Annual Report 2003

GRUNER + JAHR AG & Co KG
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WWW.GUJ.COM
ANNUAL REPORT 2003
INNOVATION
ANNUAL REPORT 2003
COVER
Searching for the New: Photo session for the Polish magazine GLAMOUR
(see detailed report, p. 30)
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CONTENTS
30
36
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66
CONTENTS
06 FOREWORD
Dr. Bernd Kundrun: Gruner + Jahr will continue on its
course of growth by investing in innovations
10 A GUIDE TO GROWING UP
How NEON gives insights into the lives and attitudes
of the twenty-somethings
16 THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
How TÉLÉ 2 SEMAINES became Europe’s most
successful new publication
20 EXPLORING NEW TERRAIN
How Gruner + Jahr works in Russia
24 “HAVE FAITH IN YOURSELF”
In an interview, BRIGITTE editor-in-chief Andreas
Lebert explains the success of the BRIGITTE brand
38 “INDEPENDENCE IS THE KEY TO
OUR SUCCESS”
Interview with Executive Board Member Angelika
Jahr-Stilcken on journalistic principles at Gruner + Jahr
28 KID’S ROOM – MELTING POT
How the US magazine PARENTS is taking the Spanishspeaking community by storm
52 THE LIVING ELBE
How Gruner + Jahr is committed to protecting the full
stretch of the Elbe across national borders
REPORTS
42
44
46
48
49
50
58
62
30 BEAUTY FROM WITHIN
How GLAMOUR helps to create a new self-awareness
among women in Poland
36 I SHOP, THEREFORE I AM
How a new European magazine format was born
when SHOPPING came onto the market
66 THE POWER OF IMAGES
How Gruner + Jahr became an acknowledged
institution for exhibitions of artworks and photographs
MAGAZINE DIVISION GERMANY
NEWSPAPER DIVISION/BUSINESS PRESS GERMANY
MAGAZINE DIVISION INTERNATIONAL
PRINT DIVISION
CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT
CENTRAL SERVICES
ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT 2003
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT 2003
FACTS & FIGURES
72
77
77
GLOBAL BALANCE SHEET
PRINCIPAL SUBSIDIARY AND ASSOCIATED
UNDERTAKINGS
SUPERVISORY/EXECUTIVE BOARDS
78
81
83
CHRONICLE 1948 – 2003
MASTHEAD
PORTFOLIO
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FOREWORD
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GROWTH THROUGH
INNOVATION
Gruner + Jahr will continue to grow thanks to investments in innovative
publishing concepts. In addition to reinforcing its core business,
expansion on the international growth markets is also an important item
on the agenda of the biggest magazine publishing house in Europe.
2003 WAS A YEAR OF INNOVATIONS FOR GRUNER
+ JAHR. New projects were launched in various
parts of the world, creative concepts were developed and ideas were born. This process of innovation was initiated in 2003, will bear its first fruits in
2004 and continue in the years ahead.
Despite the difficult environment prevailing in
2003, Gruner + Jahr, Europe’s largest magazine publisher, once again set standards for corporate success and return on sales. Although sales revenues
were down and the slump in sales of advertising
space continued, operative earnings rose to EUR
238 million, equivalent to a 9.6 percent return on
sales and 1.3 percentage points up on the previous
year. ROS would have been even higher at 12.1
percent had it not been for the substantial investments made in our publishing business.
We had laid the foundations for this performance in the earlier years, by taking quick action to
cut costs before it was too late, and also to concentrate Gruner + Jahr’s activities on its core business
fields. Gruner + Jahr has since pursued a wellbalanced corporate strategy. We generate a healthy
return on sales, while at the same time investing in
areas destined to produce growth in the future.
We also take risks because willingness to accept
mistakes is a key feature of any bold business policy. Success is impossible without taking risks. No
risk, no gain.
Dr. Bernd Kundrun, President and CEO of Gruner + Jahr
Our core activities in Germany and other countries form the broad base on which our business
stands. We made substantial investments in the
expansion and ongoing development of our strong
brands during 2003. Our established titles are the
pillars that support our group’s success. When market conditions are unfavorable, they need careful
nurturing and new investment.
Quality is the watchword for G+J’s strong magazine brands, both in Germany and internationally.
Their journalistic and technical quality is what sets
them apart from the competition. Their names stand
throughout the world for journalistic competence
and credibility guaranteed by highly professional
editorial staffs. The year 2003 saw further investments in the editorial skills and creative resources
behind our established titles, to ensure that our
strong magazine brands are constantly adapted to
suit the changing needs of their readership and the
market. These top brands are the basis for our
international growth and for the further innovative
expansion of our brand families with which we
strengthen the leading positions of these brands
in different markets.
Our innovation offensive is two-pronged – it
seeks to consolidate and strengthen our core business, and is also one of the elements in our growth
strategy. Companies and publishers are locked in a
struggle, not merely over price and quality, but also
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over leadership in innovation. It is becoming more
and more important to have ideas and to use them
because innovation is the only way to achieve the necessary growth impetus in business and in society
as a whole. Because every company needs to introduce innovations systematically, we are working
on the introduction of the kind of changes in our corporate culture that will give our highly capable staff
more scope to develop their creativity.
FOREWORD
+ Jahr’s very existence depends on the credibility
of its titles and the company must defend these
against increasing pressures from media agencies
and industrial advertisers, especially at times when
the economic situation is far from favorable.
As part of a strategic process introduced at
Gruner + Jahr in 2003, we are now working on projects – selected from an abundance of new ideas –
that will generate the growth sources of the future.
Our global offensive of new titles and projects bears
the title ”Innovation Now!”.
In addition to consolidating our core business
and revitalizing our main brands, our innovation offensive is based on three distinct strategies – first,
the development of line extensions, and second the
transfer of brands and concepts from one country
to another. Exporting titles such as GEO and CAPITAL has always been one of Gruner + Jahr’s
strengths. Third, the development of completely
new, independent magazines. We have successes
in all three of these strategies.
This innovation offensive is driven by journalistic
values. We research the interests of our readership
and formulate solutions to satisfy them. After all,in
the final analysis it is the market, i.e. our readership,
that tips the balance between success and failure.
Our corporate creed is that new titles must satisfy
the highest standards of quality and journalistic
independence in their respective segments. Gruner
One of the year’s outstanding successes is described on page 16 of this report. Gruner + Jahr’s
French subsidiary Prisma Presse achieved one of
the most impressive European magazine launches
of the postwar period with TÉLÉ 2 SEMAINES, a
magazine containing two weeks of TV programs.
The first issue sold over one million copies, and the
magazine promises to become a major pillar of
Gruner + Jahr’s French and European magazine
business, with sales now running to around 2 million per issue.
Gruner + Jahr can also report success in its
German domestic market, where it remains market
leader with EUR 618 million gross advertising revenues, EUR 88 million ahead of its nearest competitor. That means that one in every six euros invested
in advertising in a German magazine catering to the
general public goes to a Gruner + Jahr title. This clearly confirms the quality and performance of our titles
in a bitterly competitive situation.
Although the economy in general and the advertising space market in particular are expected to
pick up only slightly in 2004, this will nonetheless
contribute to growth. Gruner + Jahr is aiming to
achieve moderate sales growth despite difficult
operating conditions and will also be prepared to make further investments in its publishing business.
The solid foundations laid in 2003 will form a basis
for further growth. Gruner + Jahr has both the ideas and the financial resources to achieve further
growth in 2004, in Germany and beyond. Expansion
I
in the international markets will be a significant
growth factor in 2004. We plan to intensify our activities in the growth markets of Asia and Eastern
Europe where we are already active, and to get started on developing new markets for Gruner + Jahr
products in other countries.
Gruner + Jahr, Europe’s largest magazine publisher, once again set standards for corporate success and innovation in 2003. Growth is now a priority on our agenda. The foundation for continuing
commercial success in the years to come will, as in
the past, be the independence and the journalistic
quality of our magazines. Read about some of the
innovations in the world of Gruner + Jahr on the following pages. We wish you pleasant reading.
Dr. Bernd Kundrun
President of the Gruner + Jahr Executive Board
EBITA
EUR mill.
EUR + 4 MILL.
234
ROS
in %
+ 1,3% POINTS
238
9.6
8.3
EXTERNAL SALES
EUR mill.
938
Europe
(and other
countries)
613
United States
25 %
38 %
117
3.9
37 %
2001
pro forma
2002
2003
2001
pro forma
2002
2003
930
Germany
Other facts and figures on the
fiscal year 2003: pages 72–76
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INNOVATIONS
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A GUIDE TO
GROWING UP
How STERN’s innovative youth magazine NEON illuminates the world
of the twenty-something community each month.
INNOVATIONS
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Broad range
of subject matter:
Editor Oliver
Stolle (left) and Art
Director Gunter
Schwarzmaier
YOU DON’T NEED TO HANG OUT in the bars of Berlin, the clubs of Hamburg or even the pubs of Cologne to find out what Germany’s twenty-somethings are thinking and feeling these days. Instead,
head down to Berg am Laim, a somewhat sleepy
suburb of Munich and home, since the summer of
2003, to the editorial office of NEON, the most
recent addition to the STERN magazine portfolio.
Housed in an unremarkable office block, NEON and
its team have earned their spurs as guides through
a world of emotion and experience for an age group
that had hitherto escaped categorization of any
kind. This young general-interest magazine, subtitled “It’s time we grew up” seems to have struck
a nerve with 20 to 29-year-olds, both male and female. Companies are lining up to benefit from
NEON’s insights. “We can’t keep up with all the requests for presentations from firms ,” says Timm
Klotzek, one of NEON’s two chief editors.
Free and undisturbed: NEON makers
Michael Ebert (left) and Timm Klotzek
A year before NEON was launched, the future
did not look the slightest bit rosy for Klotzek or his
co-founders Michael Ebert and Mirko Borsche. In
July 2002, the ongoing advertising and media crisis
in Germany created one of its most prominent casualties. The Süddeutsche Zeitung announced it was
closing down Jetzt magazine, its prizewinning, highly praised but economically unviable youth supplement. All three NEON creators worked there.
“We were massively disappointed, most of us had
never been unemployed before,” explains Klotzek.
He was still working on the farewell edition of Jetzt
when he took a phone call from Andreas Petzold,
editor-in-chief at STERN magazine. “I guessed they
wanted to offer me a job or write a story on us,”
Klotzek remembers.
The STERN editors and publishers wanted
more than that. For some time already, the idea of
a younger magazine to take its place alongside
STERN had been brewing in Hamburg.
Gruner + Jahr wasted no time in drawing upa
contract to develop a magazine “that can also be
shown to the board of directors” with the working
title “NAME.” The development team moved into an open-plan office in the basement of the publisher’s Munich branch. The three founders were
joined by another three colleagues and set to
work in November 2002. Klotzek still speaks highly of how the publishers “gave us time and space
to create something. We spent a lot of time going
for walks, sitting in cafés or in the bathtub. We
knew that we wanted our magazine to appeal to
young men and women and we were looking for the
common denominator. If someone had come into
our editorial office back then, they would probably
have wondered: What on earth are they doing?”
The essence of their musings materialized at
the beginning of 2003 with the leitmotif : “It’s time
launched
2003
circulation
96,000
published
monthly
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Close contact to
readers: Editor Corinna
Teresa Bix (left);
Graphic artists Sandra
Eichler (left) and
Sarah Illenberger
(opposite page)
we grew up.” As Klotzek explains: “Our aim was to
define the magazine in one sentence. We found out
that men and women in this age group are very preoccupied with their future. The many topics, ranging from final school exams to their first job, thinking
about starting a family and worrying about the future, were easily enough to fill a magazine.”
They set out for Hamburg armed with their single
statement and seven rough pages outlining target
group, publication cycles, the general parameters
for the magazine. Without recourse to powerpoint
presentations or finished layouts, they succeeded
in winning over STERN magazine’s chief editors as
well as publishing house executives.
months. The core team of six in Munich worked
round the clock on the concept, framework, layout
and content. They came up with unusual names for
regular features: Wild World (short stories about
people), Seeing (themes in politics and society),
and Feeling (love, friendship, sex, psychology).
The new magazine was finally given a name derived from the Greek word neos, signifying “transparency, light and clarity.” As production progressed, the magazine’s founders joined the
STERN advertising heads to visit potential advertisers. “In the wake of the Jetzt experience, financial success was just as important to us as recognition,” stresses Klotzek.
“Nobody had dared to try a unisex magazine in
this age bracket before,” says STERN editor-inchief Andreas Petzold, who, along with fellow
STERN editor Thomas Osterkorn, is NEON’s publisher. In March 2003, given the magazine makers’
“proximity to readers,” the brave decision was
taken to launch a pilot edition of NEON as early as
June, without the usual rigmarole of market research dummies.
“We could have gotten it wrong, of course. But
we felt positive, we felt the editorial staff knew the
target group they were writing for,” says Petzold.
150,000 copies of NEON hit the newsstands on
June 23, 2003 of at a cover price of € 2.50. Of the
180 pages, 41 were taken up by advertisements.
Feedback was stronger than anticipated. Daily
newspapers, press agencies, magazines and radio
stations reported on the launch with detailed
reviews. Within the first few weeks, the online
guestbook had around 1,900 positive reactions.
“Suddenly things got serious,” Klotzek recalls.
The pilot issue had to be ready in barely three
Following a three-month trial period, Gruner +
Jahr decided to put NEON into monthly production starting January 2004. Today, the production
team consists of fifteen people – a wonderful example of how brand-new opportunities can arise
out of defeat.
STERN Editor-in-Chief
Andreas Petzold knew
the concept was good
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INNOVATIONS
THE FRENCH
REVOLUTION
How Prisma Presse compiled a unique database and laid the foundation
in November 2003 for one of Europe’s most successful launches.
Success means believing in what
others consider impossible:
Rémy Pernelet, Editor-in-Chief of
TÉLÉ 2 SEMAINES in Paris
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INNOVATIONS
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Innovative idea:
The editorial staff
use a database to automatically provide
content for the layout
WHEN ALL THE SUCCESS STRIKES HIM as too
good to be true, Rémy Pernelet glances over at a
Chinese proverb hanging above his desk, “Whoever
is first in the field and awaits the coming of the
enemy will be fresh for the fight; whoever is second
in the field and has to hasten to battle will arrive
exhausted.”
If the Chinese master Sun Tzu, who penned The
Art of War over two and a half thousand years ago,
is right, then Pernelet, the man behind France’s
first bi-weekly TV guide TÉLÉ 2 SEMAINES, will be
ready for any “attack” by the competition. In fact,
says the editor-in-chief, “I’m surprised that our competitors have been so quiet for so long.”
When Prisma Presse, the French subsidiary of
Gruner + Jahr announced at the end of 2003 that it
intended to launch a bi-weekly TV magazine, it signalled an end to eighteen years of peace in the
television listings segment. “It was not a new idea
as such,” explains Pernelet, “but it had been considered impossible.” While Germany had sustained TV
Spielfilm, TV Movie and TV TODAY and had had a
successful bi-weekly market for over a decade, similar plans in France had always failed because the
program schedules supplied by television channels
would arrive at such short notice. The magazine makers had a mere 36 hours to complete their editorial
content for the second week of programming, an
insurmountable task in the light of some 60 to 70
channels and the detailed descriptions, ratings and
layout required.
Making the impossible possible came down to
the publisher systematically improving its own
data programming. Denis Berriat, divisional head
of publishing in program formats tells us how:
“There was nothing on the market which matched
our needs, so in the mid-nineties we set about developing our own software for our weekly TV magazine TÉLÉ LOISIRS.”
For every film, every series, every documentary,
a wealth of detailed information was compiled including directors, actors, lead roles, countries, first
dates shown, genres, short and long reviews. As
time progressed, the database proved to be worth
its weight in gold: comprehensive information was
available for more than100,000 programs. “What
makes our database so special,” continues Berriat,
“is the link to the layout program, which in turn processes the data in a print-ready format.” This is the
key to production for TÉLÉ 2 SEMAINES.
There was a lot of ground to be covered until the
database had “learned“ that a particularly lengthy
article was required for the “program of the day” or
that the lead actor’s name should be in bold lettering or italics. Over 50,000 lines of programming
code had to be written.Then, the ready-to-print pages
could be produced more or less by hitting a button.
launched
2003
circulation
1,607,000
published
every two weeks
The program section was initially divided into
genres, but Pernelet’s innovative concept went further, introducing various special sections, generous
layouts, double-page features and large-scale photographs. Months of preparation culminated in a regional release of the finished item in November
2003. The result in the Rhône-Alps was promising.
“If more than 50 percent of the initial buyers come
back for the second issue, then we will have backed
a winner” says Berriat. “Our quota with TÉLÉ 2
SEMAINES was between 60 percent and 75 percent.”
Not even the optimistic magazine creators
themselves could fail to be surprised by the performance of the first nationwide issue in January
2004. Accompanied by a major advertising campaign, TÉLÉ 2 SEMAINES hit the newsstands on
January 5. After the lifting of the TV ban for print
media, Prisma Presse became the first publisher
to buy television advertising. “We started with a
print run of 800,000 and expected to sell 500,000.”
When the first sales figures came in, the decision
was made to print another 700,000 copies. All in all,
over a million magazines were sold.
Berriat and Pernelet knew better than to rest
on their laurels. April 2004 saw the premiere of
their second bi-weekly TV guide publication, TV
GRANDES CHAÎNES. Prisma Presse intends to
defend its market superiority indefinitely.
As the Chinese master Sun Tzu so wisely put it,
“The exemplary strategist attacks while his enemy
is still making plans.”
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EXPLORING NEW TERRAIN
How an unconventional attitude and creative organizing skills
became Gruner + Jahr’s key to success in Russia.
INNOVATIONS
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INNOVATIONS
Sales Manager Roman
Bogolepov by the ramp of
a mobile newsstand
YOU DON’T NEED MUCH ROOM to produce a mag-
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Improvisation and
pioneering spirit: CEO Dr. Olaf
Hengerer with Julia Lee
yourself be intimidated, you might just as well pack
up shop straightaway.”
azine in Russia, and office rentals in Moscow are pricey. So Olga Mareeva, the editor-in-chief of GEOLENOK, the children’s and teens’ offshoot of the
Russian edition of GEO, is sqeezed into an office of
just six square meters of together with two other
editors. A layouter and a photo editor in the next office complete the team. The editorial staff of GEOFOCUS works under similar, highly productive yet
cramped conditions. Eight editors occupy a space
of 25 square meters, working with such concentration that you can almost see the mental energy buzzing around the room. Their editor-in-chief Nadezhda
Moiseeva prefers some seclusion, so she has set up
a row of plants behind her computer monitor. “But I
usually take proofs home with me in the evening to
correct,” she says.
Though Moscow now has entire streets full of
exclusive boutiques and probably more luxury limousines than Los Angeles, its market for magazines still has a long way to go before it reaches
Western standards. There is no reliable data on circulation or coverage, and not even a properly functioning distribution system. Gruner + Jahr was the
first publisher to print a recommended retail price
on the magazine cover when it launched GEO in
1998. Price recommendations were unknown in
Russia at that time. “There is still no retail price fixing even today,” says G+J Sales Manager Roman
Bogolepov. But price margins have been slimmed
down quite a bit.
Creating a functioning distribution system is
just one of the many problems facing companies
trying to develop the magazine market. With a population of around 15 million, Greater Moscow alone
has 40 different magazine wholesalers supplying
3,500 kiosks, plus 1,000 private dealers hawking
only a small selection of the available titles from their
mobile stands. Because feedback from the market
is totally lacking, Bogolepov employs students to
check whether his titles are available everywhere.
G+J Russia’s offices on the fifth floor of the office building on Shmitovsky Prospect have been too
small ever since the launch of the two new titles
GEOLENOK and GEOFOCUS in 2003. “350 square
meters for four editorial staffs, plus development
departments, space sales, magazine sales and
administration are simply not enough,” admits CEO
Olaf Hengerer, whose own office doubles as a conference room. He would dearly like to rent more
space, but is making slow progress with the potential landlords. “We have even considered working in
shifts,” he says.
Although the market in Moscow is difficult
enough, it is heaven compared with the more remote regions of this vast country. Russia covers an
area of over 17 million square kilometers, nearly
50 times the size of Germany, but its population
of 150 million is not quite double that of Germany.
A magazine takes four days to travel to Novosibirsk. So GEO editor Vladimir Potapov is very proud
of the fact that only 30 percent of each issue is now
sold in Moscow. The figure used to be 80 percent.
Anyone seeking success in present-day Russia
has to learn to think unconventionally. What to do
when a whole issue of GEO printed outside Russia gets stuck in customs because the customs officers suddenly want to see a non-existent hygiene
certificate? Where to look when a whole truckload
of magazines disappears in Belarus? How to react
when a PR agent suddenly arrives accompanied
by three ominous-looking heavies and suggests
that it would be wise to accept 250,000 dollars in
cash in return for featuring a particular, well-known
industrial magnate’s wife on the cover of GALA?
“Making threats is still a recognized business practice in Russia,” says Hengerer calmly. “But, if you let
launched
2001
circulation
120,000
launched
1998
circulation
100,000
launched
2003
circulation
71,500
Despite all his problems, Hengerer would not
swap jobs with any of his CEO colleagues in the
West. “I can’t imagine a more exciting job. Nothing
really seems to work here, but somehow or other
it always works out.”
Chief editors in Moscow: Vladimir Potapov,
GEO (left top); Olga Mareeva, GEOLENOK (left)
and Nadezhda Moiseeva, GEOFOCUS (right)
launched
2003
circulation
43,000
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“HAVE FAITH IN YOURSELF”
How BRIGITTE remains true to its philosophy despite reinventing itself every
two weeks: The innovative strength of the BRIGITTE brand now supports an
entire magazine family. An interview with Andreas Lebert.
BRIGITTE celebrated its Golden Jubilee in May
2004. How does it manage to stay so young?
Magazines are ageless. BRIGITTE has to reinvent
itself every fortnight. It reflects the present and
looks to the future. That is why we have chosen the
motto “50 years in the present” rather than a birthday party looking back on history.
Where does this sentence come from? “Women are
warm, brave and capable, they take care of their
looks, are both lover and mother to their husbands.
His wishes are her wishes”.
Well, considering you’re asking me, I guess you
read it in BRIGITTE.
Right, it’s taken from one of the first issues of
BRIGITTE and describes how women were perceived in the 1950s. Could you come up with
something similarly short and unsweet for the
women of today?
I can give it a try. Today’s woman is self-confident,
she embraces change, she searches tirelessly for
meaning and joy in her life. Easy answers are not an
option. A job or career is no more the sole aim in
life than is marriage or family. Managing a number
of tasks simultaneously is her strength, but more
importantly, she enjoys it and finds it satisfying.
Sounds like the BRIGITTE target group …
Exactly. These are the women we are addressing.
BRIGITTE’s great strength is that it respects all ways
of life, its essential message is “you are just fine the
way you are, have faith in yourself, forget about
doing everything right all the time.” BRIGITTE helps
relieve the pressure, offers consolation and encouragement in this jungle we live in.
A whole range of new titles is going after the
young women’s market at the moment. Do you see
them as a threat to BRIGITTE?
BRIGITTE reaches younger women as well, but its
main audience is more adult, as it always has been.
It would not make sense for BRIGITTE to focus on
this other, much younger group. We have consciously targeted a younger readership with BRIGITTE YOUNG MISS and for the more mature
readers, we have introduced BRIGITTE WOMAN.
Our family of brands thus covers all stages of
life, and addresses different aspects, e.g. as BRIGITTE KULTUR BRIGITTE COOKIE and BRIGITTE
BALANCE.
What is the key to BRIGITTE’s success over a period of 50 years? How has it defended its position
as the number one classic women’s magazine
since 1974?
BRIGITTE takes its readers seriously. Our editorial
team is very big, almost one hundred staff, predominantly female. All of them are experienced
journalists, both the younger ones and the more
mature ones. Not the type to be ordered around.
The secret to BRIGITTE’s success is this: They
create a magazine that they themselves like to
read. This may sound a little unusual in the media
A fan from the very
beginning: Andreas Lebert ,
Editor-in-Chief of BRIGITTE
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
business, but there is a complete absence of cynicism. You won’t hear anybody saying “we’d like to
do this but it will have to be done differently for our
readers.” I have never known such a strong sense
of identification between an editorial staff and its
readership. What’s more, we take great care of our
readers. We have eight “letter editors“ dealing with
a daily lot of up to 500 letters.
Are you, as editor-in-chief, the man who really
understands women? Or could one say, the man
who stands over and above women?
My personal history has a lot to do with the fact that
I hold this position. Both my parents were journalists, both worked for BRIGITTE. I was a departmental head here back in the 1980s. When Anne
Volk, editor-in-chief for many years, retired a year
and a half ago, the publishers were keen to find someone who knew BRIGITTE inside out and what it
stood for, regardless of that person’s gender.
Having developed such ambitious and innovative
publications as the magazine section of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the Leben (Life) supplement
in the newspaper Die Zeit, are you not afraid of
boredom setting in as overseer of the annual
BRIGITTE diet?
Objection! Right down the line. My role here is
neither boring nor unchallenging. It’s quite simple,
BRIGITTE can handle any subject one can think
of. Give me an absurd topic and I will make it fit
into BRIGITTE.
Let’s take sailing ships, for example. We see them
all the time on the Elbe River from our press offices, here on Baumwall. The theory goes as follows: More and more people are buying these
vessels. We can write about that, no problem. Only
the thread might be something like: psychology
in an eight-square-meter space. Why do people, of
their own free will, opt for the cramped space on a
boat? Hey presto, we have entered the world of BRIGITTE, everyday drama and relationship issues.
Psychology is a major player for us. Bringing the
outside world into BRIGITTE is very exciting.
What about the annual, perennial re-run of the
BRIGITTE diet?
It is far from being the same thing every year. Its
reputation is built on being the best and most reliable. So we are at great pains to react to the latest
findings. Every year we sit down and discuss how
to approach things differently. What is our central
theme? I enjoy taking part in meetings like these. I
get a kick out of coming up with new angles. Our
recipes taste good. That is not only a key concern,
it is also the unmistakable trademark of the BRIGITTE diet.
freundin, an acknowledged competitor, pronounced a “quality offensive” in March. Are you worried?
No. freundin has always done best when it has come
closer to BRIGITTE. They’ve realised that now. We
don’t need a “quality offensive”, BRIGITTE has always been synonymous with quality journalism and
nothing is going to change that in the future.
Following BRIGITTE WOMAN, BRIGITTE YOUNG
MISS, BRIGITTE KULTUR and BRIGITTE COOKIE,
you launched a fifth offshoot entitled BRIGITTE
BALANCE. What is behind these line extensions?
The line extensions address for specific themes in
a specific period of your life. BRIGITTE BALANCE
works on the premise that we all live in a world of
contrasts. Job and children, career and leisure, relaxation and ambition, and so on. BALANCE ad-
INNOVATIONS
“BRIGITTE
has always
stood for
quality journalism and
will continue
to do so.”
dresses this phenomenon in a very modern and suitably sensuous fashion.
Nevertheless, aren’t you afraid of losing a generation of younger women to magazines like Glamour
in the long run?
I don’t know if all young women can be won over
to BRIGITTE. I do know, however, that we should
not give BRIGITTE a more youthful facelift for
the sake of a few readers. All in all, we still have
more young readers than any of the new women’s
magazines. Our research tells us that lots of women
switch to BRIGITTE when they leave their parents’ home to set up their own. They feel it is time
to leave amusing but superficial magazines behind
and move on to one which is a help to them in
their daily lives.
Can you prove that?
A sociological study by the Rheingold Institute
revealed the following analysis. Newer publications
such as Glamour, for example, are associated with
a sense of indulgence, a regressive world of girls
and fairy tales. It may be that a woman of 40 has this
feeling once in a while as well. Young women,
meanwhile, have a more grown-up wish for
something more tangible. Interestingly enough, we
found that 30-year-olds read BRIGITTE Woman. It’s
as if they want to look into the future.
Back in the 1970s and ‘80s, BRIGITTE had a greater
social and political relevance.
I don’t agree. That view really harks back to the
’90s, which was a notoriously difficult time for the
media to introduce political themes, not just at BRIGITTE. The ’90s were absolutely apolitical. All
magazines had a hard time maintaining a political
I
GRUNER + JAHR 27
profile. DER SPIEGEL, STERN magazine and FOCUS
all had cover stories which would not have been out
of place in a women’s magazine. We didn’t decide
to leave politics out, it was the sign of the times.
Where does BRIGITTE stand today?
Ursula Ott’s column is quite forthright, politically.
We have interviewed people like Renate Schmidt
and Ulla Schmidt. There are lots of examples. Specials on “Afraid of losing your job?”, specials on the
environment like “And the world can be saved”;
reports from Baghdad and Afghanistan; essays such
as “What is justice today?” or recently a conversation with a young Turkish woman in Berlin “Take
her headscarf away.” Elke Heidenreich was the
first to criticize the “It’s cool to be a penny-pincher”
campaign in her BRIGITTE column. We have articles which, without being purely political, definitely have a political slant.
How do you see the future of BRIGITTE?
A magazine has to be prepared for the future, of
course, and we are indeed looking ahead. Any discussion on BRIGITTE in the future necessarily
includes a look at the market itself. The market for
women’s magazines in Germany is one of the most
competitive at all. We are the most expensive in our
segment, but certainly also the most sophisticated
and the best in terms of quality. BRIGITTE is going
to stay that way. We will increase our expertise in
the areas which we have developed over the past
50 years. In culture, for example, or society, fashion,
psychology, medicine and current affairs. By covering all these areas, the dynamic BRIGITTE family
of brands will remain the strongest player on the
German market.
Thank you for taking the time to speak with us.
launched
1954
circulation
800,801
published
every two weeks
28 GRUNER + JAHR
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
INNOVATIONS
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GRUNER + JAHR 29
KIDS’ ROOM – MELTING POT
How the US magazine PARENTS is taking the Spanish-speaking community
by storm
FROM TIME TO TIME, JON ANDRADE FEELS LIKE
A SURFER on a perfect day. “We are riding the crest
of a huge wave,“ he says, eyes sparkling. He may
sound as if he is on a California beach, waxing lyrical on his latest confrontation with the natural elements, but in fact he is sitting in a Manhattan office
block, talking about work. The head of the advertising department for SER PADRES, the first Spanish-language magazine for parents in the United
States, is reflecting on a quite sensational year. He
can reel off the figures in his sleep. In 2003, advertising revenue increased by 51%, advertising pages
by 36%. 2004 began in similar style with a 38 % increase in advertising revenue for the first issue of
the year.
This was no overnight success. Gruner + Jahr
was the first to enter this highly promising niche
market in 1990 with the Spanish version of PARENTS magazine. The competition took years to follow suit. Editor-in-chief Alberto Oliva and Andrade
joined up in 2001 and immediately set about fine
tuning the product to the readership’s needs.“In the
beginning, we only had around 25 % original material, the rest consisted of articles translated from the
existing US magazine,“ explains Oliva. Now the balance is more like 50:50 and the plan is to increase
the percentage of original Spanish material even
further.
The Spanish-speaking minority in the United
States has its roots in Mexico, South America and
the Caribbean. They may indeed inhabit the same
country as their neighbors of European descent,
but often live in a completely different world.“One
excellent example of this is car seats for children,“
points out editor-in-chief Oliva, going on to explain
his strategy. “No American mother needs convincing of their value, whereas the Hispanic population is notoriously dismissive of safety regulations. In cases such as this, we aim to enlighten and
give advice.“
There are no limits to the topics covered in the
magazine, which now appears bi-monthly rather
Universal curiosity: Whatever their language and cultural differences, children often have very similar interests.
than quarterly. The focus on children is more or less
the basis for attracting a wide readership. Financial
advice, health tips and the latest trends can all
be found in SER PADRES, well researched and for
free. Oliva is constantly looking at ways to improve
the product. The first issue in 2004 featured a new
section entitled Money Talk, and proved an instant
success. “We have already received more letters
on this subject than in the whole of last year,“ he
enthuses.“ That’s the recipe for success: give the
people the tools they need to solve their problems
for themselves.“
Until now, SER PADRES has been made available in doctors’ offices and in 600 branches of McDonald’s. The Parents Teachers Association takes
care of distributing it to its Spanish-speaking members. The official circulation figure of 500,000 logged
by the Magazine Publishers of America (MPA) puts
the magazine at the top of the heap of all Spanishlanguage publications in the country. And the market continues to grow. To keep pace, Andrade has
installed another sales representative in Miami – the
region with the third-largest Hispanic community
in the United States. The surfer’s dream wave is not
going to break just yet.
launched
1926
circulation
2,200,000
published
monthly
Did you know ...
• People of Hispanic origin constitute the largest minority group in the United States,
numbering 39 million and amounting to 13% of the entire population
• The five most important Hispanic markets in terms of population figures are Los
Angeles, New York City, Miami, San Francisco and Chicago
• Purchasing power of this population group is estimated at 428 billion dollars, with
above-average growth rates
• The average age of the Hispanic population is 25.9 years, markedly below the
overall (35.3)
• Average income of Hispanic households is $ 34.670 per annum, well below the
national average ($ 43,570 )
• The number of Hispanic households earning $ 50,000 and more is expected to
rise by 50 % by 2005.
• According to MPA, SER PADRES heads the Top 10 of US magazines in
Spanish. The second and third slots are occupied by PEOPLE EN ESPAÑOL and
READER’S DIGEST SELECCIONES
30 GRUNER + JAHR
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
INNOVATIONS
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GRUNER + JAHR 31
BEAUTY
FROM
WITHIN
How GLAMOUR answered
people’s longing for the
glitter of the West by
imbuing them with a new
self-awareness
New type of woman: GLAMOUR photo shoot with the well-known actor and television host Grazyna Torbicka (see cover photo, p. 35)
“You can do what you want.“ GLAMOUR’s Editor-in-Chief Grazyna Olbrych has her own personal view on Polish women
32 GRUNER + JAHR
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
INNOVATIONS
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GRUNER + JAHR 33
In search of personal expression:
The Fabryka Trzciny club is one of the favorite haunts of
GLAMOUR’s editor-in-chief Grazyna Olbrych
Being creative is more important than having lots of money: GLAMOUR’s head of fashion, Adam Gutowski, uses luxury brands to
fire his imagination
34 GRUNER + JAHR I ANNUAL REPORT 2003
The market for vanity
is growing in Poland:
Oliver Voigt, CEO
of G+J Poland with a
work of art by a devoted GLAMOUR fan
INNOVATIONS
I NEVER THOUGHT OF MYSELF AS ATTRACTIVE
or out of the ordinary.Thanks to GLAMOUR I’ve
come to realize that every woman has earned
the luxury of believing in her own beauty.” Political
science student Angnieszka, Anna for short, a 24year-old from Warsaw, writes how GLAMOUR
helped her discover “a new angle on my own femininity.“ Eva, a businesswoman, feels GLAMOUR
is important to her for “demystifying relationships
and their secrets“ and helping her to avoid certain
partnership pitfalls.
Polish women’s image of themselves has undergone constant change since the fall of the Iron
Curtain. This is due in no small measure to magazines such as GLAMOUR, launched by Gruner +
Jahr in Poland in the early 2003. Nevertheless, while
Poland is close to the top of the European table in
terms of the number of women in senior management positions (over 30 %), the image of the “Polish mother“ remains a particularly resonant one in
society, says GLAMOUR’s editor-in-chief Grazyna
Olbrych. Always giving, putting family and society
first, sacrificing one’s own interests. “We, on the
other hand, tell women: Hey, you can do what you
want. You don’t always have to give, you are entitled
to take as well.“
Young Polish women appear to identify with
this message and the mix of fashion, lifestyle and
tips on how to live your life. Average sales of
276,540 copies throughout 2003 saw GLAMOUR
race to the number two position amongst quality
magazines for women. “Poland is one of the most
developed markets in Eastern Europe and women are one of the most highly contested target
groups,“ says Oliver Voigt, managing director of
G+J Poland. Fifteen monthly titles alone compete
for female readers’ attention. That’s why GLAMOUR was launched with one of the most lavish
marketing campaigns in the history of Polish pub-
I
GRUNER + JAHR 35
lishing. Several million euros were spent on print,
radio and TV advertising. And to front the campaign, GLAMOUR won the services of famous
actress Joanna Brodzik, today’s modern, self-assured Polish woman personified.
The leading trade magazine Media & Marketing Polska voted GLAMOUR “Newcomer of the
Year 2003,” stating that “the publishers of GLAMOUR have done more than introduce a new magazine, they have given Polish women a new lease
on life.“ Advertisers were equally enamoured, with
renowned brands such as Versace, Estée Lauder,
Helena Rubinstein, Hennes + Mauritz, Nokia, Sony
and various car manufacturers all among the 460
pages of advertisements sold over the first nine
months. “A few years ago,“ Voigt points out, “success of this nature would not have been possible.
The local market for high-end consumer goods did
not yet exist.“
Adam Gutowski, head of fashion at GLAMOUR,
elaborates: “At GLAMOUR we made it our business
to rid our readers of their fear of major brands.
Other magazines portray luxury brands as unattainable. We prefer to show them as inspirational.“
The fashion expert rarely makes use of international photo material, preferring to shoot locally,
underscoring the fact that the products on display
are available – and affordable – in Poland. Gutowski
again: “Polish women’s creativity has always enabled them to present themselves in the best possible way, even with little money.“
Polish women’s newfound confidence and
image is of interest not only to the female population. “20 percent of our readers are male“ stresses
Olbrych. This gave the editor-in-chief the idea of a
supplement that would appear for the first time in
early 2004 and be dedicated to fashion and good
looks – for men.
launched
2003
circulation
276,540
published
monthly
36 GRUNER + JAHR
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INNOVATIONS
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GRUNER + JAHR 37
Loves shopping: Sophia Deslances,
Fashion Service
Prêt-à-porter: Expert advice can be invaluable for spotting a good buy
WHAT LOOKS LIKE A RELAY RACE is in full swing
at the editorial office of SHOPPING magazine in the
Rue La Condamine in Paris. One messenger brings
shoes, the next picks up clothes, and a collection of
handbags needs delivering faster than you can say
“photo studio.“ Clothing racks in the third floor showroom are crammed, and blouses, skirts, jackets,
coats, tops and trousers are laid out across the
gray carpet. Color, form and style are constantly rearranged until they match just perfectly.
Presiding over this controlled chaos is Francoise
Lambert, the fashion editor of France’s biggest women’s weekly magazine FEMME ACTUELLE for
over 17 years and, since May 2003, also in charge
of fashion at Europe’s first shopping magazine,
aptly named SHOPPING. “We aim to offer advice
on what to buy just like a good friend, especially a
very professional friend,“ Lambert stresses.
I SHOP, THEREFORE I AM
How SHOPPING, a brand-new magazine format, was born in France and has
now moved on to great things in other markets, too.
The extensive range presented by the 12-person
SHOPPING editorial team every two months is
beyond anything even the very best friend could
cover. Roughly 130 pages worth of the finest
products and latest trends in fashion, jewelry,
cosmetics, design and interiors are divided into
six sections. “We take care to present products
in all available price categories and combine expensive with less expensive items in our outfits.
This is exactly what most women do in their daily
lives, too,“ the fashion expert explains.
Each product featured – and there are between
1,000 and 1,500 products per issue – is accompanied by a description, photograph, review and a
rating. There are also consumer tips and source
directories. “We cannot afford to give our readers
poor advice. Our editorial team has complete control
over what goes into the magazine,“ says Lambert.
Photographs of the editorial team members appear on the corresponding pages to enhance the
sense of personal advice. Readers are encouraged
to send in queries, suggestions or complaints to
the feature editors in question.
The concept of shopping while seated comfortably on the couch has proven a hit with the French.
The first edition, initially conceived as a supplement
to FEMME ACTUELLE and developed at the record
speed of just two months by that magazine’s editorial staff, sold over 190,000 copies at a cover price
of € 2.50. SHOPPING established itself not just as
a new magazine in its own right, but also as a completely new genre on the European scene. Until then,
magazines dedicated exclusively to shopping were
only found in the United States.
The success of SHOPPING has left Francoise
Lambert with something of a problem. She now has
less time to go shopping herself. “That’s a pity because I love to shop,“ she says, with a rueful smile.
launched
2003
circulation
189,400
published
six times a year
38 GRUNER + JAHR
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
“INDEPENDENCE IS THE
KEY TO OUR SUCCESS”
How Gruner + Jahr stuck to its journalistic principles during adverse times.
An interview with Angelika Jahr-Stilcken.
What is good journalism for you?
It would really be poor journalism if I attempted to
give an adequate and accurate appraisal of good
journalism in so small a space. Although there is a
definite trend towards bullet-point summaries of
anything and everything these days, I don’t belong
to the school of thought which believes that the
world can be explained or understood in three sentences. I am sure there is a lot of bad journalism in
Germany, but you would be hard-pressed to find any
at Gruner + Jahr.
What do you mean by that? How is Gruner + Jahr
different from other publishing houses?
makes a virtue of boredom. And certainly no inflammatory journalism. You know the kind I mean.
Which brings us back to the first question:
Good journalism at Gruner + Jahr, what are its
characteristics?
In G+J magazines you can expect to find the highest
standards of reporting, words and pictures that tell
a story. Peter-Matthias Gaede, editor-in-chief at GEO,
said features are the lifeblood of journalism. GEO is,
in my book, the best photographic and features
magazine in the world; its reports tell a living story,
cast a new light on the real world.
So a good journalist blends truth and poetry?
Gruner + Jahr is not necessarily perfect, but we do
not indulge in any journalism for favors. There isn’t
a company in the world that can walk in and buy the
front cover of a G + J magazine and fill it with advertising. The publishers encourage a certain degree
of creativity when it comes to advertising design,
but the line we draw is absolutely clear. Advertising
and editorial content must be kept well apart.
Are there any other noticeable differences?
Oh yes, you won’t find any trivial, yellow press style
journalism here. Nor any fossilized journalism, which
No, as famous 1920s reporter Egon Erwin Kisch put
it, one cannot allow one’s imagination to run riot in
an article. There is a fine line between fact and letting facts dance their own dance - a nice image.
At Gruner + Jahr you are an editor-in-chief as well
as being a publisher, head of a publishing company
and a journalist member of the board of directors.
Isn’t there a certain conflict of interests between
the journalistic leanings of the editor-in-chief and
the business interests of the publishing company
boss, or even of the board of directors?
“Gruner +
Jahr is not
necessarily
perfect, but
we do not
indulge in
any journalism for
favors.”
Angelika Jahr-Stilcken, Member of the Executive Board, Journalism
40 GRUNER + JAHR
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
I don’t see that as a problem. I come from a family
of publishers. My father, who founded Gruner + Jahr
almost forty years ago with Gerd Bucerius and
Richard Gruner, was a publisher with all his heart
and soul. It is quite normal for a publisher to keep
an eye on the journalistic content of his magazines
as well as on the business interests of the publishing company. Good journalism is the soul of a publishing house. But good journalism can only thrive
in the financially healthy environment of a strong
publishing company.
Well, of course that would be a valid argument if we
were talking about bolts of cloths, but we in the publishing business are aware of the importance of accurate research and well-crafted writing. We understand that the space we afford our journalists leads
to higher quality. The production of information cannot be rationalized in the way the production of industrial goods can be. I am convinced that, at the end
of the day, it will be an expensive exercise to fill the
space between the maximum number of advertisements at the lowest possible cost. Our principal task
is to disseminate information and uphold credibility.
Is that enough in itself?
Another thing I learned from my father, when I was
much younger, was the great value of independence. Looking at it in terms of the conditions and
chances of success in journalism, my father, John
Jahr, was a passionate journalist and at the same
time a publisher with good instincts. Both prior to
and following the merger in 1965 which resulted in
the Gruner + Jahr printing and publishing house, it
was his style to give his chief editors free rein. The
principle of editorial freedom and independence
has remained one of the key elements at Gruner +
Jahr to this day.
What do you see as the difference between a publishing company producing magazines and newspapers, and a factory producing nuts and bolts or
cleaning cloths?
One cannot order journalists to be more productive
or more creative. It isn’t about the quantity of articles they deliver. It’s about quality, truthfulness and,
above all, will it interest the reader? Does it match
his expectations? An editorial desk doesn’t operate
on the piecework principle. It can happen that a talented writer spends days working on one article,
only to find that it doesn’t meet his or her own standards. So he rips it up and starts again!
Not very efficient from an economic point of view.
So the editors need freedom – both journalistic and
financial?
Yes, I can’t stress the importance of independence
enough. Many publishers around the world feel the
financial pressure from advertising customers so
strongly that it eats away at editorial freedom. If a
publication is to remain credible, then its readers
have to be absolutely sure that what they are reading is unfiltered information.That is what Gruner +
Jahr stands for, and so do our editorial desks.
JOURNALISTIC INDEPENDENCE
“If a publication is to be
credible, its
readers have
to be absolutely sure
that what
they are reading is unfiltered information.”
doctor only a doctor. A journalist is there for his
readers, listeners or viewers – and now for online
users as well – to report facts and fill in the background. The task is to relate and explain the facts
in an interesting way, without being didactic. Nothing more and nothing less. Henri Nannen, the founder, publisher and editor-in-chief of STERN, a man
who had a great influence on me as a journalist,
thought the same way. It was he who said “I would
rather preach a full church than an empty cathedral.”
In other words: it is important for a magazine to
reach as many readers as possible. He did not produce STERN for the publishers, nor for the advertising customers, and certainly not for himself. His
sole interest was his readers.
What fascinated you most about Henri Nannen?
Henri Nannen’s journalistic mind was matched by
a wonderful gut instinct. He was also, as a journalist, a total perfectionist. He would study the proofs
down to the last detail, often driving his editorial
teams to distraction, but, at the same time, taking
them to a whole new level of journalism.
How should journalists deal with the world’s
power players, in your opinion?
What do you see as the pinnacle of journalism, one
generation on from Henri Nannen?
Most importantly, maintain a critical distance. The
great German journalist Kurt Tucholsky wrote: “You
don’t need to bribe a German journalist, it’s enough
for him to be treated as a powerful force.” These
days I see too many journalists on first name terms
with people of influence, or at least trying to be.
Perhaps it is only human, but such aspirations are
a misapprehension. One cannot do justice to the
cause of journalism thinking like that.
I think it is this: healthy curiosity, independence, honesty, thoroughness in passing on information to
the reader – providing a path through an increasingly
confusing world, without forgetting the emotional
potential of words and pictures. Order, analysis and
background are more vital today than ever. Good
journalism is not restricted to the biggest, hottest
stories or major features, I should add. Whether one
is writing for stock investors, gardeners or pregnant
women, writing on subjects such as home improvements or culinary delights, the same journalistic
values apply: thorough research, credibility, and
writing in such a way that readers both understand
and enjoy what they read. “The ethics of journalism
are based on service,” Johannes Gross once said.
That sounds very puritanical.
… and that’s exactly what I mean. A journalist, in my
book, is “merely” a journalist and nothing more.
In the same way that a judge is just a judge and a
I
GRUNER + JAHR 41
You have raised the bar rather high for special-interest magazines …
Yes, the art of journalism in such magazines is to be
able to research and write about diapers and chickenpox or curtains and garden furniture with the same
zest and verve as other colleagues do about earthquakes and presidential coups.
Is that the case in your own publishing field?
I would like to think so. It’s about finding that certain
something which adds to the reader’s pleasure.
“Don’t be jealous, zebra, stripes are in” was a headline in LIVING AT HOME which appealed to me
because it sold its story effortlessly. Or this introductory line from the food and drink magazine
ESSEN&TRINKEN: “She is extraordinarily pretty,
extraordinarily gifted, and when we met for our
interview, she was also extraordinarily pregnant.”
The question of good journalism still remains:
can quality print journalism prosper or will it be
crushed between the grindstones of television
and Internet?
No, I am sure that won’t happen. Well-made newspapers and magazines will not only survive, their
relevance and role in society will become greater.
You are not worried at all about the fate of good
journalism?
“Good journalism needs a home, a place to live.”
This is one of Gruner + Jahr’s mission statements.
A home for something Gruner + Jahr has always believed in and will continue to believe in: freedom of
expression, honesty and journalistic independence.
This is the foundation of our economic success.
Thank you for taking the time to speak with us.
“The art of
journalism is
to be able
to write about
diapers and
chickenpox
with the
same zest
and verve as
other colleagues write
about earthquakes and
presidential
coups.”
42 GRUNER + JAHR
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
CORPORATE DIVISION MAGAZINES GERMANY
I
GRUNER + JAHR 43
MAGAZINE DIVISION GERMANY
Innovation based on strong brands. A bold, creative approach to consolidate
Gruner + Jahr’s special position on the German magazine market
IN 2003, THE MAGAZINE DIVISION GERMANY
COUNTERED THE THIRD CONSECUTIVE SLOW
YEAR IN THE GERMAN CIRCULATION AND AD
SALES MARKET with a spate of new titles: NEON,
Dr. Bernd Buchholz
President,
Magazine Division
Germany
since January 1, 2004
STERN SPEZIAL GESUND LEBEN, BRIGITTE
COOKIE, ESSEN + TRINKEN FÜR JEDEN TAG, NG
WORLD. Gruner + Jahr, the biggest magazine publisher in Germany, is relying on the pull exerted by its
established magazine brands and the ability of its
highly professional editorial staffs to develop and
launch innovative concepts. This strategy has been
rewarded with higher circulation figures and successful defense of the company’s undisputed leadership in a market where circulation and orders for
advertising space are either stagnating or showing a
slight downward trend. This, together with increases
in operating efficiency at all levels, has yielded a significant year-on-year improvement in earnings.
The launch of the STERN offshoot NEON caused
a major stir in the German media landscape. The slogan for the launch of this title aimed at the 20 to
29-year-old age group was “It’s time we grew up.”
Upon its appearance in the kiosks on June 23,
NEON sold over 90,000 copies. The response from
both readers and advertisers has been very positive and NEON is now published monthly.
STERN SPEZIAL GESUND LEBEN is a classic
example of how socially relevant topics can be successfully exploited in magazine form. Following a
healthcare series running through several successive issues of STERN, a special healthcare issue
sold 130,000 copies and is now being published
bimonthly in 2004, thereby opening up a totally new
market segment, healthcare. STERN magazine’s
total sales and advertising revenues not only kept
it at the top of the German magazine market. Surveys also confirm its top reader rating, with circulation up by 3.5 percent. One in every nine Germans
reads STERN, and it’s well ahead of the competition,
sue enabled us to increase the guaranteed print-run
figure to 300,000. The Allensbach Advertising Medium Analysis (AWA) reports that WOMAN gives excellent service to its target group of “young, welleducated, professional women.” The only bitter pill
in the women’s magazine segment is MARIE CLAIRE, the last issue of which appeared in October
2003 after intensive efforts failed to bring about an
increase in sales of advertising space.
After a three-year downward slide, there are
now indications that magazine and advertising
space sales in Germany will show a slight recovery
in 2004. Gruner + Jahr is planning to continue the innovation offensive launched in all its publishing divisions in 2002 with further new quality titles. It will
also seek to gain market share in its core business.
ESSEN + TRINKEN, G+J’s classic title in the living and lifestyle segment, has also produced offspring: ESSEN + TRINKEN FÜR JEDEN TAG, which
made its first appearance in July 2003. This handy,
pocket-sized booklet now appears ten times annually with simple, quickly prepared recipes of typically
high ESSEN + TRINKEN quality. It was very well received, with the first issue running to 150,000 copies.
with market coverage of 11.2 percent and some 1.2
million readers.
G+J’s second-largest flagship title, BRIGITTE,
was also able to consolidate its position with a combination of a stable trend in figures for the main title,
plus enlargement of the brand family. 80,000 women
bought BRIGITTE KULTUR when it was launched
in spring of 2003. This was followed in November
by BRIGITTE COOKIE, a quarterly, pocket-sized
publication containing recipes, tips and tricks designed to take the stress out of cooking. BRIGITTE
WOMAN is also doing well. This magazine, aimed at
women over 40, broke through the 300,000-copy
barrier for the first time in 2003. Following its relaunch in the fall of 2003, BRIGITTE YOUNG MISS
achieved circulation increases. Since its launch in
October 2001, WOMAN has established itself in the
German mag-azine market as a force to be reckoned
with. Steady sales averaging around 330,000 per is-
G+J also succeeded in strengthening its supremacy in the German market for popular science
magazines. GEO remains the undisputed market
leader, with AWA First Class 2003 reporting a coverage increase from 16.7 to 17.2 percent in the higher target groups. GEOLINO’s circulation showed
a year-on-year increase of 14 percent. NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC made further progress on the expansion of its brand family initiated in 2002, launching
a special issue called TRAVELLER that was followed
in November by NG WORLD, a bilingual magazine
for children and teens launched in conjunction with
a TV program on the children’s channel and an interactive website. 80,000 copies of this magazine, plus
15,000 subscriptions, were sold within a few weeks.
The celebrity magazine GALA continues to forge
ahead. Sales of this premium title broke through the
400,000-copy barrier for the first time in the third
quarter of 2003. Space sales were also buoyant with
a year-on-year increase of 14.7 percent in 2003.
Rolf Wickmann
President,
Magazine Division
Germany until
December 31, 2003
Rolf Wickmann headed the Magazine Division
Germany for 20 years until December 31,
2003. It is thanks to his experience and input
that G+J’s German magazine portfolio was
steadily expanded during the 1980s and 1990s.
As of January 1, 2004, Rolf Wickmann holds
the position of President responsible for German
associated companies and strategic projects at
Gruner + Jahr AG & Co KG. In addition to assisting the Executive Board on important matters
relating to key issues, Rolf Wickmann will continue to chair the Advisory Board of the Henri
Nannen School of Journalism, and to represent
G+J on the Advisory Board and at the Shareholders’ Meeting of Vereinigte Motor Verlage GmbH
in Stuttgart and, together with the Chairman of
the Gruner + Jahr Executive Board, at the Shareholders’ Meeting of Spiegel Verlag.
44 GRUNER + JAHR
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
CORPORATE DIVISION FINANCIAL PRESS/NEWSPAPERS
I
NEWSPAPER DIVISION/
BUSINESS PRESS GERMANY
Consistent brand management to strengthen business publications –
FTD continues on its successful course
INITIATED IN 2002, Gruner + Jahr’s strategy of fo-
Achim Twardy
President,
Newspaper Division/
Business Press
Germany
cusing on its magazine business was continued in
2003 with the sale of the Group’s interests in eastern European newspapers (published in the Czech
and Slovak Republics, Romania and Serbia) and the
pooling of all its business publications in Germany
into a single division. The Newspaper Division/Business Press Germany thus enlarged in October 2003
includes the FINANCIAL TIMES DEUTSCHLAND
and the SÄCHSISCHE ZEITUNG, and is responsible
for all business magazines in Germany and for coordinating all G+J business titles at global level. The aim
of this regrouping into a single division was to
strengthen the business publications and create
new growth potential.
While the FTD was able to buck the general
market trend and succeeded in adding both circulation and space sales in 2003, the business magazines CAPITAL, IMPULSE and BÖRSE ONLINE
suffered more heavily than any other magazine segment from the weak economic situation, especially
in sales of advertising space. The plight of the financial press side was compensated to a certain extent
by the highly satisfactory progress achieved by
the SÄCHSISCHE ZEITUNG. The Group also realized
substantial assets from the sale of its activities in
central and eastern Europe .
In the fourth year following its launch, the FTD
continued to achieve growth in circulation, coverage
and advertising space sales, thereby gaining market
shares. Circulation in the fourth quarter of 2003
was up by 4.7 percent year-on-year at 93,527 sold
copies. Subscriptions rose 6.3 percent to around
57,000, underscoring the FTD’s high reader acceptance and loyalty rates. The increase in circulation had
dards. According to AC Nielsen, its gross advertising
revenues rose by 20 percent. The response from
readers and advertisers to the luxury supplement
HOW TO SPEND IT was also extremely satisfactory. The supplement will be published six times
annually as from 2004.
Although the business magazines CAPITAL
and IMPULSE were both able to defend their leading market position in their respective segments,
their advertising space sales continued to suffer
from the weak economic situation. With 216,169
sold copies (IVW IV/03) and slight increases in
coverage to 2.1 percent (MA 2003/II) and to 12.2
percent (LAE), CAPITAL retained its position as
the most widely read, classic business magazine
with the highest circulation in Germany. Following
redesign and restructuring in September 2003, it
now has a new look and a broader spectrum of
topics.
a very positive effect on reach which, according to
AWA, showed a disproportionately high increase of
23 percent, bringing the total number of readers to
265,000. According to LAE, readership in the important decision-maker target group showed an
even steeper rise of 44 percent to 92,000 in 2003.
The FTD has succeeded in establishing itself
as one of the leading opinion-shaping media in
Germany. This is also emphasized in a survey
conducted by Medien Tenor, which revealed that
the FTD was the most frequently quoted business
medium in 2003. Numerous awards for good journalism, design and marketing, plus growing advertiser interest, are further confirmation that the
FTD is meeting the high self-imposed quality stan-
In a drive to increase readership, IMPULSE, Germany’s leading magazine for entrepreneurs and medium-sized companies, was also visually revamped
at the end of the year and had its content expanded,
especially on topics of interest to young entrepreneurs and others founding new businesses. A supplement entitled “Gründerzeit” (roughly “Industrial Expansion”), which appeared in the FTD and as
part of IMPULSE, became the magazine with the
highest coverage for this segment in Germany.
BÖRSE ONLINE has also responded to changes
in investors’ needs for information. Its detailed analyses of companies and shares were supplemented
in the summer of 2003 by reports on alternative
forms of investment such as bonds, funds, options
and certificates. The award of the 2003 German prize
for the protection of investors in recognition of its
“practice of critical journalism” is proof that this title
refuses to abandon its clear commitment to quality
journalism even when times are tough.
The SÄCHSISCHE ZEITUNG once again maintained its position as one of Germany’s leading
regional newspapers and operated at a high rate
of profitability. The SZ broke new ground in the
regional newspaper segment by launching a separate Sunday issue in fall of 2003. The share contributed to the overall results by new business fields
also steadily increased. Repair of damage to its
premises in Dresden from the disastrous floods in
the summer of 2002 was completed at considerable
expense.
With signs indicating that the downturn in the
business media segment was bottoming out toward the end of 2003, Gruner + Jahr is now expecting a turnaround in 2004. This will, however,
very much depend on a positive trend in the overall economy. An upswing in business activity, particularly in the financial markets, would create advertising potential from which the G+J titles would
derive above-average benefits due to their leading
market position. Consequently, the company is expecting to see a marked improvement in earnings
from its business publications in 2004. Increased
cooperation and exchange of experience between
all the Group’s national and international business
titles will be key elements in the growth offensive.
The FTD will achieve stable growth and gain greater market shares. The newspapers in Saxony will
improve their market position, both journalistically
and financially.
GRUNER + JAHR 45
46 GRUNER + JAHR
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
CORPORATE DIVISION INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINES
I
GRUNER + JAHR 47
MAGAZINE DIVISION
INTERNATIONAL
Well-established titles and successful concepts form the basis for global organic
growth in the world’s most international publishing house
THE MAGAZINE DIVISION INTERNATIONAL
LAID THE FOUNDATIONS FOR FUTURE GLOBAL
GROWTH with the launch of a large number of mag-
Axel Ganz
President,
Magazine Division
France and USA
azine titles and special issues in 2003: FITNESS
(China), GEOLENOK/GEOFOCUS (Russia), FOCUS
JUNIOR (Italy), GLAMOUR (Poland), SHOPPING/
TELE 2 SEMAINES (France). Although revenues took
a dip – mainly because of the discontinuance of
ROSIE in the USA and the weak dollar – the division
made an above-average contribution to the Group’s
overall earnings with a two-digit return on sales.
The driving force behind the expansion of the
international portfolio in 2003 was France, the second-largest market for Gruner + Jahr after Germany. During the course of the year, Prisma Presse
brought out 41 special issues in connection with
titles such as FEMME ACTUELLE, PRIMA, VSD,
CAPTIAL, CA M´INTERESSE, GALA and CUISINE
ACTUELLE. With the new publication, SHOPPING,
launched in May, it established a new magazine
concept in Europe which was exported during the
subsequent months to other European companies
within the Group, with WOMAN SHOPPING in
Germany and also MARIE CLAIRE SHOPPING
and MIA SHOPPING in Spain. France’s first ever biweekly TV program magazine was launched with
the assistance of a novel program database. Following extremely positive consumer reaction during
test marketing in November, TÉLÉ 2 SEMAINES
was launched nationally in January 2004 and sold
over one million copies from the very start. The rising trend in sales of the subsequent issues makes
this title one of the most successful magazine
launches in many years.
G+J’s big US titles like FITNESS, PARENTS and
CHILD maintained or slightly strengthened their market positions despite keen competition. CHILD was
once again able to report above-average growth of
29 percent in ad pages. The economic revival failed
to have any significant effect on the US magazine
market, which continues to suffer from heavy price
pressure and falling circulation.
Gruner + Jahr had a very satisfactory year in Poland, Europe’s strongest growth market. The launch
of GLAMOUR early in 2003 further enhanced its
leading market position in the women’s segment,
and overall market share expressed as revenues
from ads and sales showed a significant rise from
11.8 to 12.9 percent despite very keen competition.
In Russia, the Group’s leading position in the
popular science magazine segment was further
strengthened by the launch of GEOLENOK, an educational magazine for children and teens, and GEOFOCUS, a popular science title. The Group can report continuing growth in China, where it opened up
a new segment with the launch of FITNESS and enjoys steadily rising revenues. The Chinese edition
of INC. was discontinued at the end of the year because of unsatisfactory circulation and financial prospects.
ties. While the core markets of France and United
States remain under the control of President Axel
Ganz, the Group’s growth markets China, Italy, the
Netherlands, Poland, Russia, Spain and Austria have
been regrouped in a new division under TorstenJörn Klein. Forecasts for 2004 in all countries in
which the Group does business are cautiously optimistic. Regardless of this, Gruner + Jahr is investing
large sums of money to achieve significant growth.
The transfer of well-known magazine titles and successful design concepts to a number of other countries remains a key feature of its growth strategy.
G+J Spain celebrated its 25 th anniversary with
sales well above forecasts and various line extensions of existing titles. It also launched a Portuguese
edition of the parents’ magazine SER PADRES,
which has been on the Spanish market since 1978,
in a cooperation arrangement with Motorpresse in
Lisbon. In Italy, G+J-Mondadori published several
special issues and meticulously planned the launch
of FOCUS JUNIOR, a magazine for children and
teens, scheduled for early 2004.
Gruner + Jahr’ s Dutch subsidiary also looks
back on a successful year 2003. Its team succeeded in bringing the operation out of the red in only
three years.
In January 2004, the Group’s international business was split into two separate divisions, each reporting to its own President. This underscores the
importance G+J attaches to its international activi-
Dr. Torsten-Jörn Klein
President,
Magazine Division
International
as of January 1, 2004
On January 1, 2004 Torsten-Jörn Klein took over
responsibility for all G+J’s international magazine business with the exception of France and
the United States. His territory at present includes the Group’s subsidiary operations in Southern and Eastern Europe, the Netherlands, Austria and Asia. The decision to put responsibility for
these regions in the hands of a single President
underscores the importance attached to growth
markets in G+J’s future business development
plans. Responsibility for France and the United
States at Executive Board level will remain in
the hands of Axel Ganz.
48 GRUNER + JAHR
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
PRINT DIVISION I CENTRAL CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT
Is there a formula for growth in mature markets?
Operational efficiency and cost management combat stronger competitive
pressures plus new contracts in the United States.
Volker Petersen
Managing Director,
Print Division
once again faced strong competitive and price pressure during 2003, the first signs of a market
recovery started to appear during the fourth quarter. New orders acquired by G+J’s German printing
plants at Itzehoe and Dresden more or less compensated for the volume shrinkage, which had been
caused by the slump in advertising and slimmer
magazines. Both facilities continued to run at the
same level of capacity as last year. Gruner + Jahr
succeeded in defending its no. 2 position in the rotogravure sector, implementing a radical cost management program to cushion the effects of persistently high price pressure. The Itzehoe plant
launched an efficiency drive designed to keep it
competitive in the long term.
The Print Division reports good results, especially
from the United States, where the upward trend already evident in 2002 was consolidated during the
year under review. The Brown Printing Company’s
acquisition of the contracts to print the three wellknown US magazines Time, People and Sports Illustrated for Time Inc. has further strengthened its position as the fourth-largest magazine printer in the
world’s largest magazine market. A new rotary press
now on stream at the East Greenville (PA) plant has
increased capacity by 20 percent. The Woodstock
(IL) plant has slashed unit costs even further with
four new high-performance gang stitchers. The US
printing operations maintained their return on sales
and contribution to earnings at last year’s level.
DURING THE COURSE OF 2003, most advertising
Martin Stahel
Member of the
Executive Board,
Corporate Development
markets reported a slightly positive trend – but not so
Germany, however. As a result, Corporate Development has brought forward its intensified analyses
and programs with regard to future profit growth in
existing markets, as well as penetration and development of new markets and new business.
In 2003, Corporate Development (CD) worked
closely with the operating companies to rethink
and restructure Gruner + Jahr’s innovation process.
Acting as an umbrella forum for coordination as
well as an ideas foundry, CD managed the new
WIN (World Class Innovation) Program, which was
founded in 2003. The first, impressive results were not long in coming. The successful introduction
of a number of new titles in most markets proved
that growth is still possible in a saturated market.
The Print Division is expecting the year 2004 to
bring slight volume increases as the market for
printed products gradually recovers. As the US market is generally in better shape, the recovery there
will probably be more pronounced than in Europe.
The beneficial effects of upward market trends during the current year are once again being augmented by cost-management and efficiency programs.
In Europe, Gruner + Jahr is planning to strengthen
its leading position in the rotogravure sector by intensifying cooperation with other market sectors.
GRUNER + JAHR 49
CORPORATE DEVELOPMENT
PRINT DIVISION
ALTHOUGH THE EUROPEAN PRINTING SECTOR
I
Nevertheless, there are indications that the
greater potential for growth in turnover and results
lies in new market segments in Gruner + Jahr core
territories and in new geographic markets. CD spent
the past year working on market risk and opportunity analyses for the operative companies. These
studies not only took into account the level of competition and specific market potential, but also the
social, political and overall economic developments
in the territory.
The threat to “conventional” print media posed
by technological developments, particularly in the
electronic field (e.g. e-paper, online advertising etc.)
– as well as the inherent opportunities – also featured strongly in our work over the past year.
CD pursued a number of interesting acquistion
projects in 2003. We will quite possibly see initial
growth results for Gruner + Jahr arising from this in
2004.
Consolidation of costs and optimizing processes, the so-called CAP Program, is something CD has
been involved in since the beginning of 2001. We
continued our solid work in this area alongside the
newer projects, but CAP grew into such an accepted and active “brand” throughout the whole company that it is now no longer necessary for CD to
play such a large controlling and managing role.
50 GRUNER + JAHR
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
CENTRAL SERVICES
I
GRUNER + JAHR 51
CENTRAL SERVICES
Creation, implementation and marketing of know-how – an internal division as
well as an external services provider
OUR AIM IS TO OPTIMIZE WORK PROCESSES, de-
Dr. Martin Schuster
Member of the
Executive Board,
Central Services
velop shared services, standardize systems and
identify and make use of potential synergies and
opportunities for increasing operating efficiency.
The Central Services Division further enlarged its
portfolio of services in 2003 – in the fields of Human
Resources, Accounting, Corporate Finance, Information Technology, Internal Administration, Paper Procurement and Legal Services. Closer attention was
paid to identifying opportunities for marketing acquired know-how externally instead of confining its
application to the Group’s own operations. The
Business Service Company BSC formed for this purpose (and working a full 40-hour week) has meanwhile acquired a number of external customers who
now use internal Group services in areas such as IT,
facility management and human resources.
Activities during 2003 focused on information
technology. The responsibilities of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) were upgraded to global level
with a brief to develop a new worldwide Group IT
strategy with interfaces to all countries and specialist divisions. An inventory of all G+J’s international IT activities was one of the first steps toward
the creation of a reliable and efficient international
IT infrastructure. Further standardization of systems
was achieved with the installation and startup of
SAP business software in Italy and initiation of an
SAP project in Spain. The Group’s central IT function
already provides over 1,100 SAP users with services,
works for seven foreign subsidiaries and manages
data on 3.5 million subscribers.
In addition to its old-established Management
College and other career development activities,
Human Resources has set up a special development program for upcoming young talent. An Intranet-based self-service portal introduced in 2003
now enables a large portion of G+J staff to retrieve
data such as bank account details, addresses, vacation dates etc. and make amendments to these
themselves. Sport facilities available to G+J staff
have been enlarged to include golf, women’s rowing, “back power” and yoga.
Corporate Finance made further progress on
the integration of internal and external reporting
procedures, and the production of reports has now
been more or less completely automated. Incoming
invoices are registered automatically by a new multifont reading software. An internal accounting academy offering two parallel, two-semester training
courses for accounting staff has been formed.
IT and Internal Administration gave an impressive demonstration of their efficiency when they
successfully installed a new telephone system with
some 3,000 telephones in a single weekend. A customer survey led to the signing of a contract with a
new PC support provider. Other IT projects included
the outsourcing of PC support to an external service company. Internal Administration created an online travel portal capable of handling reservations
and other business travel formalities for company
employees, including the electronic processing of all
approval and other processes.
Central Services Division will continue to expand
its portfolio of services for the company and its
employees during 2004. Projects now in preparation
include systems for electronic and mobile order
processing and modernization of computer work
stations.
Corporate Finance will make a significant contribution toward the improvement of corporate control with the introduction of a new system for preparing the consolidated annual financial statements
and optimizing reporting procedures.
AN ATTRACTIVE
EMPLOYER
Gruner + Jahr is the leading journalistic player in a highly
competitive market. It produces top quality and markets
premium brand names.This makes G+J the top name in the
publishing and media sector for people seeking to make a
career in that field. The fact that it is an attractive employer
makes it essential for G+J to give high priority to the quality of its activities in the areas of recruitment, basic and further training and career development (e.g. the Henri Nannen
School of Journalism, apprentices, trainees, cooperation
with Nordakademie, appraisal interviews, preliminary training periods for school-leavers) in accordance with its creed
‘People and Brands.’
Because the Group attaches such great importance to its
international activities, its objective is to ensure that this
creed is practiced both in Germany and in its other markets
in Europe and overseas.
For more informations about Gruner + Jahr’s activities in this
area, visit www.guj.de
52 GRUNER + JAHR
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
ENVIRONMENT
I
GRUNER + JAHR 53
The Living Elbe
Natural and cultural treasures in Europe’s heartland
54 GRUNER + JAHR
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
THE ANGLERS OF THE SAXONY STATE AGRICULTURAL INSTITUTION landed a big one back in Octo-
ber 2002 – a female salmon 94 centimeters long and
weighing 6.7 kilograms. Along with 23 others of the
same species, she was making her way up the Elbe
River to the stream where she had once hatched.
One of this swarm was making the strenuous journey upriver from the Atlantic for the second time.
That is very unusual because adult salmon normally die after mating and laying their eggs.
The salmon is only one of the creatures making
a spectacular reappearance in this river, which was
formerly polluted with heavy metals and other tox-
Many of the worst industrial polluters, like the Bitterfeld chemical industry, have been closed down.
Even in the river’s upper reaches in the Czech Republic, chemical manufacturers that still pump their
effluent into the river are first treating it in purification plants. The success rate can be expressed in
figures. Heavy metals such as mercury and toxic
chlorinated hydrocarbons have more or less disappeared, and a wide range of fish and invertebrate species are once again flourishing in the river.
The big cleanup has made the river more attractive to the people living on its banks. The First international Elbe Swimmingday organized in July 2002
ENVIRONMENT I
Commerce and culture:
line the banks of
the Elbe between Hamburg’s ultramodern
container port and the
Dresden, the “Florence
of the Elbe”
ing at a height of 1,384 meters in the granite mountains of the Riesengebirge in the Czech Republic at
the confluence of three tiny rivulets issuing from
surrounding peat bogs, the official source of the
Labe (as the Czechs call the Elbe) is marked by a
ring of stones. This is the unspoiled homeland of
the mythical figure Rübezahl, and was declared a
national park in 1963 – seven years before Germany’s first national park in the Bavarian Forest.
On the Czech-German frontier, the river cuts
through the picturesque Elbsandstein mountain
range. During the course of 100 million years, the
river has gradually eaten its way through the 150
GRUNER + JAHR 55
22,000 free-standing oak trees. This is the only place
where the beaver, once native to the whole of central
Europe, has survived, and it is the nursery for several species recolonization projects in other parts of
Germany.
Here, at the former frontier between Eastern
and Western Europe, Nature has been able to retain much of its charm and character. Along the
line where ideological differences separated the
human population for more than 40 years, the Elbe
functioned as a natural border and did not degenerate into the tamed waterway that it often became
elsewhere.
“Gruner + Jahr
contributes
toward preserving, cultivating and
carefully developing the
natural and cultural treasures
of the Elbe,
from source
to mouth and
without regard to national borders.”
ic substances. Biologists are now frequently reporting freshwater lampreys, loach and even sea
trout in the Elbe tributaries in Saxony and SaxonyAnhalt. “There are now 94 species splashing around
in the Elbe,” rejoices Heinrich Reinecke, the Head
of the Committee for Prevention of Elbe Pollution.
“That’s more than in the Rhine.” This is an indication that the river is once again biologically intact.
It’s also something of a miracle since this eastwest flowing river has long been regarded as Europe’s biggest sewer. More than 200 sewage treatment plants now stand on the banks of the Elbe.
by Gruner + Jahr and the German Environmental Aid
Organization was a huge success. Over 80,000
friends of the river celebrated the Elbe’s recovery at
55 locations in the Czech Republic and Germany.
More than 5,000 swimmers plunged into the cool
river water. This was an encouraging experience for
Roberto Epple, one of the event’s main organizers:
“If you love something, you protect it.”
And there is certainly plenty to protect. From its
source in the Czech Republic to its mouth at Cuxhaven, the Elbe flows through no less than five
national parks and one biosphere reserve. Originat-
Fish are biting again:
Salmon and other
species are back in the
Elbe – thanks to
intensive efforts to improve the quality
of the river’s water
million-year-old sediments of the Jurassic Sea. Two
Swiss painters, who worked there 200 years ago,
gave it its present nickname – Bohemian-Saxon
Switzerland. The painter Caspar-David Friedrich also found innumerable motifs in the region’s steep
rock faces, limestone ridges and deep canyons.
The “Flusslandschaft Elbe” biosphere reserve on
the border between Saxony and Lauenburg in Schleswig-Holstein is a veritable jewel of nature. A’ UNESCO World Heritage Site, it covers an area seven
times as large as Lake Constance and includes features such as Europe’s largest alluvial forest and
The disastrous floods along the Elbe and its
tributaries in the summer of 2002 once again demonstrated that rivers today need broader flood
plains than was formerly the case. At the bend in the
river nicknamed the Evil Place near the small town
of Lenzen in Brandenburg, thousands of sandbags
lying on the dike bear silent witness to the
Herculean efforts of the hundreds of volunteers
who saved the local population from the flood waters. To prevent it happening again, there are now
plans to rededicate an area of 450 hectares of the
river’s former flood plain. A new, seven-kilometer
Angelika Jahr-Stilcken,
Member of the Executive
Board, Gruner + Jahr
56 GRUNER + JAHR
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
overflow dike is being erected farther away from the
river and the old dike is being breached at six points
to allow the annual floodwaters to spread out without causing damage. 400,000 oaks, elms and alders
will be planted on the new flood plain to restore the
alluvial forest that existed here until just 300 years
ago. “It’s a sort of pilot project,” emphasizes Tim
Schwarzenberger, who is in charge of the reforestation. “It will be an opportunity to demonstrate
that nature preservation, flood protection and revival of tourism can get along very well together.”
The people of Dresden know all about the dangers of flooding. The inhabitants of “Florence on the
Elbe” have taken great pains not to squeeze their
river into a tight corset. Dresden’s Elbe meadows
are unique in Europe – a largely undeveloped flood
plain 35 kilometers long that is flooded when high
water comes. The meadows are a favorite recreation area for the people of Dresden and the habitat
of rare species such as the corncrake, kingfisher and
black kite.
But it is not just the Elbe’s spectacular natural
scenery that is worth discovering. Whole chapters
of the world’s history have been written in towns
lying on this 1,091-kilometer river running through
ENVIRONMENT
Europe’s heartland. It was here that significant social, cultural and architectural changes were born.
Martin Luther triggered the Reformation when he
stuck his theses on the doors of Wittenberg’s
Castle Church in 1517. The Luther Memorial in Wittenberg was officially recognized as the authentic scene of the Reformation and a cultural heritage of the human race by UNESCO in 1996 – as is
the Bauhaus in Dessau, erected by Walter Gropius
in 1925 and the symbol of the Bauhaus school of
architecture, which introduced revolutionary ideas
in architecture and urban planning between 1919
and 1933.
Another visionary creation on the banks of the
Elbe is Hamburg’s Speicherstadt, erected toward
the end of the 19th century near the city’s then new
free port. Its seven-story, red-brick, neo-Gothic
buildings remain the largest contiguous warehouse
complex in the world. Like its source, the mouth of
the Elbe is embedded in nature reserves.Here, the
water from this great European river disperses into the North German coastal flats and the North Sea.
The mouth of the Elbe is where the adult salmon collect to start their arduous journey back to the streams
where they were born.
I
GRUNER + JAHR 57
“ELBE – WORLD HERITAGE STATUS IS A MUST”
An interview with Prof. Bernd von Droste zu Hülshoff
G+J launched the Living Elbe project together with the German
Environmental Aid
Organization in 1987. It
supports a network
of more than 400 active
environmental organizations along the Elbe
River and has developed a plan for conservation of the river
from its source to its
mouth. The long-term
aim is to have parts
of the Elbe valley’s unique areas of natural
scenic beauty included
in UNESCO’s World
Heritage Register.
Nature prevails intact
along several
stretches of the Elbe
Professor Bernd von
Droste zu Hülshoff
was the first Director
of the UNESCO’s
World Cultural Heritage
Center in Paris and
now works for UNESCO
as an adviser on world
heritage
A wealth of significant natural and
cultural treasures are to be found
along the banks of the Elbe. How
can they be protected as effectively
as possible?
International conventions and programs already provide protection
for a number of outstanding natural features as wetlands, biosphere
reserves and, in a few exceptional
cases, “world heritage sites.“ This
kaleidoscope of different terms for
natural areas requiring preservation, all with different legal interpretations and degrees of protection, highlights the need for an
integrated nature conservation system for the whole Elbe valley consisting of nature reserves and interlocking areas. This would create
a protected area along the whole
length of the Elbe, in which the
places identified as part of our
world heritage would stand out like
glittering pearls in a long chain.
How will the recognition of certain
areas by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention help?
Recognition by the UNESCO World
Heritage Convention often has a
magnetic effect on tourism. But
even more important is that the
international community actually
ensures that the heritage is protected and cared for, so that important natural and cultural assets are
preserved for future generations.
Many signatory states of the World
Heritage Convention seek to polish
their international image by doing
exemplary work to preserve their
natural and cultural heritage. Experience has shown that pressure
from international media and the
so-called “reputation factor” are
highly efficient tools for preserving
world heritage. For example, the
authorities behind a massive building project planned in Potsdam,
which would have adversely affected the Palace of Sanssouci, relented at the last minute in order to
avoid being put on the World Heritage’s “Red List.”
The First international Elbe Swimmingday received an enthusiastic
welcome from the population. How
can the people living along the
banks of the Elbe be more closely involved in the preservation and care
of the Elbe valley?
The First international Elbe Swimmingday certainly confirmed the
close bond existing between the
riverside population and their river,
and also that the strong support for
an unspoiled Elbe River is producing a better quality of life. But public
appreciation of the importance of
maintaining or regenerating ecological systems in the Elbe’s catchment area as a crucial feature of
plans for protection against flooding and as a long-term investment
is still too low. A lot of educational
and sensitization input will be needed in order to project the image of
a living Elbe as one of Europe’s few
remaining unspoiled rivers – not
just locally, but also at the national, European and international
level. One crucial requirement is to
achieve a high degree of environmental awareness and commitment to the care of natural assets
among younger generations. They
will have to be educated to become
tomorrow’s protectors of our world
heritage.
Parts of the valleys of some of Europe’s great rivers such as the
Danube, the Rhine and the Loire are
already on the world heritage list.
What has to be done to get the Elbe
included?
The listed regions are invariably
sections of a far longer river valley.
The problem is that areas of scenic
beauty in river valleys normally lie
along a long corridor in which a
whole host of players, especially
municipalities, are involved, and
may also cross state or national
frontiers. The natural reserve systems urgently need to network and
integrate their efforts. All of the
political instances, from local up to
national level, must pull together.
What financial impetus can a UNESCO commendation bring?
It can upgrade a region considerably. Many tourist organizations
specialize in marketing UNESCO
World Heritage regions with special offers for tourists seeking unique travel destinations. The Elbe
valley could obtain synergistic benefits from its blend of UNESCO
Cultural Heritage features and natural scenic beauty. This would attract and form durable links with
people interested in both culture
and regions of natural beauty.
Could recognition of an area as
part of World Heritage have spinoff effects on neighboring areas?
The case of the Dessau-Wörlitz garden landscape demonstrates how
World Heritage can make a crucial
contribution to a region’s development. Culturally and ecologically
sensitive tourism can help create
secure jobs and incomes in a place
recognized by the World Heritage
Convention, thus benefiting the
whole region.
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ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT 2003
I
ENVIRONMENTALLY CONSCIOUS OPERATION is
a key corporate principle at G+J. The G+J management approved a corporate environment policy back
in 1991. This called for separate waste collection and
recycling/disposal facilities, the use of environmentally compatible and non-injurious office materials
and economical use of energy and water resources.
ENVIRONMENTAL
COMMITMENT AT G+J
How Gruner + Jahr helps protect the environment:
with the economical use of precious resources as well as
targeted campaigns and projects
The G+J printing plants at Itzehoe and Dresden
work to the highest technical and ecological standards. They are as efficient as possible in their consumption of energy, paper and ink. Gruner Druck in
Itzehoe was the first printing operation in Germany
to introduce integrated quality and environmental management. Quality and environmental audits
based on the international DIN EN ISO 9.001 and
14.001 norms were performed and a process-oriented management system designed. This means
that all stages in the work flow are designed to conform to the norm requirements. Members of the
company’s staff do not have to worry about whether they are complying with the norms in their everyday work because they do this automatically when
following standard procedures.
PAPER Paper is an important raw material for a
printing and publishing house like G+J. The paper
used for printing must be manufactured to the
most stringent environmental standards. These include the use of wood pulp obtained from companies practicing regenerative forest management,
environmentally compatible cellulose and paper
manufacturing processes, environmentally compatible printing inks, and paper recycling. No wood from
forests worthy of preservation may be used in the
manufacture of paper for G+J.
Together with other German publishers and
paper manufacturers, G+J has drafted certification
criteria for ecological forest management. As a member of the VDZ Environmental Work Committee,
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ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT 2003
G+J supports and sponsors communication and
regional coordination between economic, ecological and social interest groups on matters relating
to definition of the degree of protection needed by
forests. For ecological reasons, all G+J’s German
magazines are printed on chlorine-free bleached
paper. The wastepaper content of our magazines
has now reached levels ranging from 15 percent
(e.g. STERN) to 33 percent (GEO). G+J newspapers
are printed on paper produced entirely from recycled
wastepaper.
INITIATIVES The environment is also a prominent
theme in G+J magazines and newspapers. Articles
in STERN, GEO, BRIGITTE and ELTERN uncover environmental scandals, support campaigns and give
tips for protecting the environment. Business magazines like CAPITAL and IMPULSE promote outstanding environmental innovations in the business
world. “Eco funds: not just for the sneaker-wearing
set” – was the title of an article in the FINANCIAL
TIMES DEUTSCHLAND. G+J magazines and newspapers are constantly launching campaigns encouraging readers to support ecological projects.
One shining example of this was the “GEO Protects the Rain Forest” initiative, which has helped
to found or sponsor just under 50 environmental
protection and development projects in the tropics
since its launch in1989. With the slogan “GEO helps
the bean,” the association organized the import and
sale of wild coffee from the Ethiopian Highlands, the
coffee plant’s natural habitat. This helped to make
the harvesting of wild coffee beans profitable once
again for farmers in the province of Kaffa and to preserve the variety of plant species in the wilds of
Ethiopia.
It is spreading to many other countries as the
company expands internationally and exports its
magazine titles. G+J gives financial support to the
Natural Resources Defense Council (America’s
largest nature preservation association) in the United States. The Italian magazine FOCUS has been co-
I
operating with the private nature conservation association Legambiente since 2002 in a campaign for
clean seaside resorts. FOCUS paid for the production and circulation of several thousand posters to
municipalities and supported Clean Beach campaigns with reports and appeals to the public to recommend extremely clean beaches and denounce
dirty ones.
NATURE ON YOUR DOORSTEP G+J, which pro-
duces some of its magazines and newspapers in
Hamburg and Dresden, both cities situated on the
Elbe River, has a strong commitment to this great
European river and the people living on its banks.
The Living Elbe project launched jointly by Gruner
+ Jahr and the German Environmental AId Association in 1997 has developed a comprehensive
plan for the preservation of the river and its valley
from its source in the Czech Republic to its mouth
at the North Sea. The project supports more than
400 environmental organizations working in various
regions along the river and promotes interest in
the Elbe valley amongst children with its “Schools
for a Living Elbe” campaign. Children at over 200
schools are now testing water quality, preparing reports on pollutants and investigating how the land
bordering on the river is used.
The “GEO Day of Species Diversity” founded in
1999 is now an established institution. It is a project
for exploring Nature on one’s own doorstep. Now
the largest field research undertaking in Europe, it
involves tens of thousands of experts and laymen
who set out each year on the first weekend in June
to catalog the fauna and flora they find in streams,
meadows and woods. The project aims to bridge
the gap frequently existing among the general public between interest in the environment on the one
hand and lack of knowledge of the plant and animal
kingdoms on the other. It represents an important
step toward eradicating the misconception that
there is no longer anything of natural interest or
beauty to be discovered in central Europe.
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CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT 2003 I
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY
REPORT 2003
How Gruner + Jahr takes the initiative with many projects when it comes to social,
cultural and ecological issues and sponsors art, science and young talent.
ACCEPTANCE OF SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Gruner + Jahr’s magazines inform, entertain and fascinate the public. They also stand for top-quality journalism. As an internationally active publisher, we
make a significant contribution to public debate and
to the formation of global public opinion. Consequently, we wholeheartedly recognize the need to
complement our entrepreneurial objectives with active social responsibility. First and foremost in this
regard come our staff because they are the key to
our success. Next comes our concern for the future
of the human race and the need to promote a dialog with the public. Modern environmental management, social commitment and the sponsorship of
art, culture and photography are important facets of
the G+J corporate culture.
Gruner + Jahr’s exhibitions are a valuable contribution to cultural life, with an impact extending far beyond the borders of Hamburg. Over 60,000 people
visit the G+J Press Building on Hamburg’s Baumwall each year to see international exhibitions like
the German premiere of the World Press Photo
Awards (an event organized jointly by STERN,
GEO and Deutsche Bahn) and the “ausgezeichnet”
(Award Winners) exhibition. This displays the work
of upcoming young talent that has won awards
like the BFF (Association of Freelance Photographic
Designers) prize, the Reinhart Wolf prize and the
Kodak prize for young photographers.
Popular with the public: Crowds flock to the G+Jexhibitions
Winner: Stefan Willeke (Die Zeit) is presented with
the Erwin Egon Kisch Prize 2003
Gruner + Jahr and the Hamburg Association of
Friends of Photography also organize viewings of
the portfolios of young photographers twice a year.
Literature Prize, awarded every two years by BRIGITTE magazine, is another prize dedicated to the
power of the written word. (Winners of this competition for German short-story writers include Doris
Dörrie, Christiane Krause and Markus Ramsmeier.)
CULTURAL DIVERSITY
G+J makes an active contribution toward the diversity of Hamburg’s cultural scene. In addition to supporting the International House of Photography, the
company has also been sponsor of the Hamburg
State Opera and the German Music Foundation for
many years. Backing is also given to a number of
small neighborhood art projects and to the activities
of the Hamburg Cultural Foundation.
SPONSORSHIP OF YOUNG TALENT.
SPONSORSHIP OF ART, CULTURE AND PHOTOGRAPHY
“As Europe’s largest magazine publishing house,
we are dedicated to sponsoring quality photography. Our magazines STERN and GEO stand for
the continuing significance and power of the photo throughout the world,” declared Bernd Kundrun,
President and CEO of Gruner + Jahr, at the German
premiere of World Press Photo.
Gruner + Jahr attaches particular importance to
sponsoring upcoming young photographic talent.
The publishing house supplemented the photographs regularly displayed in the foyer of the G+J
building in 1998 by the opening of Galerie 11, and
has been providing this platform for experimental
artistic photography by young photographers for
six years now. Exhibitions here such as Automaton
Pictures by photographic artist Jan Wenzel and
Freckles Portraits by Michael Neugebauer have
aroused great interest.
ART OF AUTHORSHIP
G+J magazines have founded a host of valuable prizes and writers’ competitions. The spotlight switches once a year to journalistic reporting when
STERN’s Egon Erwin Kisch Prize is awarded. This
prize is Germany’s most celebrated journalistic
award and commemorates the reporter of that
name who once worked for STERN. Hundreds of
newspaper and magazine journalists compete for
the coveted prize every year. The Bettina von Arnim
SCIENCE AND EDUCATION
The women’s magazine BRIGITTE founded the IT
Academy for Women in 2001 with a view to improving women’s opportunities on the labor market. The academy provides IT courses for beginners and also women in and out of employment
seeking to improve their basic knowledge of IT
and test their potential for a career in one of the jobs
in this new field. The IT Academy for Women now
has a German national network of 36 training establishments offering a total of over 130 courses.
The IT Academy for Women is a joint initiative
with Siegen Technology Center. It receives financial support from the North-Rhine-Westphalian
Economics Ministry.
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CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT 2003 I
Courage to oppose right-wing violence: Families
minister Schmidt supports the STERN campaign
Christmas bazaar: G+J boss Bernd Kundrun hands
over the proceeds
UNICEF photo of the year: Patron Christina Rau chats
with other exhibition visitors
Service: A jointly produced magazine for the blind is
published biweekly
YOUTH RESEARCHES
ENABLING THE BLIND TO READ
“Youth researches,” an idea born by STERN, has developed into the biggest scientific and technological competition in Europe. Following the project’s
great success and the impressive scientific results
emerging from it, the nonprofit foundation Jugend
forscht e.V. was founded in 1975. The prize is awarded for unusual work, for example, a solar-powered
Walkman, a digital watchdog for computers, and an
adhesive containing no solvents in 2003. The Federal German Ministries of Education and Science
and Research and Technology are involved in this
STERN initiative, together with a large number of industrial sponsors.
Through its STERN magazine, Gruner + Jahr has
been engaged in work to help blind and partially
blind persons for nearly 40 years. Henri Nannen and
Gerd Bucerius together developed a magazine for
the blind in 1968. This has since been used in a nonprofit project under which selected articles from
STERN and the Zeit newspaper appear in a 52page magazine published at 14-day intervals and
circulated to some 2,500 blind and partially blind
readers, and also to several institutions for the
blind. BRIGITTE and GEO now also produce publications for the blind. BRIGITTE has all the texts
translated into Braille and circulates them either
by e-mail or floppy disk. These can either be converted into Braille dots with a special PC keyboard
or read out loud electronically. The “Taped Newspaper for the Blind” campaign produces a monthly
audio issue of GEO magazine.
winning entries in this international competition are
photographs forcefully depicting the circumstances in which some children live. Gruner + Jahr also
gives assistance to people closer to home. An initiative entitled “Silver Lining – People Help People”
was launched in 1996 by the SÄCHSISCHE ZEITUNG and converted into a foundation in 2003.
Working with over 330 charitable organizations,
this foundation now helps deserving cases in the
state of Saxony, especially victims of violence, handicapped and mentally or chronically ill persons.
sponsors international youth exchanges with its
Come on! project. Children of G+J employees can
spend a summer as guests of a family in France,
Italy, Spain, Poland, Russia, the United States or
Germany, learn the language and experience the
local culture while interacting with the local children. G+J also sponsors transatlantic dialog between journalists by giving financial support to
the Arthur F. Burns journalist exchange program.
The work of G+J’s US employees deserves special mention at international level. They go once
weekly to a primary school in Manhattan, where
they teach dyslexic children. Another example,
from the French Gruner + Jahr subsidiary, Prisma
Presse, is its sponsorship of the association “A
chacun son Everest,” which organizes adventure
tours in the mountains for children with cancer,
with both financial donations and reports publicizing the association’s activities.
THE FIGHT AGAINST XENOPHOBIA
Reacting to the worrying increase in neo-Nazi activities in Germany, STERN magazine launched the
campaign “Mut gegen rechte Gewalt” (roughly
“Courage to Oppose Rightwing Violence”) to combat hate, discrimination, racism and intolerance.
One very effective pilot project organized in connection with this campaign is EXIT, which provides
individual assistance and advice to people wishing to terminate their association with neo-Nazi and
other rightwing groups and organizations.
CHARITABLE DONATIONS
In addition to its nonprofit projects, Gruner + Jahr
makes charitable donations and publishes fundraising advertisements. Its staff also takes social responsibility very seriously. The proceeds from the
Christmas bazaar organized by staff members have
gone to Hamburg charities for the last 25 years.
HELPING PEOPLE
Ever since its launch in 1996, GEOLINO has published a monthly report publicizing UNICEF’s work.
The UNICEF Photo of the Year competition was also
sponsored by GEOLINO in 2001 and 2002, and the
sponsorship was taken over by GEO in 2003. The
AN INTERNATIONALLY ACTIVE ORGANIZATION
HAS OBLIGATIONS
In order to enable young people to experience the
benefits of international contacts, Gruner + Jahr
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CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT 2003 I
GRUNER + JAHR 67
THE POWER OF
IMAGES
How Gruner + Jahr became an
acknowledged institution for a host
of art and photo exhibitions at
its Press Building on Baumwall
An icon for the year 2003: This photo, taken in Iraq by Jean-Marc Bouju, won the World Press Photo Award
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT 2003 I
PHOTOGRAPHS ARE AN INTEGRAL PART OF RUTH
EICHHORN’S LIFE. But an assignment involving the
inspection and evaluation of some 23,000 photographs in the space of five days and selecting the
best of them was a little unusual even for her, the
Chief Photographic Editor of the GEO family of
magazines. “It was an emotional roller coaster ride,”
says Ruth, who was appointed a member of the
World Press Photo jury for the first time this year.
World Press Photo is the biggest and most prestigious prize awarded for photographic journalism
anywhere in the world. What the nine-member,
international jury of photographers, picture editors
and agency representatives gets to see and adjudicate does not always depict the world’s prettiest
side. There are plenty of pictures of war and conflict,
of injured, dead and mutilated people, which are
redolent of misery, pain, despair and hopelessness.
“Pictures that sometimes make me want to close
my eyes,” says Ruth. Actually, the jurors only get to
see about one third of the 63,000 or so entries.
40,000 fail to pass the initial screening by a preliminary jury, which sets high standards of technical
perfection, composition and news relevance.
The countdown is on: The exhibition team has just two days to get all 200 photos of the World Press Photo Awards hung
The object of the prize, which has been awarded
for the last 47 years, is to acknowledge the work of
professional press photographers and also to give
encouragement to upcoming young talent. Gruner
+ Jahr has been supporting the work of World Press
Photo in Germany for the past ten years. Photography is one of the focal points of the exhibitions
organized and staged by Gruner + Jahr, which cooperates on the projects with a number of its magazines (STERN, GEO etc.). The projects include not
only World Press Photo, but also the BFF and Reinhart Wolff Prizes, as well as exhibitions of the work
of young photographers in the so-called Galerie 11.
The World Press Photo prizes regularly awarded
to STERN and GEO are ample proof of the high
photographic standards set by these magazines.
Peter Bialobrzeski’s series Megacities of Asia took
away first prize in the Art and Entertainment category in 2003. Pictures from this series were published in the GEO report entitled The Turbo-Cities.
Also published in GEO was Horst Wackerbarth’s
photo The Red Couch: Tourist Guide Klara Sigurdottir, which won 3rd prize in the Art and Entertainment category.
GRUNER + JAHR 69
EXHIBITIONS AT THE
PRESS BUILDING ON
BAUMWALL
(SELECTION)
A MAGIC WEB –
THE FOREST OF
BARRO COLORADO
Photographs by
Christian Ziegler
Galerie 11
AUTOMATON PICTURES
Photographs by Jan
Wenzel, Galerie 11
WORLD PRESS
PHOTO 2002
FRECKLES
Photographs by
Michael Neugebauer
Galerie 11
THE MAGIC OF THE
COUCH. INSIGHTS
INTO THE HOLY OF
HOLIES OF PSYCHOANALYSIS
Photographs by
Claudia Guderian
Galerie 11
“TELL ME ABOUT
LIFE”
A BRIGITTE exhibition with photographs by Ilse Thoma
IN THE GARDEN
Photographs by
Ulrike Thiele
Galerie 11
FUTURE ONE
Photographs by
Marcus Höhn
Galerie 11
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Naked misery: The World
Press Photo exhibition
includes some heartrending
pictures. Foreground: A
street kid in Mongolia (photo:
Jacob Ehrbahn)
ANNUAL REPORT 2003
CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY REPORT 2003 I
While the jurors were burning the midnight oil
discussing the photographs in Amsterdam at the
end of February, preparations for the big premiere
of World Press Photo Award were getting underway
in Hamburg. This premiere is traditionally held in
Germany at the Gruner + Jahr Press Building on
Hamburg’s Baumwall toward the end of April and
is regularly attended by up to 1,000 invited guests.
Painters, sound and light technicians, decorators,
security officers and, of course, caterers have to be
briefed and coordinated. The team responsible for
the exhibition also has to send out invitations, hold
meetings with sponsors and make preparations for
the press conference. But the most difficult bit has
still to come. Two days before the opening of the
exhibition, the prizewinning photos arrive in Hamburg by airfreight, all framed and packed in special
crates. Along with a representative of World Press
Photo, the Gruner + Jahr setup team sets to work
on hanging them. No easy task when you have
some 200 photos in a variety of formats and classified into nine often widely divergent categories
like Hard Facts, Everyday Life, Nature, and Art and
Entertainment. Can pictures of the war in Liberia be
placed next to pictures from the world of sport? Can
you hang black-and-white next to color photos?
“If you place the pictures correctly, it’s like taking the
visitor by the hand and leading him through the exhibition,” Karen Fromm explains. She speaks from experience. The pictures are hung at an average height
of 1.65 meters in such a way that the viewer’s gaze
wanders from left to right. “It’s like reading,” she
adds. The visitor’s eyes are skillfully steered toward
certain highlights of the exhibition. Before going up
on the wall, the pictures are propped against the
screens, shifted around and rearranged time and
again. By the time the two curators are satisfied, it
is getting close to midnight.
Work starts at the crack of dawn on the day of
the premiere. Steeplejacks affix a 9 x 7-meter poster announcing the exhibition to the wall of the
Press Building facing the river. Fifty journalists
and four camera teams come to the morning press
conference. The catering service starts delivering
food and drink from midday onward. By the end of
the evening, the guests will have consumed around
5,000 snacks, 450 liters of water, 200 liters of
orange juice and about the same quantity each of
beer and wine. Rearrangement of the furniture
and decoration of the foyer begins during the afternoon. At the last minute, a snap decision is made
to remove the floral decorations. “The lush bouquets seem out of place when you look at some of
these horrifying pictures.” The first guests arrive at
7 p.m. Ruth Eichhorn is among them.
Had it been her decision, another photo would
probably have won. The winner at World Press Photo, taken in southern Iraq by French photographer
Jean-Marc Bouju, shows an Iraqi prisoner of war
with a sack over his head behind barbed wire,
comforting his four-year-old son.Yet Ruth Eichhorn
backs the jury’s decision since the important thing
at World Press Photo is the picture’s significance
to the observer. “The winner is an icon for the year
2003. A picture that sticks in people’s minds.”
Attracted great attention: This year’s winner, Jean-Marc Bouju (right), in an interview with TV channel ZDF
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AWARD WINNERS
14th BFF (Association
of Freelance Photographic Designers)
Prize, Reinhart Wolf
Prize and 15th Kodak
Young Talent Award
MULTIPLE 216
Photographs by
Christoph Siegert
Galerie 11
WORLD PRESS
PHOTO 2003
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
GLOBAL BALANCE SHEET
PROFIT AND LOSS STATEMENT
as of December 31, 2003
January 1, 2003 to December 31, 2003
ASSETS (EUR ‘000)
12/31/2003
12/31/2002
(EUR ‘000)
Intangible assets
261,619
408,619
Sales revenues
Tangible assets
614,219
662,287
Changes in inventories
47,059
50,563
Other operating income
922,897
1,121,469
Financial assets
Fixed assets
Inventories
Trade receivables
2003
I
GRUNER + JAHR 73
2002
2,480,702
2,806,950
409
4,245
85,392
119,145
2,566,503
2,930,340
80,206
91,133
287,968
329,853
Raw materials, consumables and supplies
-802,168
-927,587
Amounts due from affiliated undertakings
177,468
301,778
Personnel expenses
-763,586
-847,816
Other assets
200,342
160,152
Amortization/Depreciation of intangible and tangible assets
-187,114
-255,036
Other operating expenses
-697,820
-819,465
51,469
184,976
167,284
265,412
Liquid funds
Current assets
Deferred taxation
Deferred expenses
96,110
50,703
842,094
933,619
13,278
12,730
8,627
10,062
1,786,896
2,077,880
Profit/loss on disposal of fixed assets
Operating profit
Profit/loss (-) of affiliated undertakings
Share of profit/loss (-) from joint ventures and associated undertakings
Profit before interest and taxes
LIABILITIES (EUR ‘000)
Partners’ shares, Subscribed capital
Retained earnings
12/31/2003
77,307
Net interest
-40,320
-62,382
Taxes on income
-48,362
-58,026
Net profit (before deduction of minority interests)
92,933
125,945
-53,884
131,547
Tax accruals
62,159
104,415
Minority interests
-13,055
22,754
227,945
235,962
Net earnings for the year
79,878
148,699
40,903
40,903
551,390
532,367
1,671
13,960
Other accruals
177,788
195,915
Accruals
730,849
742,242
10,504
7,093
Leasing liabilities
132,575
137,931
Trade payables
199,142
195,003
Amounts due to affiliated undertakings
206,538
441,083
98,595
123,541
647,354
904,651
10,356
15,229
Liabilities to financial institutions
Other liabilities
Liabilities
Deferred taxation
Deferred income
246,353
108,124
-25,661
Accruals for pensions and similar obligations
181,615
77,307
165,786
Preferred stock
-9,695
114,140
Shareholders’ equity (not incl. minority interests)
Shareholders’ equity (incl. minority interests)
-9,364
12/31/2002
Net loss for the year
Minority interests
3,313
11,018
129,489
1,786,896
138,893
2,077,880
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ANNUAL REPORT 2003
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
GRUNER + JAHR IN FIGURES
Magazines – Newspapers – Printing facilities
(EUR ‘000 000)
2003
Sales revenue
2,481
2002
2,807
Operating EBITA
238
233
Cash flow1)
236
253
1,787
2,078
228
236
Total assets
Capital stock (after deduction of minority interests)
Loan capital
1,559
1,842
Fixed assets
923
1,121
Current assets
864
957
Personnel expenses
764
848
11,352
11,862
Employees on balance sheet date 2)
1) calculated by the DVFA/SG method
2) new method of calculation as from 2003, comparative figures shown for 2002
NOTES TO THE GLOBAL FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
AS OF DECEMBER 31, 2003
LEGAL BACKGROUND
Bertelsmann AG owns majority interests in Gruner + Jahr AG & Co KG
and Druck- und Verlagshaus Gruner + Jahr AG of Itzehoe (Gruner + Jahr
AG), and these companies and their subsidiaries are included in Bertelsmann’s consolidated annual financial statements. Gruner + Jahr AG
is the managing general partner in Gruner + Jahr AG & Co KG with a
two percent interest in that partnership. Gruner + Jahr AG possesses the
powers of direction, in particular for the Gruner + Jahr Group’s foreign
printing and publishing activities, which are for legal purposes largely assigned to the shareholders. Although no legal obligation exists, the joint
parent company Gruner + Jahr AG & Co KG and Gruner + Jahr AG voluntarily draw up global financial statements for the Gruner + Jahr Group,
in which its German and foreign subsidiaries are included.
The global balance sheet and global income statement of the Gruner +
Jahr Group for the fiscal year from January 1,to December 31, 2003 have
been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and with the interpretations issued by the Standard Interpretations Committee/International Financial Reporting Interpretations
Committee (SIC/IFRIC) of the IASB.
There is a statement of changes in equity as of December 31, 2003. The
notes to the consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2003
do not however contain all the data required by IFRS. Nor has any cash
flow statement been prepared. Consequently, the global financial statements of the Gruner + Jahr Group do not fully comply with IFRS.
The fiscal year is identical with the calendar year and runs in the present case from January 1 to December 31, 2003. The global financial
statements are presented in Euro rounded off to the nearest thousand
Euro (€‘000). For greater clarity, individual items have been summarized
in the balance sheet and income statement presentations. These items
are analyzed and explained in greater detail in the notes to the financial
statements.
The total cost procedure has been used in the break-down of the income
statement. Profits and losses resulting from the sale of subsidiary undertakings are significant items and are consequently shown separately.
CONSOLIDATION
PRINCIPLES USED IN THE CONSOLIDATION
All significant subsidiary undertakings directly or indirectly controlled by
Gruner + Jahr AG and Gruner + Jahr AG & Co KG as defined in IAS 27
are included in the consolidated financial statements. Joint ventures as
defined in IAS 31 are consolidated proportionately to the interest held in
them. Significant associated companies are carried in the balance sheet
at values determined by the equity method as stipulated in IAS 28 in those cases where significant influence can be exerted. This is normally the
case when between 20 and 50 percent of the voting rights are held.
Uniform accounting and valuation methods are used in the preparation
of the financial statements of the parent company Gruner + Jahr AG &
Co KG and Gruner + Jahr AG and the subsidiary undertakings included
in the consolidation.
The acquisition method is used for capital consolidation. This offsets the
cost of acquisition of the interest in a company against the share of
the equity acquired. Allowance is made for deferred taxation on hidden
reserves and charges revealed at the time of first consolidation except
in cases where the relevant tax payments or refunds are made at the time
of their revelation. Any remaining positive difference between acquisition cost and current asset value is capitalized as goodwill and amortized
by the straight-line method over its assumed useful life. Hidden reserves
and charges revealed at the time of first consolidation are written down
or written back in subsequent fiscal years in accordance with the treatment of the relevant assets and liabilities. Negative differences not resulting from anticipated losses are written back over a scheduled period in
accordance with the provisions of IAS 22. The same principles are used for
the capital consolidation of partially consolidated undertakings.
Associated undertakings valued by the equity method are carried at the
proportion of the equity owned in them. The principles used for fully consolidated companies are used for the calculation of differences between
acquisition cost and value of the equity share held. Losses on associated
undertakings in excess of the book value of the relevant shareholding are
not shown unless there is an obligation to make an additional contribution.
All intra-group profits and losses, sales revenues, expenses, earnings, accounts receivable and payable and accruals in the accounts of the companies included in the consolidation are eliminated. The same principles are
used proportionately in the case of partially consolidated undertakings.
Interim results from the supply of goods and services between the companies included in the consolidation have been ignored because they are
of only minor significance for the Group’s net worth, earnings and financial
situation and the calculation of the relevant values would have involved
disproportionately high expense.
COMPANIES INCLUDED IN THE CONSOLIDATION
88 companies (including the parent companies) have been fully consolidated (prior year: 90).
All except 30 (prior year: 28) affiliated German and foreign companies
have been included in the consolidation. The companies not included have
no significant business activities and have been excluded from the global financial statements because they are as a whole of only minor importance for the group’s net worth, earnings and financial situation.
There were the following changes in the companies included in the consolidation during the fiscal year under review:
Included on December 31, 2002
Additions
Disposals
Included on December 31, 2003
German
57
4
4
57
Foreign
33
3
5
31
Total
90
7
9
88
The percentage interests held in 2 (prior year: 2) joint ventures are included in the consolidated financial statements. Of the 15 (prior year: 25)
associated companies included, 9 (prior year: 11) are carried at the value
determined by the equity method. The remaining ones are of only minor
importance and are carried in the consolidated financial statements at
acquisition cost.
The annual financial statements of the fully consolidated companies
have been examined by the appointed auditors in accordance with
the auditing principles applying in the relevant countries. Audit certificates
for the annual financial statements prepared in accordance with governing national law were available. Secondary commercial balance sheets
were also prepared by the foreign subsidiary undertakings using the uniform IAS/IFRS accounting and valuation methods which are standard
throughout the Group. These reporting packages and the accompanying
I
GRUNER + JAHR 75
notes were also examined by the relevant auditors, who supplied written
confirmation that the national financial statements had been correct reconciled with the standard Group accounting and valuation procedures.
CURRENCY TRANSLATION
The annual financial statements of the foreign subsidiary undertakings
have been translated into Euro in accordance with the provisions of IAS
21 relating to functional currencies. As all subsidiary undertakings are financially, commercially and organizationally independent in the conduct
of their business, the functional currency is in all cases the national currency and the modified balance sheet closing date method is consequently used to determine the exchange rates at which values are translated. Assets and liabilities are consequently translated at the middle rate
applying on balance sheet closing date.
The average exchange rate over the fiscal year under review is used for
items in the income statement. Difference in balance sheet items arising
from fluctuations in exchange rates used in the prior year and similar differences arising for this reason between the income statement and the
balance sheet are credited or debited to equity without affecting earnings.
When companies are deconsolidated, any accumulated currency translation differences are written back against earnings. The following exchange rates have been used to translate the financial statements of the
companies operating in the most important countries included in the global financial statements (equivalent value of currency unit to one Euro):
US-Dollar ( USD)
Polish Zloty (PLN)
Average rate
1/1-12/31/03 1/1-12/31/02
1.1312
0.9416
4.4053
3.8344
Rate at closing day
12/31/03 12/31/02
1.2630
1.0487
4.7019
4.0210
ACCOUNTING AND VALUATION METHODS
INTANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
Intangible fixed assets created within the group are capitalized at development cost, provided that they fulfill the conditions stipulated in IAS 38.
Intangible fixed assets acquired from third parties are capitalized at
acquisition cost. Intangible fixed assets are normally amortized by the
straight-line method over their useful life. Capitalized software is amortized over three or four years, licenses over the period of the relevant
licensing agreement and supply rights and subscription customers over
periods of not more than 15 years.
Goodwill arising from acquisitions is capitalized in accordance with the
provisions of IAS 22 and amortized by the straight-line method over its
estimated useful life, which can vary between 5 and 15 years. Goodwill
from capital consolidation is translated at the exchange rate applying at
the date of first consolidation and carried in subsequent years at the historical exchange rate.
TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
Tangible fixed assets are carried at acquisition or manufacturing cost less
accumulated depreciation. Scheduled depreciation is charged at uniform rates throughout the group and assumes the following periods of
useful life:
Buildings
Machinery and technical equipment
Office and factory equipment
10 – 50 years
5 – 15 years
3 – 12 years
LEASING
In cases where a group company enjoys all significant opportunities
and bears all significant risks under leasing agreements and can
76 GRUNER + JAHR
I
ANNUAL REPORT 2003
consequently be regarded for financial purposes as the owner of the
relevant assets (finance leases), these assets are capitalized at the
time of signature of the leasing agreement at the lower of market
value or cash value of future leasing installments. The payment obligation resulting from the finance lease is carried at the same level under
liabilities to financial institutions.
In cases where it is reasonably certain that the leased assets will pass
into the ownership of the group company, they are depreciated over
their useful life. In all other cases they are depreciated over the period
of the licensing agreement. The level of installments payable by the lessee varies with fluctuations in interest rates charged by the lessor.
In addition to the aforementioned finance lease agreements, hire agreements definable as operating lease agreements have been signed in
some cases. In these cases the leased assets remain the property of the
lessor and the leasing installments are treated as expenses arising during
the accounting period. Total leasing installments payable during the basic,
non-terminable leasing period are shown under other financial liabilities.
UNSCHEDULED AMORTIZATION OF INTANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
AND UNSCHEDULED DEPRECIATION OF TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
Unscheduled amortization/depreciation of intangible and tangible fixed
assets is charged in accordance with IAS 36 in cases where the net
realizable value of the assets at balance sheet closing date has fallen
below the book value. The net realizable value is calculated as the higher of the net disposal value or the cash value of the anticipated future cash flow from the assets.
In cases where the grounds for unscheduled amortization/depreciation
no longer apply, the assets are written up again. The write-up in no case
exceeds the amount which would have applied if the unscheduled amortization/depreciation had not been charged
SHAREHOLDINGS AND SECURITIES
Significant holdings in associated undertakings are carried at the value
determined by the equity method. All other shareholdings and securities
included under fixed or current assets are treated as securities available
for sale.
Securities available for sale are valued in accordance with IAS 39 at their
fair market value on balance sheet closing date if this can be determined.
Any resulting profit or loss is added or charged to earnings. In cases
where unscheduled amortization has been charged on grounds which
no longer apply, the assets are written up again. In cases where it is
impossible to determine a fair market value, the relevant shareholdings
and securities are carried at their ongoing historical acquisition cost.
INVENTORIES
Inventories are carried at the lower of acquisition or manufacturing
cost or market value. Manufacturing cost includes material and direct
manufacturing costs plus manufacturing overheads attributable to the
relevant production process. In cases where acquisition or manufacturing cost is higher than market value on balance sheet closing date, the
relevant inventory items are written down to net realizable value.
Inventories are normally carried at acquisition or manufacturing cost.
Identical inventory items are valued at either average cost or on a FIFO
(first in first out) basis.
RECEIVABLES
Miscellaneous receivables and other assets are normally carried at the
lower of nominal or current market value. Long-term receivables are
discounted. Receivables denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the exchange rates applying on balance sheet closing date.
Due provision is made for any discernible risks.
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
DEFERRED TAXATION
In accordance with IAS 12, deferred taxation assets or liabilities have
been created for all timing differences between the tax balance sheet and
the IAS consolidated balance sheet – except for goodwill items not deductible for tax purposes – and for tax-deductible losses carried forward
from prior years. Deferred taxation assets are adjusted to allow for
items not expected to qualify for later deduction. The tax rates used for
calculating the amount of the deferrals are those expected to apply in the
future on the basis of currently known tax legislation. Adjustments reflecting the effect of tax rate changes on deferred taxation assets or liabilities are normally made in the accounting period in which the relevant tax
regulations are published and are added to or deducted from earnings.
OTHER COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
Other comprehensive income includes differences resulting from currency translation and from the calculation of the fair value of cash flow hedges. It is added to or deducted from equity and does not affect earnings.
ACCRUALS
In accordance with IAS 19, the level of accruals for pensions and similar obligations is determined by the projected unit credit method. This
method makes allowance not only for basic biometric statistical data
but also for current long-term interest rates on the capital market and
current assumptions on future trends in salary and pension levels. The
proportion of pension expenses attributable to interest is included in
the net interest item.
Other accruals are created in accordance with IAS 37 as from the time
when it appears probable not only that an obligation has arisen that will
cause a future cash outflow, but also that its amount can be reasonably
determined. Accruals for warranties and threatening losses are created
at full manufacturing-related cost. Long-term accruals are discounted.
LIABILITIES
Liabilities are carried at nominal value. Long-term liabilities are discounted. Liabilities in foreign currencies are normally translated at the
exchange rate applying on balance sheet closing date.
FINANCIAL DERIVATIVES
In accordance with IAS 39, all financial derivatives are carried in the balance sheet at market value. These financial instruments are taken up in
the balance sheet at the date on which the transaction was made and
classified separately as either fair value or cash flow hedges. Individual
derivatives do not meet the requirements of IAS 39 for capitalization as
covering transactions even though they do provide financial security.
Changes in market value of financial derivatives are handled as follows:
FAIR VALUE HEDGES
Changes in market value of these derivatives used as hedges for assets
and liabilities are included in the income statement and reflected in the
contra movements in the balance sheet items covered by them.
CASH FLOW HEDGES
Changes in the current value of these derivatives used as hedges to
secure future cash flow are included in other comprehensive income
and do not affect earnings. These items are written back against the
earnings on the transactions covered by them.
AUDIT CERTIFICATE
The auditors have issued a certificate for the present global annual
financial statements of the Gruner + Jahr Group.
I
GRUNER + JAHR 77
PRINCIPLE SUBSIDIARY AND ASSOCIATED
UNDERTAKINGS
WHOLLY OWNED GERMAN AFFILIATES
FOREIGN AFFILIATES AND JOINT VENTURES
Gruner + Jahr AG & Co KG, Hamburg
Berliner Presse Vertrieb GmbH, Berlin
Börse Online Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munic
DPV Deutscher Pressevertrieb GmbH, Hamburg
Ehrlich & Sohn GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg
G+J Corporate Media GmbH, Hamburg
G+J Electronic Media Service GmbH, Hamburg
G+J Electronic Media Sales GmbH, Hamburg
G+J Wirtschaftspresse Online GmbH, Munic
G+J Woman Verlag GmbH, Hamburg
G+J Zeitschriften-Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg
IPV Inland Presse Vertrieb GmbH, Hamburg
Living At Home Multi Media GmbH, Hamburg
MVF Magazin-Verlag am Fleetrand GmbH, Hamburg
Norddeutsche Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg
Picture Press Bild- und Textagentur GmbH, Hamburg
stern.de GmbH, Hamburg
Neon Magazin GmbH, Hamburg
Gruner + Jahr/Mondadori S.p.A., Milan, Italy
Gruner + Jahr Polska Sp. z.o.o. & Co.,
Spolka Komandytowa, Warsaw Poland
Gruner + Jahr Printing and Publishing Company,
New York/Waseca, USA
Gruner + Jahr (Schweiz) AG, Zurich, Switzerland
Gruner + Jahr Verlagsgesellschaft m.b.H., Vienna, Austria
Gruner + Jahr ZAO, Moscow, Russia
GyJ España Ediciones S.L., S. en C., Madrid, Spain
GyJ Revistas y Communicaciones S.L., Madrid, Spain
GyJ Publicaciones Internacionales S.L. y Cia., S. en C.,
Madrid Spain
G+J Clip (Beijing) Publishing Consulting Co.Ltd.,
Peking, China
G+J/RBA Publishing C.V., Amsterdam, Netherlands
G+J/RBA S.N.C., Paris, France
G+J RBA Sp. z.o.o. & Co., Spolka Komandytowa,
Warsaw, Poland
Prisma Presse S.N.C., Paris, France
Shanghai G+J Consulting and Service Co.Ltd.,
Shanghai, China
Verlagsgruppe NEWS Ges.m.b.H., Tulln, Austria
VSD S.N.C., Paris, France
GERMAN JOINT VENTURES AND ASSOCIATED UNDERTAKINGS
Dresdner Druck- und Verlagshaus GmbH & Co.KG, Dresden
Financial Times Deutschland GmbH & Co.KG, Hamburg
G+J/RBA GmbH & Co.KG, Hamburg
Hamburger Journalistenschule
Gruner + Jahr-DIE ZEIT GmbH, Hamburg
manager magazin Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Hamburg
SPIEGEL-Verlag Rudolf Augstein GmbH & Co.KG, Hamburg
Vereinigte Motor-Verlage GmbH & Co.KG, Stuttgart
60 %
50 %
50 %
95 %
24,9 %
24,75 %
17,14 %
as of April 1, 2004
SUPERVISORY BOARD
EXECUTIVE BOARD
Dr. Gunter Thielen, Gütersloh, Chairman (since 10/30/2003)
Gerd Schulte-Hillen, Hamburg, Chairman (until 10/30/2003)
Klaus Unger, Hamburg, Deputy Chairman
Birgit Breuel, Hamburg
Dr. Jochen Frangen, Hamburg
Dorit Harz-Meyn, Hamburg
Dr. Tessen von Heydebreck, Frankfurt/Main
Klaus Hillmer, Itzehoe
Bernd Köhler, Dresden
Dr. Siegfried Luther, Gütersloh
Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, Gütersloh
John Vinocur, Paris
Michael Walter, Hamburg
Dr. Bernd Kundrun
President and CEO
Dr. Bernd Buchholz
President Magazine Division Germany
Axel Ganz
President Magazine Division France and USA
Angelika Jahr-Stilcken
Member of the Executive Board, Journalism
Dr. Torsten-Jörn Klein
President Magazine Division International
Dr. Martin Schuster
Member of the Executive Board, Central Services
Martin Stahel
Member of the Executive Board, Corporate Development
Achim Twardy
President Newspaper Division/Business Press Germany
as of January 1, 2004
50 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
50 %
51 %
50,5 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
100 %
56,03 %
100 %
78 GRUNER + JAHR
I
ANNUAL REPORT 2003
CHRONICLE
I
GRUNER + JAHR 79
CHRONICLE 1948 – 2003
1948: When the first edition of STERN is pub- 1976: G+J takes a 33.3 percent participation in
lished by the Henri Nannen GmbH publishing house
on August 1, with a printed circulation of 130,735 copies, the Federal Republic of Germany has not yet
been founded. Printed circulation reaches its highpoint in 1980 with 2,021,115 copies.
1965:
Germany, 1948
The newspaper publishers John Jahr
(CONSTANZE, BRIGITTE, SCHÖNER WOHNEN,
CAPITAL) and Dr. Gerd Bucerius (STERN, Die Zeit,
among others) merge with the printer Richard Gruner
(Gruner & Sohn, Gruner Druck GmbH) to become
Gruner + Jahr GmbH & Co. Gruner holds 39.5 percent, Jahr 32.25 percent and Bucerius 28.25 percent
of the shares.
1969:
Lübeck publishing house Ehrlich & Sohn KG (FRAU
IM SPIEGEL). Bertelsmann AG takes over the five
percent holding from Ernst Naumann and now holds
a total of 74.9 percent of the shares.GEO appears with
an initial circulation of 100,000 copies. The printed circulation reaches its highpoint in 1996 with 783,386.
1978: G+J is the first German publishing house
to enter the international magazine market by taking
over Cosmos Distribuidora S.A. publishing house
(DUNIA, SER PADRES HOY) in Spain.G+J acquires
the Parents Magazine Enterprises Inc. publishing
house with the PARENTS and YM magazines in the
USA. The popular science magazine P.M. developed
by Gerhard Peter Moosleitner is launched in Germany.The G+J School for Journalists is founded in
Hamburg. In 1984, on the occasion of the 70th birthday of the founder of STERN, it is renamed the Henri Nannen School.
Richard Gruner sells his shares. The ownership structure of the publishing house is reorganized:
Jahr and Bucerius each hold 37.5 percent. Reinhard
Mohn (Bertelsmann) participates with 25 percent.
Gruner + Jahr takes over 90 percent of the Munich
publishing house, Kindler & Schiermeyer (JASMIN,
G+J purchases the gravure and offset
ELTERN, TWEN). The remaining 10 percent stays printer Brown Printing Company in Waseca, Minwith the Owner-Manager, Ernst Naumann, who ex- nesota, USA. The French edition of GEO is launched
changes it later for five percent of G+J shares.
in Paris by the Participations Edition Presse S.A.
publishing house (later Prisma Presse S.N.C.),
G+J takes a 24.75 percent participation in which was founded in 1978. HÄUSER and ART are
the Spiegel publishing house (Der Spiegel). John launched in Germany.
Jahr (born in 1900) and Dr. Gerd Bucerius (born in
1906) withdraw from active management of the
The business magazine IMPULSE comes
business. BRIGITTE reaches a paid circulation of 1.4 onto the market.
million and becomes the largest women’s magazine
in Europe.
GEO gets an offspring: GEO SPECIAL, a
magazine dedicated to travel. After the successful
G+J acquires 15 percent of Vereinigte launch of GEO in France, G+J brings a magazine onMotor-Verlage GmbH & Co. KG (Auto, Motor, Sport). to the French market based on the concept of P.M.:
Gruner + Jahr GmbH & Co. becomes Druck- und the monthly magazine ÇA M’INTÉRESSE. Spain also
Verlagshaus Gruner + Jahr AG & Co. The first edi- gets interested in popular science and successfully
tion of the monthly magazine ESSEN & TRINKEN launches MUY INTERESANTE.
appears.
PRIMA, the newly launched women’s
Bucerius exchanges his shares in G+J magazine in France reaches a paid circulation of
against shares in Bertelsmann AG, which becomes one million copies within one year.
the majority shareholder of G+J with 60 percent.
John Jahr (35 percent) and Ernst Naumann (five perEntry into electronic media with a 50-percent) hold the remaining shares.
cent participation in Ufa-Film- und Fernseh-GmbH.
During the course of the year, G+J thereby becomes
John Jahr sells 9.9 percent of his shares a partner of the private television broadcasters RTL,
to Bertelsmann AG and retains 25.1 percent.
RTL2 and VOX, the pay TV program Premiere as well
1979:
1971:
Germany, 1965
1980:
1981:
1972:
1973:
1982:
1984:
1975:
Germany, 1975
as various radio broadcasters. FEMME ACTUELLE is the Hamburg waterfront. The G+J Board of Management cements its environmental awareness as a
launched in France.
basic corporate principle.
G+J plans the construction of a new publishing building at Baumwall in Hamburg. The Ehrlich
The newspaper business is expanded furt& Sohn publishing house is taken over 100 percent. her: The Berliner Verlag is taken over as a part of a
G+J acquires a 24.9 percent participation in the Man- joint venture. The BERLINER ZEITUNG, BERLINER
ager Magazin Verlagsgesellschaft (manager magazin) KURIER, WOCHENPOST and the television guide F.F.
publishing company. SCHÖNER ESSEN and FLORA are launched. G+J also acquires the majority of
join the range of magazines. G+J founds Gruner + Dresdner Druck- und Verlagshaus, where the SÄCHSISCHE ZEITUNG is published, as well as a 27.5 perJahr of the U.K. in London.
cent participation in the Druckhaus Friedrichshain
With the purchase of the HAMBURGER printers. Furthermore, G+J begins activity in the
MORGENPOST, a successful foray is made into the metropolitan areas of East Germany. The original
newspaper business. Using the same basic concept East German magazine NEUES WOHNEN appears
as the French magazine, PRIMA is exported to in former West Germany as well. Directly after its
Germany and England. TÉLÉ LOISIRS is launched in launch in France, CAPITAL becomes market leader
France. The women’s magazine MIA is launched in among business publications.
Spain. Through Ufa, G+J takes a participation in
Radio Hamburg, one of the first private radio stations
G+J takes over the remaining 50 percent
in Germany.
of the Berliner Verlag and increases its participation in Druckhaus Friedrichshain to 55 percent. The
Purchase of the California-based printer Ri- LEIPZIGER MORGENPOST is launched.The popular
verside County Publishing Company by the G+J sub- science magazine FOCUS appears in Italy and Great
sidiary Brown Printing Company. SPORTS (later Britain, and quickly becomes the largest monthly
SPORTS LIFE) and GEO WISSEN come onto the popular magazine in Italy.
market in Germany. G+J launches the women’s
magazine BEST in Great Britain and the celebrity
G+J Polska is founded with its headmagazine VOICI in France. GEO appears at the news- quarters in Warsaw. The women’s magazine CLAUstands in Spain as well.
DIA appears on the Polish market. G+J acquires
a 49 percent holding in Nice Presse Invest (NPI),
G+J founds an Italian subsidiary in Milan. which publishes the daily newspapers DÉLMAGThe travel magazine GEO SAISON is brought onto YARORSZÁG and DÉLVILÁG in Hungary through a
the market in Germany. On November 16, one week subsidiary company. The prominent celebrity magafter the fall of the wall, the special edition of STERN azine GALA is launched in France. G+J participates
“Germany – Borderless Joy” with photos of the peace- with 50 percent in the Spanish editions of MARIE
ful revolution in East Germany appears. Massive sales CLAIRE and LA CASA DE MARIE CLAIRE.
are made, especially in East Germany.
The G+J participation in the Druckhaus
Start of the CHEMNITZER, DRESDNER Friedrichshain printing facility is raised to 100 percent.
and MECKLENBURGER MORGENPOST. G+J The celebrity magazine GALA, the info magazine
launches the women’s magazine VERA in Italy under TANGO and the television guide TV TODAY are
a joint venture with Mondadori, the Milanese publish- launched in Germany. G+J takes over the investment
ing house. G+J brings the German MARIE CLAIRE magazine BÖRSE ONLINE. G+J acquires seven
onto the market in a joint venture with Marie Claire women’s magazines from the New York Times ComAlbum.G+J España receives the license for the pany in America, including FAMILY CIRCLE and Mc
Spanish edition of COSMOPOLITAN. The STERN-TV CALL’s. The women’s magazine NAJ comes onto the
magazine is launched at RTL, the private broadcaster. market in Poland. G+J takes a 51 percent participaG+J moves into the Press Building at Baumwall on tion in the Slovakian daily newspaper NOV´Y ˇCAS.
1985:
1991:
Germany, 1979
1986:
1992:
1987:
1993:
France, 1984
1989:
1990:
1994:
Spain, 1990
80 GRUNER + JAHR
I
ANNUAL REPORT 2003
1995:
Germany, 1996
BRIGITTE YOUNG MISS, which has been
published as a special edition since1990, appears as
an independent magazine. LEIPZIGER MORGENPOST and TANGO are dropped. 75 percent shares of
both SPORTS LIFE and WOCHENPOST are sold.
With geo.de, mopo.de, pm-magazin.de, stern.de and
tvtoday.de, G+J starts its first online magazines and
becomes one of the first professional providers on
the German language Internet. The management
magazine L’ESSENTIEL DU MANAGEMENT is
launched in France. The women’s magazine HALO
and the cooking magazine MOJE GOTOWANIE
come onto the market in Poland.
1996: FOCUS is launched in Poland; ELTERN
FOR FAMILY and the children’s magazine GEOLINO,
in Germany. The French G+J subsidiary Prisma Presse takes over the weekly glossy VSD. G+J Funk- und
Fernsehproduktions GmbH is founded. The Berlin
newspapers at G+J, BERLINER ZEITUNG, BERLINER KURIER, BERLINER ABENDBLATT and TIP, go
online at berlinonline.de. The Advertisement Division
starts G+J Communication Office, an Internet service
for advertising customers. The magazine printing
facility at the Gruner + Jahr Printing Center in Dresden and the new newspaper printing facility in Berlin-Lichtenberg begin operation. Operations at Druckhaus Friedrichshain are stopped.
Germany, 2000
CHRONICLE
as well: CAR & MOTOR. With a 75 percent participation in the Vienna NEWS Group (NEWS, TV MEDIA),
entry into the Austrian market is successful. FORMAT,
the third magazine from the NEWS Group, follows in
the fall. The G+J business press is complemented by
BIZZ, the business magazine for a younger clientele.
The Newspaper Division is expanded through a 50 percent participation in Expres, the Bucharest publishing
house. Expres publishes the national daily shopping
newspaper called EVENIMENTUL ZILEI. ELTERN
goes online with ELTERN.DE, while EMS starts the
daily newspaper search engine PAPERBALL.DE. The
new newspaper printing facility at the Gruner + Jahr
Printing Center in Dresden starts operation.
1999: After 13 years, G+J sells the HAMBURGER
MORGENPOST to two Hamburg media entrepreneurs. The GEO family continues to grow: GEO
EPOCHE, a history magazine, comes out. Under
license from the National Geographic Society, G+J
brings the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE
and complementary products onto the market in a
joint venture with RBA, the Spanish publishing house.
The magazine, which reaches the newsstands in six
countries in French, German and Polish, is an isntant
success. Prisma Presse opens a new magazine segment in France with the Internet magazine WEB
MAGAZINE. The Internet travel agency TRAVELCHANNEL.DE is launched. YOUNG MISS, ART and
Electronic Media Service GmbH (EMS) NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC go online.
starts the German-language search engine FIREBALL.DE, while BRIGITTE also goes online. The onIn a Joint Venture with the London media
line television guide TV TODAY ONLINE+ COM- group Pearson, G+J launches FINANCIAL TIMES
PUTER (ONLINE TODAY now) comes onto the DEUTSCHLAND . This is the first relaunch of an intermarket in Germany. The US printing facilities, the Ri- national daily newspaper in Germany for several decverside County Publishing Company in California and ades.E-MEDIA set a new trend in the Austrian Interthe Brown Printing Division in Kentucky, are sold. As net magazine segment . The International Magazine
a countermove, Brown Printing acquires the Penn- Division starts three new magazines: the business
Well and Graftek printing facilities in Woodstock, magazine CAPITAL in Spain, the technology-oriented
which specialize in printing technical magazines.
consumer magazine JACK in Italy and NATIONAL
GEOGRAPHIC in the Netherlands. Activities in the
G+J brings the women’s magazine English-speaking world are focused on the USA: G+J
GRACJA to the newsstands and takes over the successfully enters the American business magazine
weekly magazine MOJE MIESZKANIE in Poland. segment by acquiring INC and FAST COMPANY.
TOP GIRL, a magazine for girls and young women, G+J withdraws from the British market for strategic
follows in Italy. The weekly celebrity magazine ALLO reasons. With the LIVING AT HOME magazine and
appears in France. GEO, already a successful maga- an Internet portal of the same name, G+J starts an
zine in Germany, France and Spain, is launched in Rus- integrated multimedia platform focused on home,
sia. G+J brings a magazine onto the market in China garden, kitchen and hospitality. and hos
1997:
2001: G+J USA Publishing advances into the
ranks of the top five magazine publishers in the USA
through the purchase of the FAST COMPANY and
INC business magazines as well as the relaunch of
almost all other magazines. The internationalization of
successful magazines is continued with GALA in Poland and Russia and NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC in Hungary. After its merger with the Kurier Group and the
start of the WOMAN women’s magazine, the NEWS
publishing group publishes 14 magazines in Austria.
GEOlino, the innovative children’s magazine from G+J,
appears monthly from January 2001. GEO is 25 years
old. The jubilee exhibition “The earth from above”
attracts 800,000 visitors. BRIGITTE WOMAN appears
regularly four times a year.
2002:
October sees the launch of WOMAN, the
fortnightly women’s magazine, in Germany. A new
member of the STERN family, STERN SPEZIAL BIOGRAPHIE / STERN BIOGRAPHY SPECIAL, is introduced in the summer. In France, the youth magazine
GEO Ado enters the market. The second step toward
securing the Chinese magazine market is taken in the
form of FUMU PARENTS. Dwindling prospects for
BIZZ and ONLINE TODAY result in them being withdrawn in Germany, with ROSIE and HOME STYLE
meeting a similar fate in the United States. Germany’s FINANCIAL TIMES DEUTSCHLAND is the only
national daily newspaper to increase circulation figures.The company’s Berlin newspaper activities are
I
GRUNER + JAHR 81
sold to the Georg von Holtzbrinck publishing group.
A number of G+J titles celebrate anniversaries in
2002. In Germany, CAPITAL 40 and ESSEN & TRINKEN notch up their 30th anniversary. In France, VSD
reaches its 25th and VOICI its 15th birthday, whilst
FOCUS in Italy is ten years old this year.
2003: G+J offshoot Prisma Presse launches TÉLÉ 2 SEMAINES, a brand-new, fortnightly TV listings
magazine and the first of its kind on the French market. Its innovative format reaps dividends within a
matter of weeks as circulation rises swiftly to the 2
million mark.TÉLÉ 2 SEMAINES is one of the most
successful magazine start-ups of the past few decades. The licensed title GLAMOUR becomes the
most successful new magazine to hit the Polish market in 2003. With circulation around 276,000 copies,
it leaps to the top spot among quality magazines for
women. Two pilot issues of NEON are greeted with
enthusiasm by teenage and young adult audiences.
The innovative magazine NEON is scheduled to appear eleven times a year from February 2004 onwards. In November 2003, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC WORLD is launched as a bilingual, popular science
magazine for children, in print, TV and online formats.
G+J’s expansion in the general knowledge segment
continues with the launch of GEOFOCUS in Russia.
For strategic reasons, Gruner + Jahr sells its newspaper interests in Eastern Europe to the Swiss publisher Ringier, effective December 31, 2003.
Germany, 2002
France, 2003
2000:
1998:
Poland, 2001
MASTHEAD
Publisher:
Gruner + Jahr AG & Co. KG
Corporate Communications
Am Baumwall 11
20459 Hamburg
[email protected]
Photography:
Dirk Stewen, Hamburg
Design and Layout:
Büro Hamburg
Copy:
Stefan Michalk,
Kurt Otto
Realization:
G+J Corporate Media GmbH
Griegstaße 75
22763 Hamburg
Final editor:
Thomas Huber
Litho:
p.r.o. medien
Printing:
Appl Druck GmbH & Co. KG
Senefelderstraße 3-11
86650 Wemding
Other Pictures:
Andreas Teichmann (p. 6); Jason Todd
(p. 28); Karin Rocholl (p. 42, 47); Grund
und Flum (p. 43-44, 46, 48-50); Andreas
Fechner (p. 51); Meffert/ Stern (p. 52-55);
Archiv Gruner + Jahr (p. 63-65); Frank
Richter (p. 56); Odile Hain (p. 58, 60);
mauritius (p. 65);
82 GRUNER + JAHR
I
ANNUAL REPORT 2003
WORLDWIDE PRESENCE
A staff of over 11,000 produces more than 110 magazines and newspapers
in 10 countries on three continents
G+J Headquarters,
Hamburg
G+J Poland,
Warsaw
G+J Russia,
Moscow
Verlagsgruppe News,
Vienna
G+J/Mondadori,
Milan
G+J Netherlands,
Amsterdam
G+J USA,
New York
Prisma Presse,
Paris
G+J Spain,
Madrid
G+J China,
Beijing