to get things off their chests. It’s even
back 75 years. That a trendy, and therefore
it himself, although he actually didn’t sing all
happened that an art director from one magatrend-sensitive, magazine dedicated to young
zine has pitched in to help another magazine
women could survive for so long is a testament that well. I love both the music and the text.
They sum up my whole outlook on life. And it
whose own art director was ill.”
to its ability to reinvent itself. And in addition
was my father’s favorite song. He passed away
to competing with other magazines, Veckowhen I was eight years old, but when I hear it
In her role as publishing director, Åsa wants
Revyn now has to contend with blogs, on such
played, at times I know he’s thinking of me.”
to be as accessible as possible. She purposely
topics as fashion and celebrities.
Maaretta Tukiainen
Sub
Helsinki, Finland
“It was awful! I was this close to throwing up!”
gasps Maaretta Tukiainen, the director of
programs for the Finnish television channel
Sub. She’s describing how she felt when she
first saw the new episodes of Sub’s hit travel
series Madventures.
and “dominating” personality has a lot of masculine characteristics.
Shaking her head in disbelief, Maaretta talks
about the new Madventures episodes. In one,
Rantala and Milonoff spend some quality
time around the now defunct Chernobyl nuclear power plant. In another episode leeches
suck Riku’s blood until they fall off as nicely
stuffed little blobs. The well-feasted leeches
are then cooked as a traditional dish that
Tunna must eat.
“There are more things we need to hold on to
than ones we need to change,” Maaretta says
proudly. “It’s one thing to grow your market
share gradually by grabbing people from the
bigger channels, and a wholly other thing to be
the one whose viewers the others try to snatch.”
“A good atmosphere at home is important to
me, but I’m no domestic goddess,” Maaretta
reveals. But for Sub, her role is goddess-like
indeed. In the autumn of 2008, Sub was
We meet in the café of the Helsinki Fair Center, Finland’s second largest channel in its target
while the Nordic Travel Fair Matka 2009 is
group (under-45-year-olds) for 14 weeks
in full swing. Maaretta has just picked up
running. Now it’s starting to show signs
the award for Travel Personality of the Year,
of becoming a mainstream channel. First,
which was given to Madventures stars Riku
Finland’s most popular film slot moved from
Rantala and Tunna Milonoff, who couldn’t
mother channel MTV3 to Sub. And now Sub is
make it to the ceremony.
launching its own news program.
Madventures is Sub’s darling, a show known
for its loose-lipped narration in Helsinki
slang. The third season will air this spring
in Finland, and will be the first one filmed in
English, since the show will also debut in the
U.S. and the UK.
Sub’s success as a television channel is much
like the success of Madventures: both aim to
do things a little differently from the way you
might expect. Maaretta has been driving the
company in this new direction since Sub’s
inception eight years ago. The leeches are
quickly forgotten as Maaretta recounts Sub’s
2008 highlights. After turning out a profit
for the first time in 2007, Sub posted the best
EBIT-result of the entire MTV Media group
in 2008. This has effectively stopped all Sub
doubters in their tracks.
One major victory for the channel has been its
online television service. Years of work have
gone into it, and the main idea has always
been to keep it free. The strategy has been
successful, making Sub a major online player.
The success has been boosted especially with
reality show Big Brother.
When Maaretta talks business, her voice goes
down a notch. Despite the deeper tone, she
continues to radiate a wholly un-Finnish good
mood. When we move to topics Maaretta is
truly enthusiastic about, her voice takes on
a higher pitch. She’s known for her colorful
style, but she also regularly turns the tables
and switches roles. One small detail reveals a
lot about her: while Maaretta’s daily attire is
always stylish and girly, she likes to dress as a
man at costume parties. According to her selfevaluation, her “headstrong,” “determined,”
as an interior architect at the Lahti University
of Applied Sciences. Tukiainen manages to
do all she does, because she has no kids and
needs only five hours of sleep a night.
Her final thesis in Lahti is about the way
spaces promote creativity. We start analyzing the cafeteria area around us. She quickly
spots the things that simply don’t work: the
sound circles the space in a nasty way and
the lighting clashes with the overall interior
design. Tukiainen would improve the space by
adding textiles and changing the lighting.
Her father is a priest and her mother a teacher,
so preaching is in Tukiainen’s blood. But the
Gospel according to Maaretta is about innovation, ideas and all things new.
“I get really anxious if I know exactly what’s
going to happen tomorrow,” she says.
Despite all the success, Maaretta remains
humble. She says her greatest pleasure is to
hire talented people.
“I get really anxious
if I know exactly
“When I graduated as a Master of Education just in time for the last recession (she
what’s going to
graduated in 1993 and after that, earned her
Bachelor of Arts in television and film studies),
happen tomorrow.”
I believed my humanist friends and I would
never be employed. Maybe that despair has
led to a belief that since we made it, others
have a chance too—even if you study fluff
entertainment you might have something
meaningful to say.”
Maaretta’s first encounter with Bonnier came
in 1998, when she worked as a book editor at
one of Finland’s major publishers, Tammi.
But she says her most special Bonnier-related
experience occurred when she took part in the
Bonnier Publishing Program, which focuses
on innovation and trend spotting. People
participating in the program had a chance to
take a peek in the head offices of Google and
Apple, and get a whiff of a fresh approach to
getting things done.
As our conversation turns to Maaretta’s personal life, the pitch of her voice goes up a notch
again. “Kerttu!” she yelps.
Kerttu is a dalmation–border collie mix
that Maaretta got about a year ago. She says
the pooch has helped her grow up, because
now she can’t just focus on her own comfort.
Kerttu is Sub’s official dog, whom Maaretta
describes as big-hearted, social and poetic.
Since she follows her owner to work most
days, her job includes loosening up the work
atmosphere.
It’s astounding that amid all her work and other activities, Maaretta finds the time to study
A personal favorite: “The Power of Now”
It means an open attitude towards complete
focus on the current moment. The best powerof-now experience I’ve had happened in San
Francisco. The whole city is a big P.O.N.”
Andrus Vaher
Delovoy Peterburg
Saint Petersburg, Russia
“The Singing Revolution” has become the
name for the events between 1988 and 1991,
during which Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania
liberated themselves from the Soviet Union to
become independent states. On the same day
that Tallinn’s harbor was opened in 1989 for
boats flying foreign flags, two Nordic editorsin-chief sailed across the Baltic Sea. They
were Hasse Olsson, of Dagens Industri, and
Hannu Olkinuora, of the Finnish business
daily Kauppalehti.
Waiting on the pier in Tallinn that historic
summer day was Estonian businessman Ülo
Pärnits. That spring, he had told the legendary
Swedish newspaper figure, Hasse Olsson, that
he had dreamed of starting a business daily in
Tallinn.
After the two shook hands on the pier, Hasse
Olsson decided to publish a sample edition of
an Estonian version of his own business daily,
Dagens Industri. They printed 55,000 copies
of a sample edition and sold out within hours.
The paper was given the name Äripäev (Business Day). The printing paper had come from
Holmen’s paper factory in Sweden. And with
little access to a valid currency, they paid the
factory in Estonian birch lumber.
Twenty years later, Äripäev is the leading
business daily in Estonia. Its circulation of
20,000 in a small country with 1.3 million
inhabitants places the daily among those with
the highest penetrations in the world.
Andrus Vaher was one of the youngest Estonian journalists recruited to Äripäev under
Hasse Olsson. He grew up in a small village in
the countryside and like all young Estonian
men was required to serve for two years in
the Soviet army. When he was demobilized
he became a journalist. He joined Äripäev in
1992, a year after Soviet tanks attempted to
stop Estonia’s process of liberation.
“It was a turbulent but exciting time,” says
Andrus. “There was, to state it mildly, a lot
to write about. I was there when a country changed currencies, when new banks
sprouted up and when many people became
rich in an extremely short period of time.”
Today, Andrus works in Russia, in the
expanding metropolis of St. Petersburg, with
its 4.5 million inhabitants. He’s the CEO of
the business daily Delovoy Peterburg, yet
another newspaper modeled after Dagens
Industri, printed on pink paper with the same
layout. The newspaper’s editorial office is on
the fifth floor of River House, a new building
on Akademika Pavlova Street. On the top floor
is an Italian restaurant with a view of the city.
On the ground floor is a bar that brews its own
beer.
“I enjoy working here. St. Petersburg and
Moscow, where I’ve also worked and owned
an apartment, are very different cities. Moscow is gigantic, very competitive, active and
more Russian. St. Petersburg is more open
to the West, more European and milder than
Moscow as well. It’s also consciously designed
from the beginning by Peter the Great to be a
pleasant city center.”
Delovoy Peterburg is only distributed in St.
Petersburg and its surrounding areas, yet
it reports on an area with more inhabitants
than, for example, Denmark, Norway or
Finland. A total of 142 million people live in
Russia. In the course of 15 years, Delovoy Peterburg has grown to become the third largest
of the twenty Russian business dailies. Taken
as a whole, there are 491 daily newspapers in
Russia.
and I traveled around the Kuril Islands, between Japan and Russia. Before the war they
belonged to Japan, but were then conquered
and settled by Russia. It must be the strangest
place I’ve ever visited. There you can seriously
talk about something unexplored and waiting
to be discovered.”
“There are many
unopened doors,
which makes my job
very exciting.”
Andrus is currently working to establish the
same concept in additional Russian cities and
regions. He started the newspaper Delovaja
Gazeta in the city of Krasnodar on the Black
Sea in 2007. With barely one million residents,
Krasnodar is nonetheless the center of a business region with five million people.
“There are more than 14 cities in Russia that
have more than a million residents. Many of
these highly active business areas still lack a
business daily. Delovaja Gazeta, which is still
only issued once a week, will be followed by
further ventures.”
What motivates you in your work?
“Russia is a very interesting country. There’s a
lot to dislike. Bureaucracy. The lack of openness. Disarray in all facets of life. On the other
hand, Russia is very liberal and alive with opportunities. There are many unopened doors,
which makes my job very exciting.”
What is it like to be Estonian while working
in Russia?
“There actually have been no problems at all.
In St. Petersburg’s media and business scenes
there are a lot of people who come from other
countries. Culturally, I also had a childhood
quite similar to those of my Russian colleagues. We watched the same children’s
programs. We read the same classic Russian
authors.”
What do you do when you’re not working
with newspapers? What’s your passion?
“Every year I go fishing in an area called
Finnmarken in northern Norway, together
with Igor Rötov, my CEO-colleague at
Äripäev in Estonia. We’ve done this each year
for 10 years in a row. We spin-fish. In general,
traveling is my passion. My wife, my son and
I take several trips a year. We’ve been to every
continent except Australia. Years ago, my wife
A personal favorite: The Master and Margarita, a novel by Mikhail Bulgakov, begun in
1928 but first published in 1966–67
“It’s not easy to choose between Russian
authors, but I choose this one. On the one
hand it’s very funny—if you happen to have
a Soviet background it can especially make
you cry with laughter. On the other hand, it’s
a very deep book that touches upon the basic
elements of human nature: love, trust, faith
and conviction. ‘Life is a great gift, given to
you temporarily. Better use it fully!’”
Heidi Avellan
Sydsvenskan
Malmö, Sweden
Heidi Avellan is political editor of Sydsvenskan, the largest morning daily in southern
Sweden. Yet when you enter her office, you’re
first greeted not by her, but a Labrador retriever named Onni—Finnish for “happiness.”
As the wistful Lab stares longingly with irresistible eyes, Heidi explains: “She’s hoping
that you’re going to eat some fruit. You see,
she’s not allowed to beg for food, but we made
an exception for fruit. As a result, she keeps
better track of all my colleagues on this floor
than I do. She knows exactly when people
come and go and has an uncanny sense of
who’s snacking on a banana.”
Although Heidi Avellan usually arrives at
Malmö’s well-known 15-story Sydsvenskan
building around 9 a.m., her workday actually
begins hours earlier at home.
After plowing through five morning papers—
Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet, Sydsvenskan, Dagens Industri and the Financial
Times at home, as well as Berlingske, Aftonbladet and Expressen later at work—Heidi is
so updated and involved in the day’s activities
that she sometimes writes her first blog entry
at the kitchen table. “It’s a great way to start
the day, but my intention is not to have an
office at home. All I need is this,” she says, patting her laptop. “I start and end my workday at
the kitchen table.”
Arriving at the office, Heidi also reviews
e-mail sent from readers the night before.
“My ambition is to reply to every reader
because I think this is our duty and lifeblood
as a newspaper. If we stop caring about our
readers, why should they care about us?”
Born in Helsinki, Finland, Heidi Avellan
started her journalistic career as a reporter
for the Finnish equivalent of Reuters. She
then became an editor at Hufvudstadsbladet,
where she subsequently shifted into business
journalism. In 1990 she moved to Stockholm
as a correspondent, reporting on the Nordic
region. Later, she worked as a stringer for
the Danish daily Politiken. The fact that
she brings a broad perspective to the job,
compared to her Swedish-born colleagues, is
one reason her work at Sydsvenskan echoes
widely across the Nordic region. It also explains why she’s headhunted for jobs at larger
Swedish newspapers.
“I think I have a different point of view than
most people who were born and raised in
Sweden. Maybe it’s because I ask ‘why’ a bit
more often. Why are things the way they are
in Sweden? In Malmö, with so many refugees
from different countries, issues that other
media would call ‘Middle Eastern issues’ are
equally as much a local matter for us.”
What are the big issues for you? What excites
and motivates you?
“I get excited about classic libertarian issues,
like individual freedom and integrity. I’m also
deeply involved in integration and equality issues. At the same time, I’m a news and politics
junkie and enjoy following behind-the-scenes
political games and power struggles.
people I’d otherwise never meet. I’m convinced they refer to me as ‘boss’ only because I
have a dog with me.”
“My ambition is to
reply to every reader
Did you follow the TV series West Wing?
because I think
“Are you kidding? I absolutely loved it! West
Wing was very popular with my entire famthis is our duty and
ily. Before getting into journalism, I studied
political science and even dreamed of working
life-blood as a newsat the foreign ministry. But when I became
a reporter, there was no turning back. Today,
even though it’s been ages since I was a report- paper. If we stop
er, it’s still one of the most enjoyable jobs I can
think of.”
caring about our
What are tomorrow’s big challenges for
readers, why should
Sydsvenskan?
“Our big challenge is to continue to be
they care about us?”
indispensable to our readers and to attract a
youthful audience that hasn’t started to read
newspapers yet. We need to become indispensable to this younger group.”
How does one become indispensable?
“Partly by finding issues that matter to them
and which are useful in everyday life, but also
by encouraging people to discover the rewarding luxury of general education that only a
newspaper can offer.”
What exactly do you mean by the ‘rewarding
luxury of general education’?
“Apart from reporting the news, newspapers
can convey things like new ideas, novel
inventions and natural phenomena. In the old
days, adventurers who had traveled the world
returned home and went around to local villages telling stories of distant lands. Modern
newspapers can fill this same role. We should
be the modern-day storytellers. In my view,
reading a newspaper is like having an ongoing
university education.”
When Heidi Avellan started working at
Sydsvenskan, there was a ban on dogs in the
building. “Initially, I adjusted my lifestyle to fit
this rule,” she explains. “But then the journalist in me got the upper hand and I started to
question this old restriction.”
A personal favorite: Notting Hill,
the English film from 1999
“I know the film forwards and backwards.
“When I asked around, it turned out that peoApart from the fact that it includes things I
ple were fine with having a dog in the building
as long as it didn’t bother people with allergies. like—like the snappy dialogue and fantastic
London settings—it also touches on a deeper
Since nobody on our floor had allergies, this
theme: friendship and looking after each
wasn’t a problem. It was more of a concern
other. I love the scene where Hugh Grant
in the entrance area. So instead of using the
takes a melancholy walk among the booths
main entrance, I take the freight elevator up
on Portobello Road and we see four seasons
from the garage. When I go down into those
come and go during a single walk. I could
corridors, filled with our messengers and
watch that scene over and over.”
delivery vehicles, I come into contact with
5.
3.
1.
6.
4.
2.
12.
9.
7.
10.
11.
13.
8.
Board of Directors
1. Carl-Johan Bonnier,
Chairman
2. Bengt Braun
3. Hans-Jacob Bonnier
4. Pontus Bonnier
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Jeanette Bonnier
Arne Karlsson
Pernilla Ström
Carl Wilhelm Ros
Börje Andersson
10. Per-Olov Atle
11. Christian Caspar,
Co-opted member
12. Claes Hallin
13 Lars Carlberg
1.
Group Management
2.
3.
4.
5.
1. Jonas Bonnier,
President and CEO
Bonnier AB
2. Sara Öhrvall, Director
Research & Development
Bonnier AB
6.
3. Casten Almqvist, CEO
Bonnier Business Press
4. Torsten Larsson, CEO
Bonnier Broadcasting,
Bonnier Entertainment and
Bonnier Evening Paper
7.
5. Maria Curman, CEO
Bonnier Books
6. Ulrika Saxon, CEO
Bonnier Magazine Group
and Bonnier Morning Paper
7. Göran Öhrn, CFO
Bonnier AB
The Bonnier Platform
Bonnier began in 1804 as a small bookstore
and publishing firm. We have grown into a
multi-channel media company with experience and knowledge in the full range of
media, in 175 companies across more than
25 countries.
Bonnier’s model of sustainable media
entrepreneurship has been guided by eight
generations of the Bonnier family, always
combining a true fascination for media with a
keen business mindset. From the beginning,
the family has promoted high-quality media
products while collaborating closely with
authors, journalists and publishers.
Bonnier is fully-owned by the Bonnier family,
which has grown and nurtured the company
for the continuing success of coming generations.
Our long-standing position as a culturally
progressive, humanistic organization will
continue to guide our future media develop-
ment and knowledge-sharing goals. Now,
more than ever, these voices are multiplying
as quickly as the new media channels used to
express them. From the beginning, our publishers and editors have been faced with the
monumental task of creating, selecting and
refining a world of knowledge and stories
—a world eager to be read, seen and heard.
Our ability to continue being resourceful and
innovative will decide whether these stories
drown in the multitude, or survive to create
the lasting impact they deserve.
In publishing, as in all industries, demands
for transparency are increasing. Today’s
investors, partners and consumers all want to
know: what are these products, who is behind
them and what do they stand for? At Bonnier,
we welcome these questions. We are proud of
our people, our history and our values—all of
which transcend media channels, individual
companies and national borders. As with
everything we do, the Bonnier brand is a story
waiting to be told.
Business Idea
We create, select and refine
a world of knowledge and
stories
From the beginning, Bonnier has been devoted to
discovering and articulating the most compelling new ideas
and stories. Today, this business idea is more important than
ever. Through creation, selection and refinement, we provide
writers and journalists with readers; we give producers
and bloggers an audience; as a result, our company gains
economic sustainability. Selection and refinement is as
much about marketing and sales as it is about the creation
of the media itself. A company in the media industry needs
strong financials in order to maintain the long-term
perspective which allows creativity to prosper over time.
Our Vision
To continuously reinvent
the art of publishing
Our vision is for Bonnier to become a leading media
greenhouse full of new ideas, a place where the art of
publishing will constantly be challenged and reinvented.
By operating in all media channels, we believe we have
a unique opportunity to enable new publishing ideas
and create new forums where authors, storytellers,
journalists and their audiences can meet.
Core Values
Passion for Publishing
–A commitment to creating, selecting and refining
media content
–A consistent focus on informing, enlightening,
entertaining, and provoking
–A belief in the creative potential of expertise in
multiple media
–The ambition to create media products that involve
audiences and inspire engagement
Core Values
Power of the Individual
–Trust in the opinions, skills and judgement of individuals
–A belief in the transformational power of creativity
–A willingness to nurture the entrepreneurial spririt and
to foster innovative approaches to long-term growth
–An openness toward non-hierarchical discussions and
networks of discourse
–A guarantee for the freedom and independence of our
unique and diverse business operations
Core Values
Commitment of a
F
amily Company
–A focus on sustainable growth
–A family commitment to ethics, integrity and loyalty
–A dedication to strengthen the company for following
generations
–A firm devotion toward using our roots as a compass
for the future
–A sincere respect for long-term consequences and for
the environment in which we operate
Core Values
Freedom
of Speech
–A strong belief in a pluralistic media landscape
–A commitment to protect the editorial voice from
commercial and political interests and the courage to
publish controversial media content
–The will to provide open media channels for many
individuals voices
–Relentless support for journalists and individuals who
fight for freedom of speech throughout the world
The Year In Brief
2008
Books
Broadcasting
The business area Bonnier Books saw a major
reorganization in 2008. All activities within
the Swedish business group were gathered
under a single company, Bonnierförlagen, led
by the newly appointed CEO Jacob Dalborg.
The year’s bestsellers were Flyga drake (The
Kite Runner) and Tusen strålande solar
(A Thousand Splendid Suns), both written
by Khaled Hosseini and published by Wahlström & Widstrand. Together, these two
books sold over 500,000 copies in Sweden.
The growth we’ve seen in the market the last
couple of years ended in 2008, but both Semic
and the online bookstore AdLibris performed
remarkably. AdLibris continued their international expansion by launching a Danish Web
site in June.
The TV4 Group strengthened its position
during the year as the largest television
company in Sweden, continuing its successful niche-channel strategy. In February, TV4
Science Fiction was launched simultaneously
in Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark as
the first channel of its kind. In April, the TV4
Group launched the first Swedish live news
channel on the web, nyhetskanalen.se. The
company had by far the strongest financial
performance of all the companies within
Bonnier AB in 2008.
The merger of Norwegian publishers Cappelen
(Bonnier-owned) and Damm (Egmontowned) was completed during the year, and
Cappelen Damm became a reality. One of the
company’s first achievements was the publication of turn-of-the-century artist Edvard
Munch’s collected works. The Munch collection was released in Norway and the U.S. as a
set of four large-format volumes with a total of
1,700 pages and 2,000 illustrations. This is the
first time the artist’s entire collection of paintings has been showcased in one medium.
During the summer, Bonnier Publishing in
England acquired the children’s book company Templar, which will complement the activities of its main children’s division, Autumn
Publishing. In Australia, Lesley Beaumont was
appointed the new president of Five Mile Press
and oversaw a challenging first year in both
the Australian and the U.S. markets. However, there were joys. Weldon Owen in San
Francisco sold a record 205,000 copies of the
do-it-yourself reference book, Show Me How.
Tammi in Finland had the pleasure of publishing the last volume of the Harry Potter
series, which, alongside other successes, laid
the foundations for the strongest year ever.
Toward the end of 2008, Tammi acquired the
publisher Readme.fi, which strengthened their
position in the nonfiction market.
In Germany, Carlsen Verlag followed a wizard
with a vampire, having enormous success with
the wildly popular Stephenie Meyers vampire
series, Twilight. Piper Verlag in Munich
acquired the publisher Pendo, and also bought
publishing rights to the imprints Westend and
National Geographic. In Berlin, Ullstein Verlag
began to reap the benefits of its reorganization
efforts with a successful year and a very strong
finish that gave the business group one of it’s
best results ever.
The Swedish version of the international format Idol debuted its fifth season, with 25 million viewers. In addition, there were 26 million
streamed clips, an increase of six million since
last year, and 3.3 million viewers on demand.
Fourteen thousand fans watched the finals
at the Stockholm Globe Arena in December,
which is the world record for an Idol event.
In addition to MTV3 Scifi, a channel for fans
of science fiction, the cooperation between
TV4 and MTV3 also led to the launch of MTV3
Sarja in Finland, which shows American
and British TV programs. In the beginning
of 2008, MTV Media also launched MTV3
AVA, targeted to women. MTV Media’s pay-TV
channels have shown great success, with
over 400,000 households in Finland already
subscribed to the channel package. MTV3
MAX is now the most-viewed pay-TV channel
in Finland.
Otherwise, the big event for the TV4 Group
was the acquisition of the leading premium
pay-TV company C More Entertainment,
which has more than one million subscribers.
Among the sports broadcasting rights held by
the C More flagship Canal+ are: English Premier League football, Italian Serie A football
and NHL ice hockey. Canal+ also holds rights
to TV programs and films produced by almost
all the leading Hollywood and Nordic studios.
Business Press
The 2008 financial crisis resulted in declining
ad sales in Sweden, Denmark and the Baltic
countries for the business-to-business press,
and at the same time the financial Web sites
held positions and gained market share.
Anders Eriksson was recruited as the new CEO
of Bonnier Business Press Central & Eastern
Europe and will take office in March 2009.
DI Group in Sweden felt the downturn even before the summer, especially with regard to job
advertisements. The monthly magazine Diego
was closed after three years, while the week-
end magazine DI Weekend continued to thrive.
Despite the downturn, the group in Sweden
holds an EBITA-margin well above 20%.
Di.se was one property that actually benefited
from the economic crisis, as viewers flocked to
the Web, several times daily, to read updates
of the financial news. The site saw repeated
traffic records in the autumn, with a peak of
over 1.1 million unique visitors and more than
36 million page views per week. At the end of
the year, the magical goal of one billion page
views was achieved for the first time.
Denmark was the first country in Europe to
be hit by recession. The crisis accelerated in
the fourth quarter, resulting in a price war in
the advertising market. This also affected the
Danish business daily Børsen. However, the
paper gained market share during the year,
and was the only newspaper that went against
the tide circulation-wise with a top run of
72,200. Børsen.dk set a record during the
financial crisis in October, when for several
days the site became Denmark’s traffic leader.
The financial crisis affected Central and Eastern European countries at different times of
the year—Estonia was hit in the spring, while
Lithuania and Slovenia first felt the decline
in November. For the first time, the number
of Business Press employees was reduced,
primarily in the Baltic countries, Poland,
and in Russia. As a part of this process, the
Moscow office was dismantled, and dpmoney.
ru is now administered from St. Petersburg.
St. Petersburg and Slovenia accomplished
results well above their 2007 level, despite
the crisis. Online traffic has shown a positive
trend during the year, and online advertising
revenues increased by 50 percent.
The launch of Meditsiiniuudised (Medicine
Today) in Estonia was successful, and plans
for a launch in Slovenia have begun, with
2009 as the target. The switch to a weekly
publication of Dagens Medisin in Norway had
an unfortunate start because of the declining
advertising market. The newspaper is now
back to publishing every fortnight. A medical
guide, Practical Medicine, was launched in
Poland and Denmark. For the newspaper
Diena, in Latvia, the crisis struck with full
force in the autumn. Extensive staff reductions were implemented, and more than 300
people, or 30 percent of the staff, had to leave
the company. The former editor-in-chief of
the newspaper was replaced by Nellija Locmele. In connection with this, the organizations for Diena and the regional newspapers
merged. In the autumn Diena was relaunched
with a new design.
Entertainment
Magazine Group
Morning Paper
2008 became the best year in two decades
for the cinema chain SF Bio, which saw more
than 10.4 million visitors. A major reason for
this was the combination of Meryl Streep and
ABBA—Mamma Mia! was seen by nearly two
million visitors at SF’s cinemas alone. The
digitalization of cinema advertising that was
carried out in 2007 contributed to a 27 percent increase in advertising revenue for SF Bio.
Bonnier International Magazines, which
licenses our most well-known brands around
the world, took off in 2008. Led by Anders
Malmsten, the group already publishes Popular Science, Illustreret Videnskab, Parenting
and other magazines in more than 15 editions
around the world, with more editions on the
way.
Sydsvenskan suffered a great loss when editor-in-chief Peter Melin passed away suddenly
in February. He joined the newspaper in 2005
along with current CEO Johan Ståhl. Peter
Melin was an outstanding journalist with an
indefatigable desire to improve the newspaper.
He set high standards for himself and others,
but always had time to listen and respond to
both employees and readers. The board of
Sydsvenska Dagbladets AB has established a
scholarship in memory of Peter Melin. It will
provide an opportunity for research fellows
to increase their awareness of the press and
freedom of expression through studies for a
maximum of one month in Sweden or abroad.
The acquisition of the Kino1 Group in Norway
means that SF Bio now also operates Norway’s
second largest cinema chain.
Of SF’s own productions, Arn: The Kingdom
at Road’s End, was by far the most popular
film of the year with over 570,000 visitors.
On the DVD side, SF noted strong sales successes for the two Arn films, with a turnover
of more than 20 million SEK per film in Sweden. The women of Sex and the City continued
their big-screen success in disc form, with
over 500,000 copies sold in the Nordic region.
A half-million Norwegians also purchased the
films about the hard-boiled private eye Varg
Veum.
The Norwegian hip-hop band Madcon was a
great success for Bonnier Amigo. Their single,
“Beggin’” went platinum in Norway eight
times, reached the top 10 on most European
charts, and was number one in France for
eight weeks. The album has been released
in all of Europe, South Africa, Australia and
New Zealand, and a U.S. release is planned for
February 2009.
Homeenter developed its online entertainment club concept by launching two new
products, Skaparklubben (“The Makers’
Club”) and Club Choklad (“Club Chocolate”).
And in 2008, Discshop became the clear market leader in sales of Blu-ray in Sweden.
Evening Paper
The Swedish news tabloid Expressen stabilized its circulation during the year, reducing
the gap to market leader Aftonbladet by 30
percent. Moreover, the paper reinforced its
profitability with extra features like DVD
collections and recipes, which have encouraged the paper’s buyers to collect both Clint
Eastwood movies and cookbooks. Financially,
2008 became Expressen’s strongest year
since the early nineties and its second best
ever. In December, Otto Sjöberg resigned
from Expressen after seven years as editor-inchief and publisher.
Bonnier Corporation in the United States
managed to take market share in a sharply
declining market. The acquisition of Working Mother Media, best known for Working
Mother magazine with a circulation of over
800,000 copies, strengthened their position
in the parenting segment. Bonnier Corp. is
the market leader in niche publications, with a
strong and growing position in digital media.
With offices across the continent, more than
40 titles and 80 million readers each month,
the group is holding steady in a market that
will continue to be very challenging in 2009.
Bonnier Publications in Copenhagen also suffered a declining ad business cycle, leading to
a major restructuring of the activities within
the freesheet division Bonnier Responsmedier. Most of the Bonnier Publications revenue
comes directly from subscribers across the
Nordic region, which shielded the business
from the advertising decline affecting other
publications, and allowed the company to
post a strong year. The history magazine
Historie established itself seriously as one of
the group’s major titles, alongside Illustreret
Videnskab (Science Illustrated) and Gør Det
Selv (Do It Yourself). An eastward window
opened through a special interest magazine
partnership in Moscow. At the same time,
Bonnier Magazine Group ended its 13-yearlong partnership with Globus Comunicación
in Madrid. Alfredo Marrón takes over the
ownership, and will continue to lead the company’s strong interior titles.
At Bonnier Tidskrifter in Sweden, Amelia
Adamo’s M-magasin continued its successes,
while the company launched a series of new
titles, including the crime magazine Misstänkt
and the royalty magazine Queen. This was
also the year when the custom publishing
company Spoon saw a real financial breakthrough. The BtB-magazines suffered most
from the heavy pressure during a year of
economic decline.
In addition, the year in Malmö has been turbulent. Daniel Sandström was appointed new
editor-in-chief, and Rakel Chukri became the
new cultural editor. Sydsvenskan took over
the publication of City Malmö / Lund, and together with Helsingborgs Dagblad, launched
City in Helsingborg and Landskrona. Stora
Journalistpriset (“Great Journalist Award”)
in the categories “Disclosure of the Year”
and “Lukas Bonnier Journalist Award” were
awarded to employees of the newspaper. At
the end of the year, Sydsvenskan, together
with the foundation Kristianstadspress,
merged with Skånemedia (Kristianstadsbladet,
Ystads Allehanda and Trelleborgs Allehanda).
This partnership will form an entirely new
group for 2009, with new management and a
number of new key personnel.
Stockholm City underwent a transformation
after the summer, changing its number of
releases from five to three per week, and thus
creating a clear niche that reduces competition. Both readers and advertisers have appreciated the surprising move, which stabilizes
the paper’s position in a tough market.
Under its editor-in-chief Thorbjörn Larsson’s
management, Dagens Nyheter entered a
number of exciting new ventures and collaborations in 2008. They have been able to turn
around both the circulation and profit trends
in print, online and on mobile phones during
a very challenging year. Awards and honors
have defined the year for DN, but above all, it
is the steadily increased paid circulation that
is truly driving change.
Bold, Bonnier’s massive printing operation,
showed stability and profitability in 2008,
after many years of turbulence. Reliability and
quality are the key words in an industrial environment that requires cooperation and focus.
Our printing plants in Stockholm, Borås and
Malmö have all demonstrated increased precision and efficiency during the year.
Financial Report
Bonnier AB 2008
Profit after financial items were SEK 1,533
million, a decrease of SEK 464 million when
adjusted for capital gains, which in 2007
were significant. The business area Bonnier
Broadcasting considerably improved its earnings, as did Bonnier Evening Paper. Earnings
for Bonnier Entertainment were stable, while
the remaining business areas performed less
positively. For Bonnier Books, this was due
to an unusually strong year in 2007, the year
in which the last volume of the Harry Potter
book series was published in Germany. The
other business areas suffered from a weakening trend in the advertising market, particularly during the final months of the year.
As of the end of December 2008, shareholders’
equity including minority interests amounted
to SEK 8,162 million, an increase of SEK 1,318
million. Net debt increased by SEK 1,999
million to a total of SEK 8,690 million. The
acquisition of C More, which was carried out
in December, has had a significant effect on
the year’s change in net debt. Despite this, the
Gearing Ratio (the ratio of net debt to shareholders’ equity, including minority interests)
as of the end of December amounts to 1.06
(0.98).
Bonnier Books decreased sales by 6 percent.
EBITA* amounted to SEK 568 (678) million.
A considerable portion of the decrease in
earnings was due to the fact that the last
volume of Harry Potter was published during
2007. In the U.S. and Australia, the markets
have been difficult. Norway-based Cappelen
Damm, within which Bonnier AB has a 50
percent ownership stake, had a good first
year. In Sweden, 2008 was characterized by
stable sales and an extensive reorganization,
during which the companies Bonnierförlagen,
Semic and AdLibris were consolidated into a
single organization within the Bonnier Books.
Among the year’s acquisitions was Templar, a
well renowned children’s book publisher in
England, which has released the successful
series Ology. This series has sold over 15 million copies worldwide.
Bonnier Magazine Group increased sales
by 3 percent. However, effects from the
U.S. acquisition during the previous year
account for 5 percent of the division’s overall
growth. EBITA amounted to SEK 466 (699)
million. Businesses in Denmark and Sweden
Bonnier Broadcasting increased sales by
13 percent. EBITA amounted to SEK 1,229
(1,024) million. TV4 and MTV Media continued their extremely successful investment in
niche channels, with especially strong parent
channels as driving forces in the respective
countries. The acquisition of C More in the
Nordic countries (pay-TV channels under
the brand Canal Plus) was carried out in the
beginning of December. This acquisition
accounts for 4 percent of the increase in sales,
and was Bonnier AB’s largest acquisition in
2008.
Bonnier Entertainment experienced a 1 percent decrease in revenues. EBITA amounted
to SEK 251 (252) million. SF Bio and SF experienced great successes. Arn was a box-office
hit and Mamma Mia! was seen by nearly 2
million Swedes. Homeenter, a club organization with album and film sales, had one
of its best years to date. However, the year’s
earnings were impacted by large one-time
depreciations.
Bonnier Business Press experienced a 1
percent decrease in sales. EBITA amounted
to SEK 194 (337) million. A strong first two
quarters in Denmark, Russia and Slovenia
compensated for the latter two quarters’ slowdown, and daily newspapers in these countries delivered results equal to those of 2007.
For DI Group in Sweden, the year was more
challenging. Despite this, the earnings of DI
Group continue at a very high level. Among
other successes, DI.se reached over 1 million
unique visitors per week on several occasions
during the fall of 2008. In the Baltic countries,
the fall of 2008 was historically weak, as Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania experienced heavy
financial crises, which unfortunately spread
to the media markets.
Bonnier Morning Paper experienced a 3
percent decrease in sales as a result of the increasingly weakening state of the advertising
market. EBITA amounted to SEK –161 (38)
million. Several consolidations took place
in this business area. Sydsvenska Dagbladet
and Skånemedia merged. A series of earnings
improvement programs were put in place,
resulting in significant initial expenditures.
Stockholm City underwent a considerable
transformation as well, and the newspaper is
now published three times a week.
Bonnier Evening Paper increased sales by 1
percent. EBITA amounted to SEK 145 (135)
million. During 2008, Expressen achieved
its second-best earnings to date, despite the
year’s restructuring and liquidation expenses.
Other encompasses activities and functions
common to the Group. The effect of these
activities on the Group’s EBITA amounted to
SEK –278 (–318) million.
“2008 was a strong
year for Bonnier AB,
despite a decline at
year’s end.”
2008
29 597
2 414
1 816
–283
1 533
1 052
2007
29 207
2 845
2 710
–285
2 425
1 542
*EBITA is the operating profit before capital gains/losses,
share of profit/loss in associated companies and goodwill
as well as other acquisition-related write-offs and depreciations.
Operating capital
(SEK M)
Tangible and intangible
assets, excluding goodwill
Working capital
Other financial assets
Goodwill
Operating capital
Net debt
Shareholders’ equity and
minority interests
Financing of operating capital
Gearing Ratio (Net dept/
Shareholders’ equity)
EBITA by business area, 2008
6 000
1 200
5 000
900
4 000
3 000
600
2 000
300
1 000
0
0
–1 000
–300
EBITA by business area, 2007–2008
Net sales by business area, 2007–2008
Earnings
(SEK M)
Net sales
EBITA*
Operating profit
Net financial items
Profit after financial items
Profit for the year
Net sales by business area, 2008
Bo
nn Bo
n
ie
r M nie
rB
a
Bo
g
o
nn azin ok
s
i
e
er
Bo
Gr
nn Br
ou
o
ie
a
p
Bo r E dca
st
nn nte
in
r
i
Bo er B tain g
m
u
nn
ie sine ent
ss
Bo r M
nn orn Pre
ss
ie
r E ing
ve Pa
p
ni
ng er
Pa
pe
r
In 2008, net sales for Bonnier AB increased
from SEK 29,207 million to SEK 29,597
million, an equivalent of one percent. This
growth occurred mainly within the business
areas Bonnier Broadcasting, Bonnier Magazine Group and Bonnier Evening Paper.
continue to deliver strong earnings, although
the economic downturn has affected them
negatively. Despite this, the pace of new
releases has managed to be sustained, and
Bonnier Publications in Copenhagen entered
the Russian market through the acquisition
of a special publications company in Moscow.
On the competitive American market, Bonnier Corporation continued to strengthen
its position within its market segments – for
instance through the acquisition of Working
Mother and Scuba Diver – and now has an
estimated monthly readership of 80 million.
Reduced advertising income has nonetheless
had a significant negative effect on the year’s
earnings.
Bo
nn Bo
n
ie
r M nie
r
Bo aga Bo
zin ok
nn
eG s
Bo ier
r
nn Br
oa oup
ie
Bo r E dca
st
nn nte
in
rt
ie
g
a
r
Bo
Bu inm
nn
s
e
i
ie
ne
nt
ss
Bo r M
nn orn Pre
ss
ie
r E ing
ve Pa
p
ni
ng er
Pa
pe
r
2008 was a strong year for Bonnier AB, despite a decline at year’s end.
(SEK M)
Bonnier Books
Bonnier Magazine Group
Bonnier Broadcasting
Bonnier Entertainment
Bonnier Business Press
Bonnier Morning Paper
Bonnier Evening Paper
Other
Bonnier AB in total
2008
5 917
6 202
6 038
3 969
2 494
3 678
1 666
–367
29 597
2007
6 314
6 031
5 336
4 019
2 526
3 787
1 642
–448
29 207
(SEK M)
Bonnier Books
Bonnier Magazine Group
Bonnier Broadcasting
Bonnier Entertainment
Bonnier Business Press
Bonnier Morning Paper
Bonnier Evening Paper
Other
Bonnier AB in total
2008
568
466
1 229
251
194
–161
145
–278
2 414
Net sales , 1998–2008
2008
2007
4 792
90
182
11 788
16 852
8 690
4 563
331
173
8 468
13 535
6 691
8 162
16 852
6 844
13 535
1,06
0,98
(SEK M)
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
Sales Growth
13 791
8.0 %
14 787
7.2 %
16 787 13.5 %
16 839
0.3 %
17 498
3.9 %
18 710
6.9 %
19 564
4.6 %
20 051
2.5 %
20 247
1.0 %
29 207 44.3 %
29 597
1.3 %
Changed accounting principle:
As of 2008, the accounting of program
rights has been changed so that these
amounts are now reported as intangible
assets rather than as program inventory,
and accordingly, the related expenses are
now reported as amoritization of intangible
assets, rather than as expenses for goods
sold. The comparative figures have been
adjusted accordingly.
2007
678
699
1 024
252
337
38
135
–318
2 845
Organization
Bonnier AB
Books
Broadcasting
Business Press
Entertainment
Evening Paper
Magazines
Morning Paper
Bonnierförlagen
MTV Media
Børsen
Bonnier Amigo
Music Group
Expressen
Bonnier Corporation
Bold Printing Group
Bonnier Media
Deutschland
TV4
Central & Eastern
Europe
Homeenter
Bonnier Publications
Dagens Nyheter
Bonnier Publishing
Dagens Industri
SF Bio
Bonnier Tidskrifter
Sydsvenska
Dagbladet
Cappelen Damm
Diena
Svensk Filmindustri
Tammi
Medicine Today
International
Stockholm City
Art direction and design:
Daniel Löfvenborg,
Fredrik Neppelberg,
Linus Angbjär/
Stockholm Design Lab
Editor:
Niklas Sessler/Bonnier AB
Interviews:
Jan Gradvall, Justin Cote,
Tero Kartastenpää
Photos:
Mikael Olsson, Felix Brüggemann,
Magnus Skoglöf, Pekka Mustonen,
Chris Straley, Antonina Baygusheva,
Jann Lipka, Per-Anders Jörgensen,
Niklas Palmklint
Rolled stacks of Dagens Nyheter at
Bold Printing, Kista, outside Stockholm.
bonnier.com