Hubert Burda Media
Annual Report 2013
Burda...
Hubert Burda Media
Annual Report 2013
shaping
the media
Content
36
6
Learns from his
­mistakes:
Fabrizio D’Angelo
10
CEO Dr. Kallen on the challenges of the media transformation
melvin ang shapes the future
Burda’s lifestyle brands from Singapore reflect Asian high society’s attitude toward life.
Publisher Melvin Ang sees great growth opportunities for his media
18
sebastian matthes explores uncharted waters
The Editor-in-Chief of the German Huffington Post and his team link blogs, social media
and news in a revolutionary new type of news portal
26
Kerstin Schneider embodies passion for fashion
German Elle celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2013 – and is still setting new standards.
Fashion Director Kerstin Schneider shares responsibility for the magazine’s success
36
78
fabrizio d’angelo learns from his mistakes
The CEO of BurdaInternational explains why you can’t be afraid of mistakes if you want to
shape the media landscape of the future
Big responsibility:
Katharina Zwanzig
26
Loves fashion:
Kerstin Schneider
44
The Burda School of Journalism is teaching for tomorrow
In Offenburg, students learn to research, write, blog, film, program and tweet – and the
best way to market themselves and their stories in the future
50
kjeld peters loves technology
The Technical Director of Elitepartner uses the algorithm of love to help 4 million
singles find happiness for life
56
Alexandra Schiel connects people
Alexandra Schiel and the DLD team are looking for smart people – and the latest Internet
trends – from all over the world for the innovation conference
66
56
Diana Knodel develops new projects
The Product Manager at Xing takes the initiative to get more women interested
in programming
Meeting of the global
digital elite: DLD in New York
72
10
Shapes the future:
Melvin Ang
Holger Albrecht shows his dedication
The man from IT Support shows children and adolescents living in difficult circumstances
how to use computers
78
katharina zwanzig in charge
The Treasury Director is responsible for Burda’s liquidity. Without her support, many of
the company’s projects would go nowhere
84
94
The Burda alphabet
Financial Statements 2013
Burda: a company for
entrepreneurs
T
Dr. Paul-Bernhard Kallen, CEO
he year 2013 was another good year for
Burda. Our company continued to grow, while
remaining profitable. We were able to finance
our growth with our own resources, expand and stabilize
our existing businesses, and tap into new business fields.
But 2013 was also a year of growing challenges: the pace
at which the consumer Internet is changing the media industry has accelerated significantly yet again. New technologies are transforming everything with increasing momentum, changing every familiar consumer communication channel and enabling new relationships with our customers. Digitalization is fundamentally changing our world
– and will continue to do so.
Even during this phase of change we will continue to grow
and remain profitable, because Burda will maintain its
course, developing and implementing successful new
products for its consumers – and actively shaping the future of the media. We will succeed with innovative technology and content in media products that inspire, entertain, add practical value and play an important role in the
lives of our customers.
Our goal is to support our customers, users and readers
with our media in their pursuit of happiness. If we at
Burda succeed in enriching and improving people’s lives –
regardless of the technological platform – then we will be
as financially successful as ever over the long term.
Our company is in a strong position to tackle this task:
Burda consists of 95 successful individual companies, in
which 10,000 employees give their best every day to create excellent products.
Because their work, ideas and attitudes set the scene for
all future successes, we would like to introduce 10 Burda
role models from different divisions and countries in this
annual report – talented, committed, highly qualified employees who advance our company on all levels. These
are colleagues who take on responsibility – for themselves and our company – and have the courage to take
action. They have the strong will to help shape our future
and know that this can only succeed if we understand,
utilize and actively develop the technologies – both traditional and new – on which our businesses are based.
These are people who intentionally take risks and learn
from their mistakes for the future. They are employees
who take advantage of the excellent opportunities to develop and drive new projects throughout expansive networks here at Burda.
They are colleagues who perform their work not only with
expertise, but also with passion – in short, people who
see themselves as “entrepreneurs within the company.”
As members of the Executive Board at Burda, we feel our
most crucial responsibility is to be a home for the mosttalented entrepreneurs, and give them the opportunity to
invent the future together with us.
On behalf of my fellow Board members, I would like to
thank all of our 10,000 employees for their hard work. We
all share the responsibility for ensuring that our company
takes advantage of the great opportunities offered by digitalization and actively shapes change, and that Burda remains what it is: a vibrant, growing and profitable media
company of the 21st century.
“We would like to introduce 10 Burda role models from different divisions and countries who
advance our company.”
Dr. Paul-Bernhard Kallen
The CEO of Hubert Burda Media Holding KG joined the
company in 1996 as Managing Director. Dr. Kallen was appointed Member of the Executive Board responsible for
technology in 1999. The political economist has been at
the helm of the Group since 2010.
BURDA Annual Report
7
The Executive Board
of Hubert Burda Media
(Left to right) Holger Eckstein, Board Member
­Finance; Dr. Paul-Bernhard Kallen, Chief Executive
Officer; Philipp Welte, Board Member ­Publishing;
Stefan Winners, Board Member Digital
Melvin Ang shapes the future
In highest society
Burda’s exclusive Singaporean lifestyle brands reflect Asian
high society’s attitude toward life. Their love of luxury shows
publisher Melvin Ang that the growth of his media is far from
exhausted
Lunch meeting with advertising customers at the venerable St. Regis Hotel
A
Tuesday evening in April, 9
o’clock. In Singapore, it’s
still 28°C hours after sundown. It has been a long day for Melvin Ang, with a number of conferences and appointments, but if he is
tired, he certainly doesn’t show it. He
stands on the giant balcony of the
presidential suite at the Fullerton Hotel and smiles, wearing a flawlessly
matched evening outfit: white jeans,
matching shirt, form-fitting green
sport coat and snakeskin shoes.
The publisher of the luxury magazine
Prestige has invited over several
12
BURDA Annual Report
high-society women from this upand-coming city. He converses animatedly with his guests. “It’s wonderful to see you, Grace. How was New
York? How is the better half doing?”
In the background, skyscrapers – a
symbol of the wealth in this metropolis of millions – illuminate the night,
their lights reflected in the Singapore
River. Ang and the ladies have known
each other for some time. For them,
the wiry Chinese man is like a friend.
Giggling, they ask him his age. He will
be 50 this year. “But on the inside, I’m
35.” The ladies think so, too. He
doesn’t look a day older, perhaps 36
at the most. Ang laughs – he likes
that. But he is more interested in other topics. He wants to know everything about their favorite brands and
destinations as well as their husbands’ favorite toys.
Ang is collecting material for the society pages of his magazine. He mentally writes memos that he will transfer to paper in his office tomorrow to
be sure not to forget anything.
The editorial staff of Prestige, Singapore’s most successful society magazine, resides in relatively modest
“ We have no natural
resources in Singapore,
but many hard-working
immigrants.”
Man of glamour:
Melvin Ang has been
publisher of the
luxury magazine
Prestige for 14 years
Melvin Ang shapes the future
quarters. Most of the 68 employees
work in separate cubicles, and Melvin
Ang’s office is unpretentious as well.
“I’m a practical person,” he explains.
He has enough glamour outside the
office – he works here. With a resolute grip, he takes the different issues
of Prestige Singapore, Malaysia,
­Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and
Taiwan off the shelf and spreads
them out. The most conspicuous
decoration here is a small altar – Buddha flanked by two waving porcelain
cats for good luck. For devout Buddhists, religion is an important support in life. It gave Ang his respectful,
open management style that his employees value so much.
Rising to the top, in record time
Melvin Ang is slender, not especially
tall, yet his self-confidence is huge. “I
was born in the Chinese year of the
Dragon, under the sign of the lion in
the Western zodiac. In short: a born
leader.” That’s how he introduces
himself – and laughs. He is ambitious,
and therefore a typical Singaporean,
he explains. “We have no natural resources. But thanks to the hardworking immigrants – my father came
from China – more millionaires live
here today than in Hong Kong.”
After finishing university, Melvin first
tried to work at his father’s tea and
coffee company, but there were too
many relatives who wanted to have a
say. So, he began working at the Singapore offshoot of the society magazine, “Tatler”. There, he rose through
the ranks in record time from an advertising employee to Marketing
Chief – and stayed 10 years. “But for
me, something was always missing at
‘Tatler’,” he says. “The content was
too far removed from the world of the
wealthy people who are our core target group.” So he decided to launch
his own magazine.
Ann Lee, who holds the title Associate Publisher and has been Ang’s
right hand for decades, tells with a
BURDA Annual Report
13
Society VIPs as models
Prestige quickly became a big success and expanded to Indonesia,
Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong.
Burda took over the publishing company two years ago; since then, the
brand is also represented in Taiwan.
The external editorial offices can take
on content, but do not have to. Bosses need to decide for themselves
how they will be most successful.
The most effective means of securing
reader loyalty was Melvin Ang’s idea
of exclusively using true beauties
from Singapore’s society as models.
The wealthy city has plenty of them –
and all of them work hard to grace
the cover of Prestige. Or at least the
section where celebrities show their
Instagram photos. Among the engaged daughters of millionaires, it’s
considered chic to be photographed
by Prestige while shopping for wedding gowns in Paris or honeymooning
in the Maldives. For example, the hot
newly engaged couple Van Ness Wu
and Arissa Cheo smile from the cover
of the May issue. He is a well-known
singer; she is an “it” girl and comes
from a top-tier family.
Melvin Ang shapes the future
smile how Ang called together his
most trusted colleagues before submitting his resignation: “He wanted to
know from us if we would like to start
a new chapter with him. Mind you,
that’s without saying what it was all
about.” They all followed him – and
are still there.
In addition to the lavish fashion
spreads for men and women, stories
about the richest members of Singaporean society are the core of Prestige. Asians, especially the Chinese,
love to look up to successful people.
Status is everything, which is why of
the 15,000 issues printed, a few thousand free copies are given to highstatus readers from high society.
There are many high-end
shopping malls offering
luxury brands in
Singapore. Status plays
a major role in Asia.
16
BURDA Annual Report
lated from Chinese, PIN means “refined lifestyle.” Ang launched the
magazine just a year ago and sees a
great deal of potential in the Chinesespeaking market.
Man of substance
For a few years now, the inexhaustible bundle of energy known as Melvin Ang has also been publishing the
men’s magazine, August Man. Here,
as an adjective, “august” essentially
stands for “substance.” The magazine targets well-groomed, fashionconscious men who enjoy an exclusive, luxurious lifestyle – of which
there are many in Asia’s high society.
One of these is Dylan Boey, Editor-inChief of Prestige – a flamboyant
young personality in a royal-blue velvet sport coat. In the editorial meeting, he shows Ang three boards with
pages from the next issue. For the
cover he is planning a group photo of
five very successful men ranging in
age from mid-20s to late 50s – an oil
magnate with a penchant for expensive watches, a neurosurgeon, the
president of the Marina Club, an artist and a venture capitalist. An anniversary issue will come out in September that is already brimming with
ads. “I had to console Laura, the original cover girl, once again,” explains
Boey. Regardless of whom Prestige
would select from Singapore’s high
society for the cover, many would be
offended that they weren’t chosen.
That’s why they made an exception
this time and hired a professional
model.
It’s already late again. Melvin Ang
needs to move on, he still has important appointments this evening with
the regional directors of Bulgari,
Cartier and Cortina. Going to bed
early is not an option. He has much
too much planned for that.
Ang decides with
Editor-in-Chief Dylan
Boey (r.) which members of Singapore’s
high society will grace
their cover of Prestige
Melvin Ang shapes the future
Melvin Ang’s most important marketing tool, the Prestige Ball, works in a
similar fashion. He celebrated the
first issue of the luxury magazine 14
years ago with a spectacular ball,
which he repeats every year in September. Only those who are personally invited by the editorial staff may
attend. Ang’s exclusive address book
contains the names of 8,000 men
and women separated into categories A, B or C, depending on the size
of their spending habits. But only the
crème de la crème should appear at
the ball, so the number of guests is
limited to 500. To increase the appeal
for guests even further, every year
Ang and the Prestige fashion director
crown the 10 best-dressed socialites
as belles of the ball. The city’s most
noted jewelers gladly drape the ladies in jewels free of charge. The
chances that the beautiful belle’s
husband will open up his wallet afterward are high.
Prestige has become much more
than a magazine – it is a successful
media brand. That’s why in addition
to the ball, Melvin Ang’s team also
regularly hosts cocktail parties for
luxury brands such as Bulgari or
Cartier. One member of the team is
responsible solely for organizing
these exclusive events.
The company also publishes successful customer magazines for several major shopping centers. And at
Marina Bay Sands, Singapore’s largest resort, with an attached shopping
mall, Melvin Ang organizes an autumn
watch exhibition with the most important representatives from the local
Haute Horlogerie. Ang’s team ensures that enough high-income customers will attend. A few premium
readers of PIN, the Chinese-language
offshoot of Prestige, will fly to Singapore just for the event. Loosely trans-
Ang conversing with
society ladies
BURDA Annual Report
17
Sebastian Matthes EXPLORES Uncharted Waters
News revolution
The Huffington Post is the most exciting innovation in
German online journalism. Editor-in-Chief Sebastian
Matthes and team link blogs, social media and news
on the groundbreaking news portal
A
nyone looking for Sebastian Matthes in his office is
bound to fail. The only sign
of The Huffington Post Editor-inChief’s presence is a laptop case lying open and a jacket hanging on the
back of a chair.
Hardly surprising, since Matthes prefers to work on the front line. You’ll
find him at the news desk, looking
through news reports and writing
headlines with the news editor, at editorial conferences, or on the road,
going to meetings and speaking at
panel discussions. For more than
seven months, the 36-year-old has
Sebastian Matthes EXPLORES Uncharted Waters
“I think that the digital
transformation offers
journalists unbelievable
opportunities – and we
should take them.”
Once 36-year-old
Sebastian Matthes
blogged about the digital
transformation – now he’s
one of those driving it
been in charge of the German edition
of The Huffington Post, the most exciting online innovation in German
journalism. He’s so busy that there’s
no time left to sit in his office. Matthes
considers Internet journalism “a contest of ideas and opinions.” It would
be hard to describe The Huffington
Post’s concept more accurately. In
pre-Internet days, journalism was
structured like a classroom: someone
spoke up in front and many listened.
US nonfiction writer and journalist
Arianna Huffington understood early
on that Internet users were looking
for an equal voice. That’s why, in
2005, she founded The Huffington
Post, her news and debate website, in
the USA. On it she linked to other
news sources, offered a platform to
well-known columnists (e.g., Richard
Dawkins, John Cusack, Alicia Keys)
20
BURDA Annual Report
and, with an editorial team, wrote
original reports and commentaries –
supplemented by input from many
bloggers on a large range of topics.
The concept works: in 2012, “HuffPo”
(as it’s informally known) became
the first commercial online medium
to be presented with a Pulitzer Prize.
Huffington Post staff work
from 6 a.m. until late night
Reaching a gigantic audience
Since October 2013, Arianna
­Huffington and the Tomorrow Focus
AG have been working closely together on the German edition of The
­Huffington Post. This has involved
regular visits by the founder to the
German editorial staff in Munich.
Before Matthes wound up at The
Huffington Post, he had worked as a
business reporter. After studying
economics and politics, he became
an early victim of the Internet virus:
BURDA Annual Report
21
Dual-engine hybrid
He explains the editorial concept with
an image: “The Huffington Post is a
hybrid sports car with two engines.
On one hand, it’s an innovative news
website with a global network. Some
700 professional staff reporters work
there. On the other, it’s a platform on
which experts in all subject areas
write texts that we make available to
an audience they would never have
been able to reach before.” By now,
more than 1,000 German bloggers
use The Huffington Post. One of them
is Hamburg journalist Eric Hegmann.
Since the launch, he has blogged almost weekly for the site. “Many of my
posts do well in social media, with
hundreds of likes and shares,” says
Hegmann. Even if he is not paid for
his posting, he enjoys “trying out topics and how to treat them on such a
far-reaching platform. And if I sell a
few more books as a result, of course
I’m glad.” In his experience, his commentary on dating sites and relationships catches on quite well. “When I
posted about ‘mingles,’ a new form of
relationship somewhere between single and in a relationship, I was interviewed by dpa (German Press Agency), and the interview was published
in lots of daily newspapers a few days
later. I get more and more requests
for interviews related to my Huffington Post contributions.”
Sebastian Matthes EXPLORES Uncharted Waters
long before most of his colleagues,
he had a blog and reported on startups. He has not lost his original enthusiasm: “I think that the digital
transformation offers journalists unbelievable opportunities – and we
should take them. We try out new formats and new forms of storytelling
and let our users decide whether
they like each innovation or not. This
makes us part of a continuous learning and improvement process.”
Voices of a new
generation: the staff
prefers to address
younger readers on
their own terms
24
BURDA Annual Report
that wants to experiment and take
part in helping to shape content.”
There is, however, a clear demarcation from Focus Online. “Our target
group is different,” she explains. “We
consider ourselves Focus Online’s
cheeky little sister. In other words,
our audience is somewhat younger,
somewhat more female – and many
of them are just starting their careers.
And that is reflected in what we talk
count first: “I think Twitter is the most
important news source for me, next
to The Huffington Post – just as relevant as dpa and Reuters. We know
that our users spend a lot of their
time on social media. That is where
we inform them, listen to them and
are engaged in a constant exchange
with them. We then bring debates on
social media back to The Huffington
Post. That is how we are helping to
Sebastian Matthes EXPLORES Uncharted Waters
In just a few months, the German
Huffington Post was able to acquire
prominent bloggers, such as Germany’s Defense Minister Ursula von der
Leyen, tennis legend Boris Becker
and manager René Obermann. Many
authors are sourced by the former
ZDF host Cherno Jobatey. He functions as editorial director and anchor
of the German Huffington Post, provides his own posts, and, like Sebastian Matthes, acts as a public face for
the website.
News and blogs are on an equal footing at HuffPo. On the left side are the
blogs, and in the middle is the news
column with politics and business.
The right-hand column is kept for
softer topics: entertainment, lifestyle
and advice.
The concept seems to be working:
just a few months after its launch, the
German Huffington Post proudly reported some 9.58 million visits (according to German media monitor
IVW, March 2014) – making it number
15 among all German online news offerings. Matthes hadn’t expected to
land in the Top 20 so fast: “We started very successfully and are growing
faster than planned.”
In doing so, The Huffington Post can
also build on the experience of the
Tomorrow Focus AG. That the editorial staff of The Huffington Post and
Focus Online are next door to each
other is no accident: they support
and inform each other daily, and
some of The Huffington Post staff
used to work for Focus Online. Danuta Szarek, for example, used the opportunity to change jobs. As news
editor of The Huffington Post, she is
attracted by the start-up mentality of
her agile team. “Obviously, this job is
energy-sapping, but it is the most
amazing thing I have done in my career so far. Here I am part of a team
Digital natives: a start-up mentality is driving the editorial team – they are willing to experiment
Social media first: many
relevant topics are
found by the editors in
social networks, which
they follow attentively
A success story is being written: with 9.58 million visits as of March 2014, The Huffington Post ranked 15th among
Germany’s online news offerings
about.” With a small team, The Huffington Post does not have a 24-hour
news operation– they start with the
early shift at 6 a.m. and, depending
on the news situation, may stay at the
office until late at night.
Many relevant topics are found by the
editors on social networks, which
they follow attentively. When Matthes
wakes up, he checks his Twitter ac-
shape the media revolution in
Germany.” That’s why The Huffington
Post also has a social media expert
as a member of the news team. “In
the meantime, other portals are copying our ‘social media first’ approach,”
notes Matthes. “Nevertheless, we will
remain the fastest and most innovative source in this area in the future
as well.”
Voice of a new generation
The secret to their success in getting
more exposure? Matthes thinks it is
the special, unique voice of The
Huffington Post. “We try to adopt a
point of view for political commentary
that, in my opinion, has been missing
in Germany. The generation now entering the work force has not yet
been sufficiently recognized.” As
Matthes sees it, traditional journalism
is still dominant on the German media
landscape. And, it usually reports
from the perspective of those who
lead the media. “We, on the other
hand, ask what the political decisions
mean for everyone in their daily lives,
especially younger people. As it turns
out, this approach also appeals to an
older audience, too.”
BURDA Annual Report
25
Kerstin Schneider embodies passion for fashioN
I dream of fashion
German Elle celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2013 – and is
still setting new fashion benchmarks. Fashion Director Kerstin
Schneider shares responsibility for the magazine’s success.
Themes for fashion spreads even come to her in dreams
A
summery April morning in
Berlin’s Hansa Quarter.
Things are bustling today in
the quiet family neighborhood. Racks
of clothes are being delivered, camera tripods and photography panels
dragged along, trolley bags filled with
cosmetics and styling accessories
opened up. In a flat-roofed bungalow
that is typical for this part of the city,
Kerstin Schneider, Fashion Director
at German Elle, prepares the photo
shoot with her team.
Famous architects – including Walter
Gropius, Oscar Niemeyer and Arne
Jacobsen – took the international
Interbau Exposition in 1957 as an opportunity to turn the southern Hansa
Quarter into a showcase for classic
modern architecture with their buildings. Today, these clean-lined structures made of glass, steel, concrete
28
BURDA Annual Report
and brick make the perfect location
for an “urban chic” photo spread.
The stylist does hair and makeup for
a tall, redheaded model with an alabaster complexion. While he works,
she talks about how much she loved
the Disney character Ariel as a child
and that her current boyfriend shares
a name with the prince in that fairy
tale. Everyone laughs. Catering arrives – juices, fresh fruit, croissants
and more. The food is important, because the day will be long. On shoot,
Schneider is friendly and relaxed, but
fully focused at the same time.
Even as a child, she was working as a
stylist. But instead of international
models, she gave her Barbie dolls
new looks. She later became a fan of
the innovative dressmaking magazine
Carina by Burda. Then came a deciding moment, when an issue of French
The outfit must fit perfectly
for the shoot (above).
Makeup (below) is selected
to ideally complement the
clothing.
“Vogue” fell into the ballet enthusiast’s hands, an issue that was dedicated entirely to the dancer Mikhail
Baryshnikov and “Swan Lake.” She
thought, “This is everything that I
love, all rolled up into one. It’s ballet,
it’s fashion, it’s creative. I’d like to do
something like that someday, too.”
It came to pass. Later she was even
able to work with the photographer
from that ballet fashion spread, Arthur Elgort. She still has that gamechanging magazine.
After completing fashion school as
well as internships at a variety of
glossy magazines, she came to Elle –
first as an intern, then an assistant,
then an editor and finally Fashion Director. In addition to a passion for
fashion, Schneider considers a solid
education essential for her work: “By
studying at a fashion school, you can
truly assess the quality of fashion. It
helps me recognize the different fabrics. I know what better or poorer
BURDA Annual Report
29
Kerstin Schneider embodies passion for fashioN
“I often dream of photos
and themes that
I use later in fashion
shoots for Elle.”
As a child, Schneider (right)
was already styling her
Barbie dolls. It takes nine
hours until the entire shoot
is in the can (below).
30
BURDA Annual Report
Dreaming of themes
The images being created today in
Berlin are for a fashion spread for the
September 2014 issue of German
Elle. It highlights outfits that are also
functional in everyday life. This time,
Schneider’s inspiration comes from
the interior classics by designer Ettore Sottsass and his Memphis
Group from the 1980s. Above all, the
Italian’s daring color combinations
appeal to Schneider. The model’s
wardrobe today invokes this design
movement through color combinations such as pastel turquoise melange with canola yellow or mixed
patterns of waves and marbling. The
silhouettes of the jackets and coats
as well as the accessories are a
wearable homage to Sottsass’ works.
In her own wardrobe, Kerstin Schneider prefers a mix of classics and
fashion highlights. She combines
pieces from Céline with vintage and
Topshop, for example. In her work at
Elle, she emphasizes a diverse mixture of “fashion spreads for dreaming
and wearable outfits that adapt runway trends for everyday life.”
She also finds inspiration outside of
the fashion world: “Curiosity and
openness to every area of the arts
are also important to me in my colleagues. I want them to look at the
collections with open eyes and curious minds, discover new things, but
also be just as interested in design,
art, film, et cetera, because we can
also draw inspiration for fashion
spreads from them – and not just
from runway shows. I often dream of
photos and themes that I use later in
fashion shoots for the magazine.”
During the shoot, nothing is left to
chance. Everyone knows what to do.
The styling assistant sorts, irons and
puts the outfits together according to
the photos that Schneider brought
In the days before the
shoot, Schneider puts
together the outfits and
photographs them
along. The makeup artist is devoted
to the model. He smooths her hair,
brings it into shape and emphasizes
her eyes with eye shadow in smoky
nuances. Her complexion should be
matte, but still have a light, natural
glow.
Schneider joins the photographer to
look at the sites that she selected beforehand from photographs. On location in the Hansa Quarter, she discovers new, more exciting perspectives
that were not fully visible in the photos. Together they select the best visual angle and agree on the poses for
the model. “I’m constantly saving
photos and impressions in my own internal database so I can retrieve them
as needed,” explains Schneider.
Meanwhile, the model’s hair and
makeup are done. Schneider has the
young woman slip into the first outfit,
which everyone thinks she looks
fantastic in. Now it’s time to select
the accessories. Although handbags,
shoes, glasses and jewelry were
Kerstin Schneider embodies passion for fashioN
quality is, and I see immediately
whether a piece of clothing fits well.”
Elle
Kerstin Schneider has been Fashion Director at German Elle for 11
years. The women’s fashion magazine equates to one of the world’s
largest and best-known media
brands. Burda also publishes the
home and interior design magazine
Elle Decoration in a joint venture
with Hearst Magazines.
BURDA Annual Report
31
Kerstin Schneider embodies passion for fashioN
already selected for the different outfits, last-minute changes here can
also make the small but crucial difference between a very good look and a
perfect one.
Expressing your style
Apropos a perfect look: “Of course
there are those days where we just
want to be comfortable, but we can
still look good. My team and I wear
sneakers in the office, too, when we
lay out accessories and clothes for a
style spread all over the floor and
have to crawl around. And then there
are days where you think: today I’m
going to take a chance. We should do
that more often. I always think it’s
great when I see women who make
an effort. It doesn’t have to be the
newest ‘it’ item, I just find it nice when
people express their personal style.”
The entire team is now on the move,
everyone doing their bit so that
the looks are perfect. The stylists
32
BURDA Annual Report
“Urban chic” is the theme
of this fashion spread,
produced in Berlin’s Hansa
Quarter
arrange the clothing and pin it into
shape, the makeup artist outlines the
model’s lips, and the photographer
and his assistant use lighting to increase or reduce the shadows.
Schneider patiently answers her
team’s questions. She keeps an eye
on everything – and even catches a
reflector panel herself while giving
the model posing instructions. Had
she not, the panel would have hit the
photographer’s assistant on the
head. Locations and styles change,
34
BURDA Annual Report
Kerstin Schneider embodies passion for fashioN
the light shifts and yet remains the
same in the photos by changing the
lighting. The hours pass, hair is restyled over and over; the photographer and Schneider keep carefully
comparing the already created images on a large laptop screen and making a preliminary selection.
After nine hours of hard work, it’s
time for the last outfit. But then,
Schneider has an idea: the first outfit
will be photographed again, only this
time at a different location. And lo
and behold, this revisit makes a big
difference to the final image. Once
the last shot has been taken, there
are hugs all around. There is applause, and kisses are distributed
generously. Everyone agrees: the effort was worth it.
While they all pack up their equipment in boxes and cases to get ready
to leave, Schneider sorts out the
pieces from international designers
like Balmain and Dior. These outfits
are placed in their own case, because
they need to be sent on to the next
editorial department right away.
Finally, 12 hours after the first “hello,”
everything is picked up and the team
heads off to the next project. But
first, she expects a short stopover at
the location that all of them are
yearning for – bed. Maybe here, she
will start dreaming of the next photos,
scenes and styles.
Schneider and the photographer continuously compare
the already captured shots
on a laptop and begin to
make a preliminary selection
Spotlights and reflectors help ensure
consistent lighting
throughout the shoot
BURDA Annual Report
35
Fabrizio d’Angelo learns from his mistakes
“Don’t be afraid of
failing!”
Anyone who wants to shape the media landscape of tomorrow cannot be afraid of making mistakes, because the only way
to avoid them is never to take a risk. Fabrizio D’Angelo, CEO of
BurdaInternational, talks about the courage to be honest, lifelong learning and why managers should listen to Socrates
that he has a lot to say. Nothing bothers him
more than “bullshit.” D’Angelo studied philoso­
phy and likes to use plain language, but he does
so charmingly – as probably only an Italian can.
Only Lufthansa knows for sure, but I estimate
that in the past six years, I’ve nearly traveled
the distance to the moon and back twice. I’m
only in my office in Munich once a week, and
once a month in Offenburg. I probably spend
the most time in the lounge at Munich airport.
Half the airport knows me by now [laughs].
That means lots of nights in hotels. …
O
38
I spend 220 nights in hotels every year. I have
to tell you a story about that: I recently went to
a furniture store with my girlfriend to buy a sofa.
Right after coming in the door, I said: “We’ll take
the couch back there!” She answered, puzzled:
“But how do you know that when we haven’t
tried out any yet?” I just said: “I sit on 220 sofas
every year and believe me, this sofa is just the
right one for us.” Of course she didn’t believe
me – she wouldn’t be my girlfriend otherwise –
and tried out every single sofa in the store. In
the end, she came back to me and said: “You
know what? You’re right. That’s the best one.” It
sounds funny, but when you’ve already tried out
every sofa imaginable, as I have, you can see
something like that at a glance.
n his windowsill stands a bronze statue of a
Chinese good-luck dragon. Next to that, framed
covers of French magazines and old black-andwhite photos from Italy. A Buddha figure smiles
up at him from the desk. As soon as you enter
Fabrizio D’Angelo’s office, you see that the CEO
of BurdaInternational gets around a great deal.
And when you talk to him for a while, you notice
BURDA Annual Report
Burda has expanded – for example, through
its acquisition of Gruner + Jahr in Poland
or the collaboration with Glam Media in
Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Do you
travel primarily to those countries now?
No, I try to visit all the countries I am responsi­
ble for regularly. But not because I want to
Fabrizio d’Angelo learns from his mistakes
You are responsible for 17 countries worldwide – for Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan as
well as for Poland, Turkey and France. How
many kilometers do you actually travel each
year?
Like his employees, Fabrizio
D’Angelo has to learn
something new every day
Many people are afraid
of being themselves – and
of being honest.
best practices in Asia, they would
call me. Now they call their colleague
in Asia directly, because they know
each other from our meetings.
You always emphasize how important lifelong learning is. …
make all the decisions myself. That’s impossi­
ble. I try to find employees on location who are
able to make the best decisions. I select them,
coordinate them, give them tips and make sug­
gestions – but they have to implement those
things themselves. When I visit, it’s for a health
check of sorts and to explain what’s going on at
headquarters in Germany and in the other
countries. Naturally, I try to motivate my em­
ployees on site as well: “Come on people, you
can do even more!”
If something works well in one region, do you
suggest trying it out in other regions?
Normally, my employees will already know
about it. For the last three years, we’ve been
holding big meetings where all the Burda­
International managers can get to know each
other and share experiences. The more we
think and act as a team, the better. Previously,
if someone from Poland wanted to know about
One of the biggest challenges of the
digital revolution lies in the fact that
we have to learn so many new things.
What is HTML? How does a blog
work? What do the new business
models look like? And that means, as
a very successful publishing execu­
tive, you sometimes have to admit
that you don’t know something. But
that isn’t so bad, because then you
just learn it. We have to start from
scratch with so many things. Some
people have a hard time accepting
that. But everyone has to do it.
Does that apply to you as well?
BurdaInternational
The company Fabrizio
D’Angelo heads has
more than 2,600 em­
ployees and publishes
over 290 magazines in
17 markets as well as
a variety of digital me­
dia products.
Of course! I read a lot, ask a lot of
questions, talk to a lot of people,
and try out many things. I’m currently
helping my brother launch his start-
BURDA Annual Report
39
Fabrizio D’Angelo
Why is that? Are managers afraid they’ll lose
authority if they admit they don’t know something?
Stopover: a frequent flyer,
D’Angelo is in his Munich
office only once a week
Many people are afraid of being themselves –
and of being honest. There is a certain idea of
what leadership should be. According to that
idea, leadership means having more expert
knowledge. This burdens managers with the
necessity of knowing more than their employ­
ees – or at least acting like they do. In my opin­
ion, the first important decision that you have to
make in your job is: am I really going to try to
improve my knowledge, or am I just going to
pretend? That is a fundamental, human ques­
tion. I decided never to act as though I knew
something better, regardless of what it cost me.
Because you pay a price for being yourself. But
if you want to spread the message that lifelong
learning is essential, then you should admit
what you don’t know. If you tell your employees:
“Sorry, I really don’t know that, I have to learn it
first,” they will understand it as precisely that –
and be relieved that they don’t have to pretend
to know something they don’t.
But it isn’t enough to say, “I don’t know, either!” You also have to be prepared to learn.
Fabrizio d’Angelo learns from his mistakes
up and am learning a great deal from him –
about search-engine optimization, for example.
You know, it’s no problem for me to launch a
new magazine on the market anywhere in the
world. That’s my job; I can do it in my sleep. But
when we’re dealing with digital products, things
look very different. We don’t know enough
about that yet. We are constantly improving, but
we’re still not good enough yet. And the higher
up the hierarchy you are, the more difficult it is
to say, “Oh, I don’t know that.”
The Italian feels equally at home in
Tegernsee (below) and in China (left,
a souvenir). The 42-year-old studied
philosophy in Pisa, trained at Milch­
strasse Publishing Group in Ham­
burg, and then worked at Mondadori
Publishing before becoming CEO of
BurdaInternational in 2009.
ceed like scientists. Scientists experiment – and
no scientist begins an experiment without an
assumption or theory. In the real world, every
theory needs to be tested as well. Our experi­
ments happen to be the launch of a new maga­
zine or digital product. Now, any scientist will
tell you that 95 percent of all experiments fail
and only 5 percent are successful. But they are
the very people we have to thank for scientific
progress.
Of course, there’s no shame in not knowing
something. You see, I studied philosophy, and
even Socrates says that the first step toward
wisdom is to admit your own ignorance. That’s
why you have to know where the gaps in your
Even Nobel Prize winners often take years to
achieve a breakthrough. …
knowledge are – and then try to learn and close
them as well and as quickly as possible. That’s
what it’s all about. That’s why I dislike bullshit as
a matter of principle, because for me philoso­
phy has always meant seeking truth. Naturally,
you’ll never find absolute truth. Not even clever
philosophers like Hegel, who thought they knew
a lot about truth, managed it. But you have to
try. The best thing in life is to set something in
motion and learn new things. Otherwise, life has
no purpose.
40
BURDA Annual Report
Those people in particular, because you only
get a Nobel Prize if you dare to be a pioneer in
new fields. I like comparing our work to science
because the empirical method is so brutally
honest. If you are a real scientist or a real busi­
nessman, you establish realistic criteria for suc­
cess or failure in advance. You set yourself a re­
alistic schedule and then watch. How did it go?
Did it work or not?
Does willingness to learn also mean willingness to make mistakes?
In business, however, you usually lose money
when you make mistakes. Is that a problem
for you, or does it come with the territory?
No one knows what the world of tomorrow will
look like. If we want to shape it, we have to pro­
It’s part of our experimentation process. Let’s
assume that we tested out 10 new things last
BURDA Annual Report
41
But that only works if you work for a company
that doesn’t fire you right away if you fail
once.
That’s why I work for Burda. The prevailing at­
mosphere here makes it possible – if you do it
in an open and honest way. Naturally we have to
make a profit. After all, we are a business and
not a charity. But the message is: don’t worry,
A look in the mirror:
“No one is perfect.”
year. Some of them were flops, others success­
es. Not everything has to succeed, but when
everything fails, it means you’re not a good sci­
entist. At the end of the year, I take stock and
determine that we’ve lost some money. But the
important thing is that we don’t repeat the
failed experiments, just the successful ones.
And usually the successes are scalable and
can be exported to other countries. I’m respon­
sible for 17 countries, and if I develop a profit­
able event concept for the Czech Republic,
then next year we can also implement it in Rus­
sia, Poland or Ukraine. So next year’s profits will
increase significantly.
Have you done that?
And how! For example, we organized the
“Appetit Picnic” in the Czech Republic – Appetit
is our food magazine there. It became the coun­
try’s biggest food festival in its first year. This
year, it’s twice the size and we’re earning three
times as much. Now we’re putting on the same
42
BURDA Annual Report
festival in France and Britain, and Russia will
soon follow. So the success of our experiments
cannot be measured after a single year, be­
cause we made a loss then. But when you look
at it over the entire period, we will make millions
with these experiments. The only problem is
that we don’t know beforehand which experi­
ments will work and which won’t. For that rea­
son, we need to be very flexible and openminded.
“The best thing in
life is to set something in motion and
learn new things.
Otherwise life has
no purpose for me.”
Weatherproof: we need to
keep looking ahead, even in
stormy times
Do you have to be courageous as well?
I think “honest” would be more accurate. But
sometimes it also takes courage to be honest.
People who always win are extremely boring.
For me, this image of the well-tanned winner
with the perfect white smile is infuriating. No
one and nothing is perfect. In business, a flop
means that you search for the reasons behind
it. If readers don’t like a magazine, you have to
consider how to deal with it. Do you see it as an
opportunity to better understand your readers?
try something, set something in motion. Some
people find it difficult to trust a person to that
effect – until they notice that I honestly mean it
and also apply it to myself. Anyway, I believe
that’s the only way to lead employees these
days – by acting as a true role model.
BURDA Annual Report
43
Fabrizio d’Angelo learns from his mistakes
Or do you just sweep it under the rug and act
as though it never happened? You can learn a
great deal from flops. You know, as a philoso­
phy student in particular, I always had the same
worry: you know a lot in theory, but can you im­
plement it in real life? Or are you just a dork in
an ivory tower? That’s why I followed this max­
im early on: don’t be afraid of failing, try some­
thing out, implement it in real life.
The Burda School of Journalism is teaching for tomorrow
In a class of their own
At the Burda School of Journalism, students learn to research,
write, film, blog, program and tweet – and how to market themselves and their stories
Impressions: the
mood wall gives the
graduating class
inspiration for their
still-secret magazine
project
T
im Geyer looks for a story
about a grandmother with an
iPad, while Mareike Hasenbeck switches thematically back and
forth between quick sex and slowbrewed beer. All in all, it’s a fairly normal morning at the Burda School of
Journalism (BSJ) in Offenburg, at
least in this phase: the 25 students in
the class of 2012-2014 are working
on their final project. Within seven
weeks, they must develop and design
a magazine including a website, social media strategy and image film.
The title and theme are still a closely
guarded secret. After all, the magazine should surprise readers with an
unusual concept – as did its predecessors, Share, Treat, and Hollyhome.
Right now, Hasenbeck is writing a
story about infidelity in the Internet
age. The project is due in two days;
several conferences are still sched-
46
BURDA Annual Report
uled before then in the lofty, openspace office at Hubert-Burda-Platz 1.
A brainstorming session for the video
intended to advertise the magazine is
coming up. The student quickly
checks beforehand whether there is
any feedback to her blog. New Facebook friends? Reactions to her latest
tweet? E-mails? And indeed: there is
a request from Vienna in the mailbox.
They would like to invite her to give a
presentation at their local craft-beer
festival.
What sounds like a private pleasure is
in fact a lot of work. Almost every
day, 25-year-old Hasenbeck writes,
films or tweets for her blog, “Feiner
Hopfen” (English: fine hops), about
craft beer. But the blog is also a fundamental component of her training.
“The idea is to let the students develop a media brand on their own and
turn themselves into their own Edi-
Leeway for experimentation
Mareike Hasenbeck and the other
students get most of the skills they
need during the 18-week basic training at the beginning of the program.
In one of the first units, Holger
Schmidt – a business journalist
known as the “Netzökonom” (English:
Internet economist) – describes the
importance of the Internet for the
media world and how journalists use
it for their work. In addition to the traditional journalistic forms of expression, social media, blogs, data journalism, search engine optimization
and smartphone journalism are listed
on the program. Students have a
great deal of leeway to experiment
with infographics, video-editing programs and other tools in a digital
toolbox that’s constantly changing.
Experimentation includes times when
things go differently than expected:
to test the best ways of gaining attention on Facebook, the journalism students recently promised to plant a
flower for every “like.” They had to
discontinue the campaign very quickly – and find a way to get hold of 700
flower plants. “Digitally active newspaper journalists are in demand,”
says Maximilian Gaub, production advisor for the online final magazine
project, about the new digital content
in the Burda training program. Gaub
The Burda School of Journalism is teaching for tomorrow
tors-in-Chief and publishers,” says
Nikolaus von der Decken, who has
been Director of the Burda School of
Journalism since fall 2012. It was his
idea to turn all Burda students into
publishers of their own digital media
brands.
Hasenbeck, who is completing the
practical part of her traineeship at
Focus, has hit a nerve with her craft
beer blog: her page has gotten more
than 60,000 hits and “Feiner Hopfen”
has 700 Facebook fans. But Hasenbeck has yet to earn money from her
ad-free site. “The blog primarily gets
me into the routine of writing,” she
says. “And it is a digital playground
where I can experiment.”
Wearable advertising: Tim
Geyer even advertises his
blog, “Punkpoprap,” on his
jacket (above). Below:
videoconference with Tim
Geyer (left), Sarah
Edenhofner (second from
left) and fellow students.
BURDA Annual Report
47
The year in review: student and craft-beer blogger Mareike Hasenbeck (above) meticulously notes
in her beer journal (below) how she likes different varieties
The BSJ
The training program at the
Burda School of Journalism
in Offenburg takes two
years, with students spending 18 months in various
Burda editorial offices. They
should be versatile and universally deployable afterward. A new selection process enables the best talents to win.
48
BURDA Annual Report
Edenhofner, for example, used it to
report live on the America’s Cup for
her sailing, surfing and wakeboarding
blog, “Style am Wind” (English: style
on the wind). Her regular readers
were not the only ones who liked it:
Team Oracle, who went on to win the
world’s most famous sailing regatta,
shared her tweets.
Visual thinking
Students of the Burda School of
Journalism learn not only how to
write stories, but also how to get
readers to want to read them. School
director von der Decken regularly invites Editors-in-Chief from Burda editorial offices to conferences so that
students can practice pitching ideas
to them. Von der Decken speaks of
“presentation skills” and believes that
snappy headlines, trailers and photo
captions have the same value in the
training program as the text of the
story. “We need a next generation
that understands journalism as a
whole.” In his opinion, editors of the
future cannot just write and operate
digital channels. They have to think
visually as well – which is why students have to present an image idea
for every topic. They have to recognize market needs and develop topics that fit specific target groups.
What makes those groups tick? Students learn that from their blogs,
among other things. “User behavior
gives me a fairly precise idea which
headlines and stories work and which
ones don’t,” says Tim Geyer, who did
his traineeship at Playboy and writes
the music blog “Punkpoprap.” The
27-year-old is learning what matters
for the success of a website not only
at the BSJ, but also during an overseas posting. Geyer spent three
months at the Burda office in New
York. A challenging time in which he
wrote a report on cannabis legalization and learned a lot about journalism in the US. “I was able to talk to
the editors of the ‘New York Times’
about the best way to implement
content online,” he notes.
The Burda School of Journalism is teaching for tomorrow
is a graduate of the school himself.
During his time 10 years ago, training
for online journalism took only one
week. Since then, the content of the
four-month basic training program
has grown massively. In addition, the
curriculum is no longer divided up by
media channel. It’s simply structured
didactically from easy to difficult.
Nevertheless, the traditional forms of
journalistic work are not obsolete.
Quite the opposite: unique content is
key, so it is more important than ever
that journalists go out into the world.
Many Burda students have been active on Twitter for some time. Sarah
Authorization to film:
filming is a solid
component of the
students’ training
(above). Lecturer
Maximilian Gaub (left)
wants to broaden
their horizons.
The entire publishing group benefits
from the expertise gained by Geyer
and his fellow students during their
training. In their main editorial offices,
many of the students are valued contacts when it comes to digital strategies and forms of expression. “The
current generation of students has a
huge advantage,” says von der Decken about his pupils. “Their digital
knowledge is a unique characteristic
in many editorial offices. That’s why,
starting in 2014, we will be introducing a new subject, Basic Programming Knowledge for Journalists.”
The way of things:
every graduating
class brings out a
new magazine – such
as last year’s Share
magazine
BURDA Annual Report
49
Kjeld Peters loves technology
The algorithm of love
Only fate knows whether two people are compatible – and the
computers at Elitepartner. Kjeld Peters, the Technical Director
for the online dating service, uses high tech to help over
four million singles in his database find happiness for life
52
BURDA Annual Report
Let’s clear up a couple of things. Normally Peters doesn’t pay attention to
the answers in this test, but rather
whether any error messages appear.
Aside from that, the dark-blond, tall,
athletic 33-year-old is not looking for
a wife. He is happily married and has
a two-year-old son.
As Technical Director, Kjeld Peters
has been optimizing the Elitepartner
website – one of the largest and most
successful online dating services in
the German-speaking world – for six
and a half years. When he started,
Burda had just taken over the Hamburg-based company and it still
smelled like a start-up. Since then,
the number of employees has nearly
tripled, to more than 100. Revenues
are growing in the double-digit percentage range every year. The office
in Hamburg’s casual Schanzenviertel
neighborhood quickly became too
small. Now Elitepartner resides in the
upscale Hafencity area.
In all of these years, millions of men
and women seeking partners have
eagerly checked the right boxes on
the website and laid bare their
dreams and passions. Programs from
Peters and his 22-person team perform the actual matchmaking. Who is
compatible? Who is even more compatible? Peters’ system spits out a list
of suggestions. Over four million singles trust his algorithm of love.
Now he checks three boxes. “Approach conflicts openly. Maintain
space. And: mutual trust, openness
and honesty.” On to leisure time and
interests. A rewarding question, since
this two-meter-tall man plays basketball – of course.
The questions about sports, music
and favorite seasons lighten up the
test and appear in every member’s
profile. In the end, singles should become paying customers, sending
messages through Elitepartner – and
these topics provide easy conversation-starters.
Completely focused on love:
even the conference rooms
are named after deities of
love (below)
Peters translates the management board’s goals into directions for the programmers (above)
For decades, psychologists have
been researching the secrets of
choosing a partner. The results: two
people should be similar – and yet different. Even if their personality profiles fit together like two puzzle pieces, it does not guarantee lifelong
happiness – but it increases the likelihood. Whether or not a person believes in the “perfect partner,” personality plays a defining role.
Kjeld Peters does not believe, for example, in love at first sight. “Does not
apply,” he checks. He and his wife attended the same school for years
without sparks flying. While he fills
out the test, the software is calculating his personality points in the background. For example, how great his
need for closeness is. Or resistance
to stress, measured with the statement: “I often feel restless and tense
in my free time.” Does not apply to
Peters at all: “Quite the opposite. I lie
down in bed and go to sleep.” A practical trait, since Peters’ business
phone also rings on the weekend. He
likes it that way. He commutes to
work for an hour each day on the
train and subway. He uses this time to
answer e-mails on his iPad. Work-life
balance? “The term is outdated.” His
wife sees it a bit differently, but:
“Challenges strengthen relationships.
That definitely applies to me.” Box
checked, on to the next page.
Now it’s about values, motives and
goals in life. Peters sees himself as
success and competition-oriented,
organized and structured. Sounds
right for an IT manager. Then he realizes he omitted something: at the beginning of the questionnaire, he forgot to check that he likes to work
with computers. He, of all people –
the technology freak. How he would
have loved to have had a Commodore
64 like his friends had in their room in
Flensburg! But his father was against
it, even though he himself was a programmer. The 10-year-old Kjeld ended up getting a discarded PC. Programming fascinates him to this day
and he likes to play on the computer,
but he was never one of those shy
nerds as per the cliché. Otherwise,
he would not be able to do his job,
because Peters sits on the manage-
ment board of Elitepartner. He converts strategic goals into clear orders
for his team: “I am a translator.”
The test is completed. Now it gets interesting, because the algorithm is
beginning to work. “Our ‘Coca-Cola
formula,’” says Peters, alluding to the
secrecy of the algorithm. Around 100
lines of code fill the screen. The
terms “m1” and “m2” keep appearing;
they represent two people and their
personality points. The values for
closeness, self-sufficiency and dominance should have a certain distance
between them; “m1” and “m2” should
be different. With communication
skills, ability to empathize, handling
conflict and processing stress, they
should lie close together. Up to 120
matching points are theoretically
possible. It’s fate’s formula for people
BURDA Annual Report
53
Kjeld Peters loves technology
K
jeld Peters is: a man. He is
looking for: a woman. This
is what he enters in the
fields that appear on the Elitepartner.
de site. “I’ve done this test thousands
of times,” says Peters, grinning. The
next page loads. He bends forward
over his iPad. Frown lines appear.
“What is important for you in a partnership?” Three or four answers are
required out of 12 possibilities. Tolerance? Love? Faithfulness? Children?
Sex? Well.
Love search
Like a program director,
Peters needs to analyze the “ratings,” millions of clicks, comments and messages.
Big data in the service
of true love.
54
BURDA Annual Report
users as possible over these hurdles
– to “convert” them, as the industry
term goes. Every day this system
spits out these conversion rates,
comparable to viewing figures in the
TV industry. And like a program director, Peters needs to analyze the “ratings” – millions of clicks, comments,
and messages. Big data in the service of true love. He hunts for causes
in the data stream: why do users
quit? Why do they stop writing contact messages? What do they actually expect from our service? Do they
expect a scientifically determined
perfect match, meaning a suitable
suggestion for a partner? Or the perfect pool, meaning the largest and
best selection of elite singles?
Likely the latter, Peters has found
through surveys. “We have the peo-
ple with the right intentions, not just
those looking for a date next weekend.” After all, everyone swimming
around in the perfect pool invested
20 minutes in the test. The algorithm
of love is no guarantee for success –
but the most important foundation.
Peters has been programming toward
the future for some time now – making mobile apps even more functional,
analyzing even better what singles
are looking for.
So who is he most compatible with? It
would need to be someone who
seeks closeness, can handle a dominant partner, believes in growth in a
relationship and can communicate
well. Someone who handles conflict
well and is stress resistant.
In first place with 97 matching
points: a student, 1.63 meters tall,
government worker with a bachelor’s
degree. Likes chill-out music. Very attractive. In real life, Peters would have
to contact her now. Instead (to the
detriment of his conversion rate), he
exits. His wife will be pleased. The
two of them used the algorithm of
love on themselves for fun once. Only
85 matching points. But Peters believes that things will develop nicely.
Kjeld Peters loves technology
seeking a partner – and for Elitepartner as well. The same thing applies to
the dating service from Hamburg as
for the beverage producer from Atlanta: change the formula, and it’s no
longer Coca-Cola. That’s why since
Peters joined the company, he has
only tweaked the details of the formula. Otherwise the suggestion list
would be turned upside down overnight. A person who was a dream
partner yesterday would only be a
mildly interesting candidate today.
Getting people to stick with it – that is
the biggest challenge for Peters and
his big data specialists. Some interested people don’t complete the test.
They don’t click through the suggestion list or they hesitate with subscribing. Peters has every activity on
the page evaluated to help as many
Kjeld Peters and his employees determine what singles really want.
For example, 69 percent of men are
seeking an attractive partner. In
contrast, only 53 percent of all
women want an attractive husband.
But 53 percent of women would like
to have a professionally successful
partner. Conversely, that is only true
for 33 percent of men.
Virtual meets real
world: “Like” stamps
for quick comments
(above), and couples
who got to know each
other thanks to
Elitepartner (left)
BURDA Annual Report
55
Alexandra Schiel connects people
The worldwide
network
From New York to Beijing: DLD is where the global digital elite
comes together. Alexandra Schiel and the rest of the DLD
team are constantly looking for smart people’s minds and the
latest Internet trends for the innovation conference
W
hen you first see the IAC
Building, you think an
alien space ship must have
landed in America’s biggest city. Star
architect Frank Gehry’s strangely
twisted, semi-transparent, glassfronted building is eye-catching, even
alongside the many other famous
skyscrapers of Manhattan. Appropriately enough, this futuristic high-rise
is home to the Internet company of
legendary US media manager Barry
Diller, with the offices of the video
portal Vimeo, the knowledge community Ask.com and other well-known
web companies. It’s a miniature Silicon Valley in the middle of New York
City. Nevertheless, for the American
visitors from the digital industry last
April, the scene inside the high-tech
building was even more unusual than
58
BURDA Annual Report
the building’s exterior. Standing on a
small stage were four men from Tegernsee, Germany, wearing lederhosen and playing Bavarian folk music
on guitar, tuba, harmonica and double
bass. It was the first day of the DLD
digital conference.
While at first glance it looked as if the
band from Bavaria had turned up at
the wrong party by mistake, it was in
fact all part of a plan. “After all, our
motto is ‘Connect the Unexpected!’”
explains Alexandra Schiel, Senior
Project Manager at DLD Media.
That’s why the first DLD in New York
featured Bavarian musicians, because surprises go well with the
Burda conference, whose watchwords are “Digital,” “Life” and “Design.” At DLD, Lady Gaga might make
a surprise appearance, or best-sell-
ing author Paulo Coelho might show
up to discuss storytelling with Napster and Facebook financier Sean
Parker.
Since the first meeting of the digital
elite, in Munich in November 2005, it
has developed into Europe’s leading
digital conference – with offshoots in
Tel Aviv, Rio de Janeiro, London, Beijing and other cities, and the spin-off
DLDwomen, which features women’s
perspectives on technological developments. DLD regularly brings together the who’s who of the Internet,
from Google Executive Chairman Eric
Schmidt to Facebook founder Mark
Zuckerberg, to talk about the future.
Scene of the first DLD
Conference in New York:
the IAC Building
Insider perspective
“The event in New York was a trial
run for us,” says Schiel, who has
worked for Burda for nine years now,
when asked about the first DLD in the
US metropolis. It was a very successful one, because the late-April event
attracted more than 1,000 visitors
and 100 speakers to the IAC building
in Manhattan. They included Danish
artist Olafur Eliasson, EU Commissioner Viviane Reding, art director
Stefan Sagmeister and AOL founder
Steve Case, who now runs the investment firm Revolution.
“Of course, we were consciously
playing up the image that we come
from Bavaria and Munich. Some of us
actually wanted to wear dirndls to the
conference in New York, but it was really too cold for that,” Schiel says with
a smile. With the rest of the team
around DLD founder Steffi Czerny,
she looks after the planning, organization and execution of the innovation
conference.
To get start-up founders, investors,
Internet stars and creative masterminds enthusiastic about the Burda
digital conference, the 32-year-old
makes frequent visits to Silicon Valley
and other high-tech locations. “It’s
what we call ‘fishing for DLD,’” she
says. On her trips, the business graduate not only meets many exciting
people, but also gets to know – from
the inside – the companies the whole
world is talking about. And in doing
so, she has discovered that many
of the clichés people associate with
hip Internet start-ups are indeed only
clichés.
Last fall, for example, she visited the
instant-messaging service WhatsApp
Alexandra Schiel connects people
Two Germans in
New York: DLD founder
Steffi Czerny (left) with
Alexandra Schiel
DLD
The first DLD took
place in Munich in
2005. Since then,
DLD has become the
leading European
digital and innovation
conference, with offshoots in such places as Tel Aviv, Beijing
and, most recently,
New York City.
BURDA Annual Report
59
60
BURDA Annual Report
with a little luck, attendees may get a
chance to talk to one of the stars as
they stand in the line at the schnitzel
truck or during the Bavarian Night at
the beer garden at New York’s Standard Hotel. Even in the age of Skype,
Twitter, Facebook and Google hangouts, there’s no substitute for personal encounters. It was at DLD that
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer noticed
Nick d’Aloisio, then 17 years old, from
London, whose start-up she later
bought for $30 million.
New York (above) still sets the pace in the media world
– the ideal location for a digital conference.
During the event, Alexandra Schiel (below) and her
colleagues sometimes work 18-hour days.
Steffi Czerny with DLD Chairman
Yossi Vardi (above). From
Tegernsee to Manhattan:
musicians at Bavaria Night (left).
Below: Stefan Winners (3rd from
right), Board Member Digital,
discussing business models of
the future with Etsy CEO Chad
Dickerson (far left) and David
Nussbaum of F+W Media (2nd
from right), among others.
Alexandra Schiel connects people
in California – and was very surprised
by how dreary their offices looked.
“Just two hours before, we were
around the corner at Dropbox. The
difference was a real culture shock.”
The offices of the cloud-storage
service provider Dropbox looked like
the lounge of a boutique hotel; at
Whats­App the 30 or 40 employees
sat in a cheerless open office with
old-fashioned strip curtains, beige
desks and beige-brown partitions.
A few months later, Facebook paid
$19 billion for the start-up, which
wants to replace SMS.
Alexandra Schiel didn’t have difficulty
signing up well-known speakers,
such as WhatsApp founder Jan
Koum, for DLD. “I enjoy approaching
people,” she says with a beaming
smile. More than 20,000 addresses
of established major players and
newcomers from the digital economy,
politics and culture are stored in the
DLD team computer.
According to Managing Director Steffi Czerny, there is much more going
on than just networking. “The networking concept is much too superficial for me,” she explains. “To be able
to actively connect people, you have
to be interested in them. You have to
have a feeling for people and know
what they are concerned about, what
drives them.”
This attitude is another reason why
DLD is considered a very special
conference. “It’s really about the people,” says Schiel.
After giving their own speeches, many of the speakers join the audience
to listen to the other presenters, and
More than networking
The importance of the human aspect
is also evident in the handling of
prominent speakers, whom Alexandra Schiel used to look after when
she started at DLD. When famous
venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, one
of the first to back Twitter, comes to
the conference in Munich, he will find
waiting for him in his hotel room a
pair of original barbecue gloves – because the DLD team knows that
Horowitz loves to barbecue. And if
Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook,
or Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales
has to rush off to the World Economic
Forum in Davos right after DLD,
Schiel and her team will organize a
helicopter if necessary. One of
Schiel’s colleagues looked after Marissa Mayer at a DLD conference, and
the current Yahoo head, who was
then still working for Google, was so
pleased by how she was treated that
she hired him to be her office manager shortly afterwards.
Anyone who thinks that successful
networking means exchanging as
BURDA Annual Report
61
Trend indicator for Burda
Schiel and her colleagues not only
track the latest trends on the Internet
and social media, but also regularly
visit important technology conferences – such as TED in the US, the Web
Summit in Dublin, LeWeb in Paris and
the Disrupt Europe in Berlin – where
they are always on the lookout for
speakers with unusual ideas – and
the next big thing.
While there, the DLD people make
contacts that can be useful for the
whole Burda Group. When colleagues
from other divisions want to know, for
example, how to best approach a
62
BURDA Annual Report
Alexandra Schiel connects people
many business cards as possible
doesn’t have a clue about what is
really involved. “You have to create
lasting relationships,” Schiel explains.
Sometimes that means a lot of work.
Shortly before and during the conference, Schiel and her colleagues
sometimes have to work 18-hour
days, in order to get the speakers
they absolutely want and to make
sure everything runs smoothly. “I
haven’t really celebrated Christmas
for the last nine years, because that
is our busiest period,” says Schiel,
laughing about the hectic days before
the main DLD conference, which
takes place in Munich every January.
That kind of stress can only be managed if you have the right qualities:
“Alexandra is full of passion, curiosity,
persistence, team spirit and ambition,” is how Steffi Czerny praises her
longtime employee.
In constant communication: at the conference,
Alexandra Schiel hardly
has time to admire the
New York skyline
Alexandra Schiel connects people
Timing is everything: the clock
(above) reminds
participants in
discussions to be
succinct.
Left: the DLD team
in New York.
Creative masterminds: a video wall shows the greats who have already spoken at the conference
“ We are the trend
indicators for Burda
– and sometimes the
door-openers as well"
Communications headquarters: the discussions are streamed live via Internet
64
BURDA Annual Report
particular start-up in Silicon Valley,
the DLD team can often help.
Burda CEO Paul-Bernhard Kallen
regularly speaks at the conference,
and the whole Executive Board even
travels to off-site events such as DLD
New York City to learn about the latest digital developments on the spot.
The innovation platform has long
since become a strong brand for
Burda. “We are the trend indicators
for Burda – and sometimes the dooropeners as well,” Schiel says.
To make even better use of this
knowledge for the company, the media company has recently started a
DLD Burda. In November 2013, at the
first such conference, more than
550 ­Burda employees from 17 countries came to Munich to get up to
speed on the digital transformation.
Through her work, Alexandra Schiel
has constantly met the people who
are making this transformation happen. One especially influential person
she still wants to meet and invite to
DLD is Apple chief designer Jonathan
Ive. Best of all would be to have him
together with the man he considers
his inspiration, German designer Dieter Rams: “Those two creative masterminds together on the podium – that
would be amazing.”
Goody bags for visitors
BURDA Annual Report
65
Diana Knodel develops new projects
A change of
conviction
Diana Knodel works as a Product Manager at Xing, the social
network for professional contacts. She would like to get
more women interested in programming – and has launched
­several initiatives to achieve that goal
N
68
otorious as it may be, it works: cat content.
“Meow.” A dozen young women cheer at the
sound, laughing and staring with fascination
at their monitors, which show a close-up shot
of a cat ­meowing.
The first app they’ve created themselves, and it
was child’s play thanks to the MIT App Inventor,
a toolbox system that can be used without pro-
BURDA Annual Report
Diana Knodel develops new projects
gramming knowledge. A type of puzzle that
leads to success in just a few minutes – and the
first step toward a lofty goal: getting more
women interested in computer science. “Often,
women in particular have a false image of programming,” says Diana Knodel. And she wants
to change that, because it has to change.
That’s why Knodel, who is a Product Manager
at Xing, the social network for professional contacts, works on cat content in her spare time –
to help women and girls realize that IT isn’t boring, but rather creative teamwork that’s also
fun. More than 20 women have come to learn
programming this Saturday at the app camp for
women – and a few want to “conquer their technophobia,” as one participant puts it.
The event was organized by the Hamburg
Geekettes, a network for women in the tech
and start-up scene, and App Camps, a series
from the Hamburg Open Tech School. Diana
Knodel co-founded both initiatives – because
she wants to get things moving. “I want more
people to love tech,” she states about her motivation in her profile on the website about.me. At
first, however, the 32-year-old was not fully
convinced herself. Back when she began studying media information technology, focusing on
psychology, because she found the communication opportunities online interesting, because
her interests in math and art indicated she’d like
it, and because her mother thought that the alternative, social pedagogy, would bore her ambitious daughter.
“The subject itself had difficulty convincing me,”
says Knodel looking back. What inspired her
was like-minded people – men and women who
remain friends to this day, and with whom she
Diana Knodel’s team is responsible for Xing’s programming interfaces. The colorful cards on the schedule mark the next process steps.
plowed through exercises and problems, often
until late at night. And yet Knodel felt a lack of
acceptance for a long time, at least in those
places the Stuttgart native liked to spend time:
at music festivals, in less tech-savvy circles. “At
the beginning, I was uncomfortable saying that I
studied computer science. Instead, I talked
about what I was doing with media.” Back then,
women in computer science were considered
unfeminine, eccentric nerds. Clichés, of course,
but rather widespread ones. “The best compliment was: ‘You don’t look at all like a computer
geek,’” recalls Knodel.
Passion for programming
She laughs about it now. Much has changed.
“Now when you say you work in IT, it’s quite
sexy. Like a woman who is into soccer,” says
Tina Egolf, co-founder of the Hamburg
Geekettes. The group that started as a “small
side project” now has more than 600 members
– many more than planned. That makes it easier
for Knodel, because more people get involved
and more sponsors sign up. She can’t even
imagine a life without her many side projects
anymore, without her part-time entrepreneurship: “I learn an incredible
amount and get to know interesting
women – and both of these help me
get ahead in my job.”
The next project is already set, the
Hamburg Hackathon. Organized by
the Geekettes, sponsored by her employer, Xing. Even her husband, who
is actually a political scientist, started
programming after being infected by
his wife’s passion.
Even while on maternity leave, Knodel
didn’t take a break, instead developing SpeedSpiration, a social platform
for questions. “A great learning project for me,” she says. And one of the
few projects that she has given up.
“We were a small team of two people
and worked on it on the side. At some
point, we had to decide whether or
not we really wanted to invest more
here.”
Thanks to this decision, she suddenly
had more time – and arrived where
Xing
Diana Knodel is one of
more than 500 employees at Xing. The
social network for
professional contacts
was founded in Hamburg in 2003 and currently has more than
14 million members.
BURDA Annual Report
69
the individual process steps.
In the middle stands Marvin, a life-sized robot
with compound “fly” eyes, built from circuit
boards, keyboard fragments and smartphones.
“He is our team mascot,” Knodel explains. And
although Marvin is clearly not a cat, he performs a function that is similar to the cat content’s function – making technology more human and approachable. The only thing Marvin
can’t do is meow.
Diana Knodel develops new projects
optimize the product.”
Her current area of expertise is APIs – application programming interfaces. An API is a
software-to-software
interface that allows
applications to interact
with each other. “This
is how we enable external providers to develop other great products with Xing,” she explains. For example,
Lebenslauf.com allows
users to create a
Diana Knodel (right) explains to a young colleague at Geekette camp how to program apps for smartphones
résumé as a PDF or
Web page using their
she currently is: a Product Manager at Xing and Xing profile with just a few clicks of the mouse.
a role model for women and girls who are interThe Xing apps for iOS and Android are also
ested in computer science. Even as an employbased on this principle: “Without API, we
ee, she behaves like an independent entreprewouldn’t have any mobile apps!”
neur. She is constantly looking for new chalDiana Knodel and her team continue to develop
lenges, developing her own initiatives, likes to
these interfaces. The six men and two women
make decisions, is open to the ideas of others
sit in a bright, friendly open-space office with
and has the courage to say no sometimes. “Dichest-high shelves holding books and gadgets.
ana is an unbelievably focused person. Without
On the walls hang photos and sayings, and taher enthusiasm and discipline, many of our ofbles with pink, green and yellow cards marking
ferings wouldn’t even be possible. And that
makes it a pleasure to work with her,” says her
Geekette ally, Tina Egolf. And perhaps the secret lies therein: Knodel pursues what interests
her in her professional life. “I really like to make
plans. I have dreams that I want to see come
true. That’s why I’m happy when I can get things
moving.” These are visions that inspire her –
ideas of what the future could be like.
“And you always have to be good,” says the
32-year-old. Especially as a woman. And particularly in this industry, where many things
change so fast: “For good people, programming
is more than just a craft. Good people think for
themselves, contribute their own ideas and help
Product Manager Knodel
shares the open-space office
with her seven colleagues
“I really like to
make plans. I have
dreams I want to
see come true.
That’s why I’m
­happy when I can
get things moving.”
70
BURDA Annual Report
BURDA Annual Report
71
Holger Albrecht shows his dedication
Support for
the community
For many Burda employees, their commitment doesn’t stop
when work does. Holger Albrecht of IT Support, for example,
teaches children living in difficult circumstances how to use
computers
H
e could be just a normal
student intern, standing in
front of Building 29, rocking
back and forth in his running shoes.
He sticks his hands in the pockets of
his jeans, looks down at the ground
and then aimlessly scans the Burda
campus. It’s lunchtime at Arabella­
park in Munich, and 14-year-old Stefan Peters (not his real name) is waiting to go to the canteen for lunch
with his mentor, who still has a few
words to say to a colleague. For Stefan, a teenager from Munich’s Hasenbergl district, every step he takes
here must almost feel like he’s walking on the moon. “For youngsters like
him, we really come from a totally different world,” says Holger Albrecht.
Albrecht, 51 years old, is Stefan’s first
contact during the internship. He has
worked in IT at Burda since 1994.
In 2007, he started volunteering with
Project “Lichtblick” (Ray of Hope).
This initiative, focused on Hasen­
bergl, is devoted to the socially marginalized. The organization of the
Catholic Youth Agency supports 130
children, teens and young adults, including Stefan. Generally, their families are dealing with not just one
problem, but at least three: poverty,
74
BURDA Annual Report
said by a 9th-grade student remains
stuck in her mind: “I am much more
afraid of working than I am of being
unemployed.”
Friendlier than in school
This is where student intern Stefan
comes from. “Good,” is his answer
when he is asked how
he likes Burda. Stefan is
in 8th grade and hopes
to get his high-school diploma. The week spent
at the publishing company, says trainer Friess, is
important for him particularly because it lets him
see that kind and friendly people work there.
And in fact Stefan has
Holger Albrecht shows his dedication
Small groups of young people roam
the streets, American hip-hop music
rings out from a cell phone. Compared with Detroit or sections of Berlin, Hasenbergl is a nice, well caredfor neighborhood. But the pastel colors of the building facades cannot
hide the fact that its inhabitants’
problems are serious: the families
supported by Lichtblick can barely
manage their daily lives without assistance. Many family members have
never had a regular job, and tend to
be overweight, have diabetes or suffer from mental illness, even when
young. “Our kids have no models of
wage-earners. The person we find a
training placement for is usually the
only one in the family who gets up in
the morning,” says Friess. A sentence
For the children, the PC courses
are an important experience
lack of education and socially problematic behavior. Eighty percent of
the parents are unskilled, and 40 percent are illiterate. “We look after the
people who have fallen through the
social safety net,” says Dörthe Friess,
Training Director at Lichtblick. “These
are not college dropouts, but people
who were born and have grown up as
social outsiders.”
Help for real life
Hasenbergl-North, with its 14,000
inhabitants, is on the outskirts of
Munich. The district grew out of a
World War II prisoner-of-war camp
that was used to shelter refugees af-
ter the war. In the 1960s, low-income
housing was erected here. Fourteen
percent of the population of Hasenbergl-North receives unemployment
benefits (called “Hartz IV”). (In
Munich as a whole, it’s just 6 percent.) The economy of the Bavarian
capital may be hot and have created
a force field that reaches as far as Ingolstadt, Augsburg and the foothills
of the Alps, but in Hasenbergl, life is
tough. It is a strange situation, a stable vacuum. In the afternoon, barbecues can be seen smoking on the
grassed areas between the apartment blocks; men in tracksuits sit on
park benches and stare into the void.
BURDA Annual Report
75
motely, as he takes over control of
the defective computer and lets his
mouse wander over the setting
menus as if controlled by a ghost. “I
like to help in the background,” says
Albrecht. “My motto is: ‘Do good and
keep quiet about it.’ I don't want to be
admired, I want to help.”
Holger Albrecht
teaches the children
everyday skills: how
to write an invitation,
how to use a browser or Facebook
Win-win-win situation
He describes his own contribution to
Lichtblick as “modest,” but the word
is better applied to him personally.
Since 2007, Albrecht and his colleague Marcus Janietz have supported the program. They give two to four
courses a year, during which they
train children or adults to use computers. Each course consists of five
one-hour or 90-minute units. Per
year, that's 30 hours in Hasenbergl,
Holger Albrecht shows his dedication
“ The gratitude
you get is something different
than when you
are paid to help.”
praise: “The people here are friendlier than in school. They have already
learned that it’s pointless to fight.
This is my best internship so far.” Holger Albrecht pays for Stefan’s lunch
in the canteen and gives him some
collegial advice. As team leader in the
Support Center, Albrecht looks after
IT at Burda. His office is on the second floor of Building 29. Standing on
his desk are three screens: a Mac
computer on the left, the ticket system in the middle displays his current
tasks, and the e-mail program stands
open on the right. Albrecht and his
four colleagues handle between 40
and 80 requests a day. When a printer gets jammed somewhere, a new
mailbox has to be set up or a smartphone needs syncing, the mechanical
engineer has the solution. Often re-
plus travel time. The courses are very
basic: it can take hours until all participants can move a mouse and
open Word. The course goals are
very down-to-earth: write an invitation or an application, use a browser
or Facebook. “Our target group are
people who have a lot of trouble taking advantage of opportunities for
learning,” says trainer Dörthe Friess,
“but they all go to Mr. Albrecht and
Mr. Janietz, because they can put
their new skills to use immediately.”
One time, the positive learning experience apparently gave a group of
Tamils the confidence to begin German lessons. “The courses are fun
for me,” says Albrecht, “and the grati-
76
BURDA Annual Report
tude you get is something quite different than when you are paid to
help.” As their employer, Burda supports Albrecht’s and Janietz’s participation. Their activities in Hasenbergl
are facilitated because the trustbased work schedule allows flexi­
bility. “I’m thankful for the leeway,”
says Albrecht, “because after
6 p.m. I’d never get a youngster to
learn anything.”
Christoph Diebenbusch, Director
Human Resources at Hubert Burda
Media, considers the commitment of
Holger Albrecht and numerous other
employees of the company exemplary. “They not only perform well on the
job but often volunteer in all kinds of
different areas for the general good
and social cohesion. We’d like to honor this tremendous and important
commitment outside the workplace.”
It’s a win-win-win situation: Albrecht
is glad the courses achieve something. The media company Burda
benefits from employees who take
part in the life of society and not just
observe it. And Stefan? He has
gained confidence and made new
plans: after high school, he wants to
train as an IT systems technician. “I
like computers,” he says. Holger Albrecht nods in satisfaction, lays his
napkin down on the tray and goes
with Stefan – back to work.
BURDA Annual Report
77
KATHARINA ZWANZIG IN CHARGE
You can count on her
For Katharina Zwanzig, every day is payday. As Burda’s
Corporate Treasury Director, she is responsible for liquidity
and thus for the company’s ability to face the future. With­
out her support, many projects would go nowhere. We pay
a visit to Burda’s Treasurer
Zwanzig’s fondness for
numbers is revealed in her
signature. Here, her initials:
“K20” (“Zwanzig” being
German for “twenty”).
A
80
BURDA Annual Report
The day begins with
reading financial market
updates, which is often
followed by meetings
On the Treasury team, Zwanzig is mainly responsible for relations with banks, which means frequent visits to
Frankfurt, Germany’s financial capital – just a few kilometers from her home office in Bad Homburg
get used to working with big numbers.” Dealing with amounts in the
tens and hundreds of millions has
been Zwanzig’s day job for years. Before developing the Treasury Department at Hubert Burda Media, she
worked as a client advisor at a major
bank. She sees her career path as a
fortunate accident. After 10th grade,
Zwanzig decided she had been
taught enough theory, and launched
herself into an apprenticeship. “Banking was quite a popular choice in
those days,” she says. This trainee
stint led her to discover that working
with numbers could be fun.
During the financial market crisis, in
2009, she switched sides. It was a
new challenge for her and an important gain for Burda – until then without a treasurer. As her first official
act, the former banker conducted a
financial inventory of the whole company. Who had borrowed how much
from whom? What could be optimized? During this process, the
Board Member for Finance came to
trust her know-how and give her leeway. Despite, or maybe because of,
the enormous responsibility, trust is
vital in this job. “Ultimately, we are on
the line for loans in the high threedigit-million range,” Zwanzig says.
The Treasurer
regularly visits
all Burda
subsidiaries
Naked figures
When money counts at the company,
the Treasury Department probably
has a role to play. That’s the case for
editors’ salaries, investments in the
hotel rating portal Holidaycheck or
VAT payments for the Cyberport
technology webstore. Each member
of the Treasury Team has a special
area. The Director is mainly responsible for relations with the banks: “I
make it clear to the banks that we are
a partner worthy of their trust.” To
prove it, Zwanzig shows the banks
company earnings and projections:
“The strongest argument is the naked
figures.” The banks have to be able to
rely on them. “That’s the main thing.
And with us, they know they can.”
Which projects get funded is decided
BURDA Annual Report
81
KATHARINA ZWANZIG IN CHARGE
lthough he may not have
the slightest interest in finance, Karl Lagerfeld has
made it to the Treasury Department,
at least indirectly. Three of his largeformat black-and-white photographs
decorate the Munich office of Katharina Zwanzig, the firm’s Treasurer.
The fashion czar might be said to be
looking over the shoulder of the financial expert as she works. But in
terms of attitudes and ideals, there
are worlds between them.
“I throw money out the window, because then it comes back in through
the door,” Lagerfeld once casually remarked. Zwanzig has a somewhat
more complex relationship with money. For the last four years, the
39-year-old has been in charge of the
Treasury Department at Burda – the
financial heart of the company. Put
simply, the woman from Bad Homburg, with her staff of three, is there
to make sure that the company (and
its 200 subsidiaries) stays solvent.
“At the push of a button, we can see
all 600 worldwide accounts on our
screen and know exactly what payments have to be made and when,”
says Zwanzig. One of her team’s
tasks is to ensure that all salaries are
paid promptly and that any proposed
projects can be financed with lowcost loans.
Pretty big responsibility, isn’t it?
Zwanzig thinks the question over and
then nods in agreement. “Yes, it is.
Errors are not allowed, because there
is too much at stake. Fortunately, you
Treasury
What the treasurer
is to a sport or hobby club, the treasury
is to a global company. The Corporate
Treasury looks after
all financial issues.
Its responsibilities
include cash,
liquidity and risk
management.
82
BURDA Annual Report
The financial markets
are important for
Burda, even though the
company is not listed on
the stock exchange
by the Executive Board. Zwanzig is
there to propose a financing strategy.
“Once a year we have a thorough review of how we want our financing to
look,” she explains. On that basis, she
then negotiates loans with the banks
and makes decisions on currency
trading.
What Zwanzig likes about Burda is
that the focus is not on short-term
profit maximization, but rather longterm strategies. “As a family-led company, Hubert Burda Media tries to be
as independent as possible, even
from banks,” she explains. As in all
Group areas, any lending institutions
the Treasurer works with must match
the Burda philosophy.
Direct personal contact is important
for Zwanzig. As a result, she travels a
lot. She regularly visits the subsidiaries, negotiates with banks and
checks in often with the Executive
Board. She commutes between her
offices in Offenburg and Munich and
her home office in Bad Homburg. But
wherever she is sitting in front of her
laptop, her day always begins in the
same way: reading daily bank reports.
What is the state of the financial markets? What has happened on the currency markets overnight?
When trading currencies, Zwanzig
will pick up her phone when she sees
an attractive rate, call one of the
banks and quickly order a couple of
million dollars. Nothing to it! Only in
India is it a bit more expensive, because Indian rupees cannot simply
be moved from one place to another.
“Indians need a permit and a stamp
to transfer money,” Zwanzig explains.
Since BurdaInternational is currently
actively involved in 17 markets, this
job is never boring.
To balance this tremendous responsibility – and the even more tremendous numbers – she runs several
times a week. Occasionally, she’ll enter a half-marathon. The time for her
most recent effort: two hours and
eight minutes. Among hobby runners,
the magic number for completing
those 21 kilometers is just two hours.
BURDA Annual Report
83
KATHARINA ZWANZIG IN CHARGE
Zwanzig and her team make sure Hubert Burda
Media and its 200 subsidiaries remain solvent
Trust and responsibility
Zwanzig appears even-tempered.
Perhaps that’s the result of her good
work-life balance, despite the constant traveling. Instead of spending
hours stuck in the Friday rush hour,
she will drive from Offenburg or Munich to Bad Homburg on Thursdays
and spend Fridays working in her
home office. “That a company can be
so flexible is by no means something
you can take for granted,” comments
Zwanzig, after two decades of business experience.
She manages her department with
the same combination of responsibility and confidence with which she
conducts her own job. It’s a quality
her team members value. “The team
relationship is good, and the communication paths are short,” says Robert
Blechinger, the team member responsible for liquidity planning.
Even after work, Zwanzig maintains
her passion for prices and markets. If
she watches the news, she immediately considers the potential consequences for the company. Since her
marriage, she displays her affinity for
numbers with her surname, which is
also German for “twenty”: e-mails are
signed “Katharina 20” and her business initials read “K20.” As the digital
transformation of Burda continues,
she already knows how she could
adapt to the change: “Perhaps I
should make it ‘K2.0,’” she laughs.
abcde
fghijk
lmnop
qrstuv
wxyz
The Burda alphabet
z
Chip
Czech Republic
reaches more than 8 million women with
its magazines Bunte, Freundin, Instyle, Elle, Burda
Style and Donna. It is Germany’s biggest media provider for fashion and entertainment. BurdaStyle has been publishing
Harper’s Bazaar in Germany since August
2013 in a joint venture with US media
company Hearst.
is the top advisor for digital products. The
media house’s portfolio includes magazines
such as Chip, Chip Foto-Video and Chip Test &
Kauf. In addition, the company develops
apps, mobile offerings, specials and DVDs.
According to AGOF internet facts 201401, Chip Online reaches 14.96 million unique
users per month. Chip also operates one of
Europe’s largest technology test centers.
currently boasts more than 36 Burda titles,
including successful editions of Elle and
Instyle. With around 340 employees, Burda
is one of the largest media houses in the
country and the market leader in exclusive
women’s titles.
BurdaDirect
is the expert for cross-media performance
in customer management and e-commerce
services. BurdaDirect develops profitable
e-commerce solutions, cross-media dialog
marketing and CRM, as well as targeted
online marketing measures.
publishes around 300 magazines as
well as many digital media products and is
active in 17 countries worldwide.
BurdaInternational is a leader in Central
and Eastern Europe, and has built up a
comprehensive portfolio in Asia with a
focus on the luxury segment. More than
2,600 people work for BurdaInternational.
supports Burda colleagues effectively across
locations on issues of IT services and support. The technology experts are also the
contact for networks, SAP and event technology. BurdaSolutions manages the
procurement, installation and disposal
of hardware.
w
x
y
BurdaStyle
BurdaSolutions
is the largest of the three domestic publishing units at Hubert Burda Media, with
more than 15 million readers (MA I/2014)
and 50 periodicals. In 2013, BurdaLife
sold around 200 million copies of its magazines (source: MZV). BurdaLife publishes
magazines in both the general as well as
special interest areas and holds large
market shares in the garden (60%) and
food (46%) categories (IVW 2013).
Career and family
Christian Liebig Foundation
was founded in the name of the Focus
reporter killed in 2003 in the Iraq War.
The charitable foundation builds
schools for needy children in Africa
to help them have a better future.
Das Haus
s
r
q
p
can be easily aligned with support from
Burda. The goal is a smooth return to the
working world after parental leave, and
individualized solutions as well as childcare offerings, such as the Burda Bande,
make it happen.
BurdaInternational
BurdaLife
Cyberport
is one of Europe’s leading suppliers of technology and lifestyle products, with around 2
million customers. The
company pursues a pioneering multichannel concept – operating
an online store as well as 13 brick-andmortar locations currently – making it one
of the largest and most successful retailers
in the German-speaking network.
BurdaCreative
advises marketing decision-makers on
long-term brand and customer communication with unique content and media. As a
content marketing expert, BC develops
these into concepts for media and campaigns for these decision-makers and implements them. BurdaCreative has locations in Munich, Hamburg and Berlin,
and is building a growing agency network
together with Seven (UK), Alert (Switzerland), Newmen (Russia) and Germany’s
Wunder Media Production, which Burda
acquired in early 2014.
is one of Germany’s top online shops for
electronics equipment, with a selection of
over 150,000 products. In April 2014, the
comparison portal Testsieger.de named
Computeruniverse.net the best store to purchase
a notebook from.
o
C
Computeruniverse
n
concentrates on diverse services for
individual Burda profit centers and comprises HR, internal and external accounting, procurement, and property management. BurdaServices is a competent and
efficient service provider that is a longterm partner for customers.
is the umbrella under which the Group
bundles successful B2C companies that
offer users orientation in the digital
world. These include Chip, Cyberport and
Computeruniverse.
m
BurdaServices
BurdaTech
l
bundles key components of Burda’s crossmedia activities and takes a proactive approach to growth markets beyond the traditional magazine business.
BurdaIntermedia manages a portfolio of
120 digital offerings, including Bunte.de,
MeinSchoenerGarten.de and DasKochrezept.de, as
well as the accompanying merchandising,
mobile, social media and e-commerce offerings. Full-video brands such as Focus TV
and Bongusto as well as the Musicstarter music
label also belong to BurdaIntermedia.
k
BurdaIntermedia
D
j
is the strongest publication in the people segment, with 540,297 copies sold (IVW I/2014).
Exclusive stories, the best
contacts with German and
international stars, and
high-quality productions have made it required weekly reading for decades for anyone interested in the world of the stars.
With its presence in print, online, mobile
apps and IP TV formats, Bunte is the largest
people medium in Europe. Every year, Bunte
recognizes rising talents in film and fashion with the New Faces Awards.
i
Bunte
v
is Germany’s oldest film magazine. The
lifestyle magazine is produced by film lovers for film lovers. Every month, Cinema
presents every film playing in theaters in
Germany or appearing on DVD/Blu-ray, as
well as the latest games, with extensive discussion. The editorial staff visits actors and
filmmakers behind the scenes, reporting
and interviewing them. Together with TV
Spielfilm, Cinema awards Germany’s largest
audience film prize, the Jupiter Awards.
u
is the biggest creative magazine worldwide
and, at the same time, an independent
fashion brand. It is published in 17 languages and more than 100 countries, offering a complete collection every month for
sewing and inspiring creativity in fashion,
style and decor. At Burdastyle.de, interested
readers can view DIY video clips, download
the latest sewing patterns and share with
the global community.
t
reaches a total of 13.5 million readers –
predominantly men (MA 2014/I). The alliance forged in 2010 with Focus Magazin
Verlag, Verlagsgruppe Milchstrasse and
Playboy Deutschland Publishing has locations in Munich, Hamburg and Berlin.
BurdaNews considers itself an integrated
media house that creates journalistic content across media formats and groups new
revenue models around them.
BurdaNews bundles the following
brands: Focus, Focus-Money, Focus-Gesundheit,
Focus-Diabetes, Fit for Fun, Free Man’s World,
TV Spielfilm plus, TV Schlau, Cinema and Playboy.
is Europe’s top homes and living magazine,
with 1,608,050 copies sold (IVW I/2014).
Das Haus is a modern how-to manual on the
topics of building, living and lifestyle improvement. It is published 10 times a year
and sold almost exclusively by subscription.
86
BURDA Annual Report
BURDA Annual Report
87
a
b
is Burda’s central, internationally scalable
advertising sales organization and connects brand worlds from commercial enterprises with the theme and brand worlds
of Burda and external clients. BCN uses
innovative organization to precisely align
itself with market needs. Its expert teams
cover three central interfaces: companies
that advertise, media agencies and media
offerings. This creates the right cross-media and cross-technology communication
solutions based on demand.
is one of Europe’s largest printing companies, with production locations in Offenburg, Nuremberg, Vieux-Thann and New
Delhi. BurdaDruck sets itself apart with
personal consulting,
excellent print quality, precise order
processing and ontime delivery.
h
BCN
combines innovative solutions for motivation – in the form of coupons, prizes and
incentives – with well-founded consulting
on incentivizing customers, sales partners
and employees.
g
is Germany’s most important media prize and
has been awarded to individuals for outstanding
achievements for more than 65 years. The
Bambi jury, which consists of Burda Editorsin-Chief and experts from the entertainment, music and film industries, honors
prizewinners in a variety of categories.
Winners in 2013 included Bill and Melinda
Gates, Robbie Williams, Miley Cyrus, and
Helene Fischer.
Cinema
f
Bambi
B
Burda Style
e
is one of the key growth markets for
BurdaInternational. The country subsidiaries in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong,
Taiwan and Thailand publish numerous
magazines in the luxury segment. These
include the Prestige and August Man brands.
BurdaNews
d
Asia
BurdaDruck
c
A
Bonago
z
Edelight
Environment and sustainability
play an important role because business activity and social responsibility are intertwined at Burda. Our policy is “sustainable
development.” For Burda, this means development that meets the needs of the current generation without the risk of endangering future generations – this includes
the use of modern technologies in production, for example.
Freizeit Revue
is Germany’s top fitness and lifestyle
brand. The magazine provides entertaining and well-researched reporting about
important and interesting topics in the areas of exercise, nutrition, lifestyle, health
and beauty. In addition, Fit for Fun actively
supports its readers with DVDs, e-books,
seminars, travel and suitable licensed
products in retail – for example, bikes,
sports equipment or even muesli – for
maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
is the number-one
leisure and entertainment magazine, with
801,055 copies sold
(IVW 1/2014), leading the market in circulation and quality in the weekly entertainment magazines segment for women. For
44 years, this entertainment original has
delighted around 2.8 million readers every
week. People experience it through a variety of formats including reader trips, puzzle apps, monothematic line extensions,
online presence and social media.
Focus
reaches around 5 million
readers and sells more
than 500,000 copies per
week. The magazine provides background
information and opinions on current news
as well as advising its readers on solid
courses for action. Focus is future-facing
and offers constructive criticism – similar
to the Focus Online Internet portal that
counts as one of the top three broad-coverage news offerings in Germany as part of
Tomorrow Focus AG. In addition to the
news magazine, the Focus family includes
the successful line extensions Focus-Diabetes,
Focus-Gesundheit and Focus-Money. Focus TV produces TV formats such as Grip – Das Motor­
magazin (RTL II) and Eins gegen Eins (Sat.1).
Goldene Henne
is Germany’s biggest audience award and
has been bestowed since 1995 in remembrance of Berlin entertainer Helga
“Henne” Hahnemann, who died in 1991.
Super Illu magazine joins MDR and rbb to
recognize the most popular stars of the year
in the categories of TV moderation, acting,
music, sports, politics, charity and lifetime
achievement. After 19 years in Berlin, the
2014 Goldene Henne will be held in
Leipzig for the first time to celebrate the
award’s 20th anniversary as well as the
25th anniversary of the peaceful revolution.
y
x
operates the largest online German-language hotel rating portal, with over 10
­m illion reports and around 150,000 visitors each day. Due to growing international
demand, the vacation platform is now
available in 10 languages.
Hubert Burda Foundation
is the umbrella organization for almost all
of publisher Prof. Dr. Hubert Burda’s
charitable activities. It was founded in 1999
and supports projects in science, education, art and the humanities. These include the Petrarca Prize and the Felix Burda
Foundation.
Guter Rat
is the best-selling business and consumeradvice magazine in Germany, providing
orientation and decision-making assistance
for personal budget management: from financial investments, insurance and products to health and nutrition.
w
Holidaycheck
India
v
u
t
s
r
q
p
is a pioneer for vertical online content and
has been associated with Burda since 2008.
In partnership with BurdaInternational,
the company is launching Glam Media
Russia in 2014.
o
Glam Media
n
Fit for Fun
G
I
is an important location for Burda in the
printing field as well as for BurdaInternational. In addition to the printing facility
established in New Delhi in 2010, several
luxury titles such as Millionaire Asia and Asia
Spa have been published here since the
­acquisition of EMM India in June 2013.
88
BURDA Annual Report
BURDA Annual Report
89
a
b
supports people in making purchasing decisions as a social commerce portal. The
company uses the experiences from its endcustomer portal, Edelight.de, to provide other
businesses with innovative e-commerce solutions. At the core of these activities are
the visual search Stylefinder and the premium
partner network Tracdelight.com.
is essential for the successful advancement
of employees within the company in a
professional world influenced by change.
Burda offers a variety of management and
specialized-knowledge programs, as well as
continuing-education opportunities, in the
areas of expert knowledge, methodology
and personal development.
is the adventure magazine for men. It
stands for a freedom-loving lifestyle and
gives guidance for escaping from the everyday working world. Award-winning journalists report on extraordinary journeys,
experiencing nature and the best way to
find your bearings once you’re there.
m
E
Employee development
Free Man’s World
l
inspires self-confident women over 40 with
a comprehensive mix of fashion, beauty,
lifestyle, psychology, partnership, health,
culture and travel. In early 2014 Donna grew
up and made the transition from an extension of Freundin to an independent brand
with its own logo.
provides Germany’s most comprehensive
analysis of stock market and economic
­information. The portal presents a clear
overview of all market prices, news,
­forums, blogs and insider data from over
12,500 hand-picked sources worldwide.
Thanks to the intuitive usage and userfriendly design of the iPhone and Android
apps, Finanzen100 leads the mobile ­market.
k
Donna
Finanzen100
is the up-to-date, illustrated info magazine
for women who actively modernize and take
control of their lives. It has a circulation of
287,715 in the weekly women’s magazine
segment (IVW I/2014). With its high user
value and emotional appeal, it accompanies
its readers through their lives.
is a zeitgeist barometer, offering surprising
perspectives on fashion and style as well as
extraordinary experiences in beauty, lifestyle and culture. Harper’s Bazaar speaks to
cosmopolitan women who live in unconventional luxury and women who retain
the best characteristics of youth: curiosity,
tolerance, willingness to learn, love of
beauty, and dynamic energy in body and
soul. Burda has been publishing the
German edition of the international fashion brand magazine since August 2013
in a joint venture with Hearst Magazines
International.
j
is one of the biggest and best-known media
brands in the world. Elle sets trends in
fashion, beauty, culture, travel and lifestyle. For 25 years, the editorial team
at German Elle has been seducing readers
with elegant and avant-garde fashion and
beauty productions with international
models and renowned photographers. In
addition to German Elle, Burda publishes
the homes and interior-design magazine
Elle Decoration, as part of a joint venture with
Hearst Magazines.
Frau im Trend
Harper’s Bazaar
i
is Burda’s international conference and
innovation platform and presents Europe’s
leading digital conference DLD and
women’s conference DLDwomen as well as
international network events in Palo Alto,
Tel Aviv, New York and Beijing.
is devoted to the prevention
of colon cancer. It was
launched in 2001 by Dr. Christa Maar and
Prof. Dr. Hubert Burda in the name of
their son who died of colon cancer. Its projects include March as Colon Cancer Awareness Month as well as the Felix Burda Award.
H
h
Elle
Felix Burda Foundation
is a reliable companion for young women
in any situation. The twice-monthly magazine supports, entertains and reflects
real life. It offers reading enjoyment, a
source of inspiration and advice. Freundin
shows what makes life better and easier:
fashion, beauty, good food and a home to
feel comfortable in.
g
DLD
F
is home to three Burda publishing units
that bring out a variety of publications such
as the gourmet brand Saveurs, mystery magazine Le Nouveau Detective, country magazine
Esprit d’ici, Burda Style and other titles.
f
is the online dating service for educated,
cultured singles looking for a long-term
relationship. Elitepartner is the first online
dating service to be awarded the TÜV seal.
The Elitepartner magazine is one of the biggest advice portals on the subject of singles
and relationships.
Freundin
e
is an online food portal with over 87,000
recipes. The user-generated content is supplemented by recipes from Burda print
magazines and pay-TV channel Bongusto.
Since November 2013, a magazine of the
same name collects the most popular recipes and presents them professionally.
France
d
Elitepartner
c
DasKochrezept
z
y
Poland
StarnetOne
embodies the original concept of all star
fashion magazines and is the market leader
among the monthly premium titles for
women. For around 1.3 million women,
Instyle is the monthly shopping list and gives
valuable inspiration and detailed service.
Since 2010, Instyle Men has offered a masculine equivalent of the style magazine.
is Germany’s popular women’s magazine
and uses strong interaction and reader involvement to create closeness, topicality
and a high degree of editorial credibility.
The Lisa brand family is very successful,
with line extensions in the areas of gardening, cooking and baking, and living and
decorating, in addition to numerous licensed editions in Europe and Asia.
sits comfortably in second place in the
hard-fought country segment, with
354,296 copies sold (IVW I/2014). Mein
schönes Land has successfully established a
growing brand family with line extensions
such as Meine gute Landküche, Mein schöner
Landgarten and Mein schönes Landhaus.
is the modern, up-to-date people magazine
with star stories and exclusive interviews,
trends and styles from fashion and beauty,
living and food, as well as advice articles on
health, legal questions and partnership.
is Germany’s neighboring country and has
become even more important for Burda after the acquisition of the G + J portfolio in
2013. Burda is among the top three magazine publishers in market for readers and
advertising. Among the 49 titles published
here are the successful global brands Elle,
Instyle and Glamour.
specializes in the creation, production and
marketing of media events: Bambi, the charity event Tribute to Bambi and the Bunte New
Faces Award are among its excellent stagings.
The brands of collaborative partners are
integrated in an emotional and mediaeffective way using custom, cross-media
communication approaches.
Lidyana.com
reaches 2.22 million
readers (MA I/2014),
making it Europe’s
top garden magazine.
For over 40 years, it has stood for editorial
expertise in the market. Its broad-coverage
online presence unites a large community
with e-commerce and social media channels.
Playboy
is the premium lifestyle magazine for
men. “Everything that men enjoy” is the
core message. Playboy takes a position on
the most important contemporary issues
without neglecting entertainment. Every
month the editorial staff orchestrates a
world that interests men with erotic photography, honest reporting and interviews, combined with topics from everyday lifestyles.
Showroom.pl
is an innovative e-commerce project from
BurdaInternational – and its successful online fashion shop has made it a poster child
for the Polish fashion industry. In a short
period of time, Showroom.pl has become
the biggest Internet platform for up-andcoming labels.
t
s
r
q
p
o
n
m
l
Tomorrow Focus AG
k
S
is a platform for opinion articles and blogs
as well as an online community. It encompasses a mixture of exclusive content and
guest editorials on politics, business, entertainment, lifestyle and technology.
is one of Germany’s
leading publicly traded
Internet groups. The
company has approximately 750 employees
and is active in the travel, publishing and
subscription segments.
j
is Europe’s first parenting portal, with
websites in Germany, Poland and Spain. It
offers high-quality information, fast sharing, ease of use and appealing product
tests. As such, Netmoms addresses the
key needs of women and mothers who
are active online.
is presented annually by Hubert Burda and
a jury to recognize European literature.
The Petrarca Prize was presented to contemporary poets and translators between 1975
and 1995, and was resumed in 2010.
The Huffington Post
i
Mein schöner Garten
Netmoms
N
has been very significant for Burda ever
since Burda Style became the first Western magazine published in the Soviet
Union, back in 1987.
Now, Burda is the broadest-coverage publisher, with 400 employees and international brands, such as Playboy and Revolution.
h
is Burda’s central market-research unit and
advises the profit centers on all research
questions related to editorial offerings,
sales questions, advertising appeal and
marketing, as well as questions about media
use and trends.
Petrarca Prize
T
Russia
Training
forms a key pillar in our efforts to fulfill
the need for qualified employees from
within our own ranks as well: Burda’s
trainee program or a course of study at the
Burda School of Journalism offers entrylevel career opportunities for next-generation employees. Talented young people also
have the opportunity to complete apprenticeships or integrated degree programs at
Burda.
90
BURDA Annual Report
BURDA Annual Report
91
a
b
is one of Turkey’s leading online shopping
websites. BurdaInternational is its biggest
shareholder, with approximately 24 percent. The platform was
recognized in 2012 by
the prestigious US magazine “Wired” as one of
Europe’s 100 hottest
start-ups.
Media Market Insights
P
represents an important market for Burda,
with 35 titles (including Harper’s Bazaar) and
more than 40 online offerings. After
­acquiring Sanoma Hearst, Burda is now
one of the country’s biggest magazine
­publishers.
g
L
has developed since 2001 into the leading
B2B and B2C provider of meteorological
data and services in the Netherlands and
Europe. Meteovista’s website offers every
imaginable type of information and forecasts about the weather.
helps people perfectly organize their own
document storage. The innovative online
service stores personal and business documents like a personal assistant and automatically creates logical folder structures.
Romania
f
is an important market for BurdaInternational. The Burda-Alatau Press company is
a major magazine provider in the country.
It has more than 90 employees publishing
over 70 titles, including the Kazakh edition of Lisa, automotive magazine Avtomir
and timepiece magazine Revolution.
Meteovista
Organize.me
R
is the most widely read newsstand magazine
in the former East German states, reaching
more readers there than – for example –
“Der Spiegel”, Focus and “Stern” combined
(MA 2014/I). The modern home-andfamily magazine reports on the East
Germany of today and tomorrow without
forgetting the past.
e
Kazakhstan
K
M
O
Super Illu
d
is Germany’s largest doctor-recommen­
dation website. More than 3.5 million
­patients use Jameda every month to search
for the right doctor. Around 250,000 doctors throughout Germany are listed in the
­database.
is the magazine for the gourmet community and turns cooking into an exceptional
experience. Readers who like to experiment and lifestyle-oriented gourmets find
inspiration here in innovative and extremely high-quality visuals. Lust auf Genuss
has premium placement at cash registers in
food retail stores.
is Europe’s biggest food and gourmet magazine, an indispensable companion and
advisor for family managers. The numberone magazine in the food segment, with a
circulation of 372,836 copies sold (IVW
I/2014), reaches 0.99 million readers (MA
I/2014) and is uniquely located in stores –
Meine Familie & ich is sold directly at the register in food retail stores.
c
Jameda
J
Lust auf Genuss
Meine Familie & ich
x
Neue Woche
w
Mein schönes Land
v
Lisa
u
Instyle
Tribute to Bambi Foundation
Ukraine
is an initiative by Bunte magazine with the
goal of providing needy children and adolescents with concrete, long-term help –
regardless of nationality, social status or
religion – and bringing lasting improvement to their lives. The foundation supports projects in Germany that receive little or no government assistance.
has been an active market for Burda since
1997. Today, the company is the largest
magazine publisher there, with 300 employees. It leads the market in the women,
parenting, automotive and food segments,
among others.
Turkey
is home to the Dogan-Burda Group, one of
the country’s leading magazine providers,
in which Burda holds 48.61 percent of the
shares. The portfolio includes 70 magazine titles as well as numerous online and
mobile o­ fferings.
The USA
is where Burda collaborates with F+W
Media to publish Burda Style magazine. With
its community of half a million active sewing enthusiasts, it is the center of a brand
world of courses, videos, e-commerce and
online services.
TV Spielfilm plus
brings together the TV
and media magazines TV
Spielfilm and TV Today. Back
in 1990, TV Spielfilm
launched the segment of programming
guides that appear every 14 days, and it’s
also a digital pioneer today. TV Spielfilm’s
program information offerings both online and on mobile devices are by far the
most commonly used (see “AGOF internet
facts,” “AGOF mobile facts”). Competent,
critical and independent program reviews
make TV Spielfilm plus Germany’s most popular media brand in the segment with crossmedia format.
The UK
U
is the market where Burda publishes leading consumer magazines, including Your
Home, Wedding, Wedding Flowers, LandLove and
Essential Kitchen.
92
BURDA Annual Report
Valentins
X
Xing
is the social network for professional contacts. More than 14 million members use
the Internet platform worldwide for business, job and career, with 7 million of
those in German-speaking regions. Xing
AG has been publicly traded since 2006
and has been listed on the TecDAX since
September 2011.
V
is the likable young online
flower-and-gift delivery
service. As a direct retailer with excellent value for money, Valentins is
one of the leading and best-known online
florists in Germany and Austria, with years
of experience and a constantly growing, innovative range of products.
W
Wohnen & Garten
delivers inspiration for sophisticated
living in the home and garden. With
261,115 copies sold (IV W I/2014), the
magazine is the market leader in total
sales for monthly homes magazines.
It uses emotional and opulent imagery
to portray home in a comfortable, feelgood atmosphere.
Zooplus
Z
is the reliable
partner for purchasing pet food
and accessories
online. Its exclusive selection, with over 8,000 products
for dogs, cats, etc., makes the company the
market leader in Germany. Zooplus ships to
over 23 countries.
Zoover
is the Netherlands’ largest hotel- and
travel-rating portal, offering online information on hotels, sightseeing and camping
sites. Zoover is active in 25 countries.
o n e h u n d r e d t w o t h r e e f o
u r f i v e s i x s e v e n e i g h t n i n
e t e n e l e v e n t w e l v e t h i r t
e e n f o u r t e e n f i f t e e n s i x
t e e n t h o u s a n d s e v e n t e e
n e i g h t e e n n i n e t e e n t w e n
t y t w e n t y o n e t h o u s a n d t
w e n t y t w o t e n t w e n t y t h r
e e t w e n t y f o u r t w e n t y f i
v e t w e n t y s i x t w e n t y s e v e
n t w e n t y e i g h t t h o u s a n d
t e n h u n d r e d t h i r t y t h i r t
y o n e t h i r t y t w o t h i r t y t h
r e e t h i r t y f o u r t h i r t y f i v
e t h i r t y s i x f i f t e e n t h i r t
y s e v e n t h i r t y e i g h t t h i r t
y n i n e t h o u s a n d n i n e f o u r
t e e n o n e h u n d r e d t w o s e v
e n e i g h t n i n e t e n e l e v e n t
w e l v e o n e t h o u s a n d f o u r
s i x t w e n t y s e v e n f o r t y o n
Financial Statements
2013
Hubert B
­ urda Media Holding
Kommanditgesellschaft
2009
2010
2011
Operating performance
2,221
2,323
Consolidated sales
1,587
1,721
comprising Digital
in
2,804
3,101
3,249
million €
2,176
2,456
2,617
million €
487
587
937
1,159
1,401
million €
669
658
646
630
million €
Foreign Publishing
301
331
385
419
378
million €
Printing
123
128
189
224
204
million €
7
6
7
8
4
million €
1,084
1,136
1,313
1,546
1,551
million €
46
51
56
69
83
million €
million €
Other
Balance sheet total
Depreciation of fixed assets
BURDA Annual Report
2013
669
Domestic Publishing
96
2012
Personnel expenses
362
371
410
438
499
Number of employees at year’s end
7,118
7,637
8,248
9,241
10,017
Financial Statements 2013
Five-year overview
BURDA Annual Report
97
+6.6 %
External sales growth for fiscal year
2013 compared with fiscal year 2012
Group Management Report
Hubert ­Burda Media (hereafter also referred to as “­Burda”) is
an internationally operating media company with brands and
products that are oriented to the needs of consumers. With
about 440 printed and digital media products, Hubert ­Burda
Media is either striving for or already holding a leading market
position in various markets. Major sources of Group revenue are
advertising, sales via individual sales and subscriptions, commissions, trade, and services for business customers. ­Burda
considers itself an “enterprise for entrepreneurs” and is organized with a profit center structure. At the end of the past fiscal
year, the consolidation group included a total of 234 independently operating companies, 149 of which were in Germany and
85 abroad. At the end of the fiscal year, 10,017 individuals were
employed in the Group. Hubert ­Burda Media is divided into four
operational divisions: Digital, Domestic Publishing, Foreign
Publishing and Printing.
In fiscal year 2013, ­Burda’s external sales reached €2.62 billion,
representing a 6.6 percent growth in sales over the prior year.
­Burda was able to maintain the growth momentum of the past
four years while continuing to finance this growth from its own
resources. Whereas large investments were made in 2012,
including, first and foremost, the acquisition of a majority stake
in XING AG, the year 2013 was characterized by the setting of
long-term goals in all divisions. These included several acquisitions and new shareholdings in foreign media companies;
measures to stabilize and increase revenue, especially in the
Group’s own e-commerce companies; portfolio and structural
98
BURDA Annual Report
adjustments in the magazine business; and the development
of new businesses fields in gravure printing. New products in
the market included 12 magazines for the German market,
44 magazines in foreign markets and a number of digital products such as the technology-based Huffington Post from a
majority shareholding investment by TOMORROW FOCUS AG.
Among other places, the portfolio was expanded at the majority
holding XING AG, which acquired the social recruiting platform
kununu and integrated it into the company in 2013.
International
Germany
Whereas the first half of 2013 was characterized by uncertainty
in various areas – the US budget dispute, the weakening trend
in emerging economies and the continuing debt crisis in the
Eurozone, to name a few – in the second half of 2013, the global
economic situation improved. According to estimates by the
International Monetary Fund (IMF), the global economy grew by
3.0 percent in 2013, and 3.7 percent growth is expected in 2014.
Mature economies showed a surplus and are continuing to
follow an upward trend, led by the US. Emerging countries such
as China and India are engines of economic growth supporting
this trend (2013: 4.7 percent growth; 2014: 5.1 percent. Source:
IMF, World Economic Outlook, January 2014). However, most
Central and Eastern European economies find themselves in a
fragile growth phase. This applies particularly to the countries
Russia and Ukraine.
The Eurozone has calmed down after two years of recession.
However – as is seen from a warning from the IMF with regard
to the low inflation and increasing risk of deflation – this recovery
is still fragile and burdened with significant uncertainty, as it is
based solely on measures and announcements of the
European Central Bank. Thus far, the national governments of
the Eurozone countries have hardly made any use of the maneuvering room that the European Central Bank created for them.
The German economy turned out to be stable on average in 2013
and is in a good position compared with the crisis countries in the
Eurozone. Although it could not continue the strong growth of the
two previous years, it showed moderate growth, with a plus in
the price-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) of 0.4 percent.
The most important growth engine in 2013 was the German population’s willingness to spend. Adjusted for price, private consumer spending rose by 0.9 percent. In 2013, the number of persons
employed reached 41.8 million, a new high for the seventh year in
a row (source: German Federal Bureau of Statistics).
BURDA Annual Report
99
Financial Statements 2013
Overall economic situation
­Burda in Fiscal Year 2013 – Overview
+41.7 %
In 2013, 31.7 percent of the German
population were smartphone users.
For the age group 14 to 29 years, the
number is a full 67 percent.
German consumers turned over
€39.1 billion from online transactions
of goods in 2013 (Bundesverband
Versand­handel BVH). This represents
a record growth of 41.7 percent compared with 2012.
The global media industry remains in a fundamental state of
change. Digitalization and permanent technological innovations
are having a structural effect on all areas of the economy and
are changing the media landscape throughout the world.
Decisive factors include the increasing access to the Internet
and the almost explosive growth of smart devices: in 2013,
39.0 percent of the world’s population had access to the Internet
(source: International Telecommunication Union). With about
1.5 billion smartphones and tablets in use, mobile devices are
expected to exceed the number of stationary PCs already by the
first half of 2014 (source: Enders Analysis). In Germany, 31.7 percent of the population used a smartphone in 2013. Among
14- to 29-year-olds, the figure was as high as 67.0 percent
(source: best for planning [b4p] 2013). It is expected that by
2017, 65.0 million people in Germany – more than 80.0 percent of
the population – will be using the mobile Internet (source: PwC
German Entertainment and Media Outlook 2013).
The mobile Internet and thus the completely individualized use of
media content is the most dominant trend for media companies
throughout the world. Another significant development is the
consolidation of editorial or curated content, commerce and
advertising, resulting in the increasing dissolution of traditional
competitive constellations. Thanks to digitalization, 84.0 percent
of telecommunication and media companies in Germany now
see a sales potential outside their core business. Meanwhile,
technology companies in particular are increasingly pushing into
the traditional business of the media industry (source: KPMG).
One can assume that traditional media companies and large
digital and technology companies will continue to converge on
an increasing basis in the coming years.
The main drivers of this trend are the large US digital companies,
such as Google, Facebook, eBay, Amazon and Apple, whose
activities and enormous financial strength dominate the market.
Facebook’s takeover of the messenger service WhatsApp at the
beginning of 2014 demonstrates this trend in an impressive way.
100
BURDA Annual Report
Advertising market
Magazine market
E-commerce
The global advertising market proved to be stable in 2013. Experts
are forecasting that growth will rise from 3.6 percent in 2013
to 5.3 percent in 2014 (source: ZenithOptimedia Advertising
Expenditure Forecasts). Opportunities for advertising expenditure in the future will be in the international arena, particularly
in the emerging markets. For mature markets, ZenithOptimedia
is forecasting annual growth of only 3.0 percent. By contrast,
advertising expenditures in emerging countries – including Russia,
India and China – will grow by 9.0 percent on average, unless
political crises such as the current one in Ukraine significantly
affect the positive economic trend. Growth in these countries
is fundamentally favored by a comparatively low average age, a
rising rate of productivity, and investments in the educational
system, infrastructure, and new technologies. These emerging
markets currently account for 35.0 percent of global advertising
investments. According to forecasts, however, between 2013 and
2016, they will grow to 61.0 percent (source: ZenithOptimedia).
Mobile advertising is expected to be the main engine of future
growth. With a 2.7 percent share of the advertising market in
2013, it was admittedly still comparatively low (source:
ZenithOptimedia/Statista 2014). According to concurring forecasts, however, this picture will change in the coming years.
Since media consumers are increasingly shifting to mobile
devices, advertising will also adjust. Revenues from online
advertising on mobile end devices are expected to rise
by 27.0 percent per year, to a solid $27 billion by 2017 – corresponding to a 15.0 percent share of total online advertising
revenue ($185 billion; source: PwC Outlook). However, advertising delivered on mobile devices still needs significant further
development; standardized and media-appropriate advertising
formats and corresponding measuring tools are needed
above all.
Magazines took up a 7.9 percent share of the global advertising
market in 2013. Thus, the global magazine business appears
stable. And in the coming years, despite the increasing shift of
media budgets toward the Internet and mobile devices, it will
not be possible to replace advertising in magazines (forecast
market share in 2016: 6.3 percent, corresponding to a decline of
1.6 percent; ZenithOptimedia 2014/Statista 2014). If one looks at
the magazine market (professional journals and popular magazines) in both print and digital formats (apps, e-papers), this
market will even recover to a moderate extent on a global level.
Accordingly, popular magazines will grow slightly by 2017, to
$83.3 billion (2012: about $82 billion; source: PwC Outlook).
According to the 2013 Nielsen gross advertising market analysis,
the German advertising market – distributed over all advertising
media – recovered and increased to €22.9 billion in Germany, a
4.2 percent increase over the prior year. However, the magazine
market shows barely any chances for growth in the traditional
sources of revenue (advertising and sales). In 2013, popular
magazines finished with gross advertising revenue of €2.7 billion (not counting media advertising), a decline of 1.0%. In
2013, 1,542 popular magazines appeared regularly in Germany
(source: Association of German Magazine Publishers, “VDZ”).
In the wholesale business, in the case of popular magazines,
gross sales revenue at copy prices was €2.24 billion in 2013
(2012: €2.35 billion).
The Internet as a sales channel for products and services is
becoming more significant on a global level as well.
In 2013, €39.1 billion was turned over in online transactions
of goods (according to BVH, the German E-Commerce and
Distance Selling Trade Association). This amounts to record
growth of 41.7 percent over 2012. The mail-order sales total benefited from this, similarly increasing in 2013 by over 20 percent.
According to BVH, online trade has become a matter of course
for the German consumer; in the meantime, e-commerce helps
to meet demand. In particular, the strong development of mobile
devices in the past year has had the effect that more and more
consumers are “always on” and use their mobile devices to make
purchases anytime and anywhere. The mobile Internet is currently the fastest-growing commerce channel. Sales generated
through smartphones and tablets have thus increased to
€4.9 billion. According to the GlobalWebIndex, the most popular
products purchased in February 2013, for example, were trips,
followed by books, fashion, music, films, and electronic dataprocessing hardware (source: GlobalWebIndex, February 2013/
World Newsmedia Network 2013).
Increasing prosperity in emerging markets
Business in emerging markets will be increasingly important for
the future financial success of Hubert ­Burda Media. Prosperity
in these regions is growing with remarkable speed. The number
of billionaires in Africa and Asia will more than double between
2012 and 2022, according to current estimates (source: Knight
Frank). By 2030, two-thirds of the global middle class will reside in
Asia (source: EY). Opportunities to expand the business of
Hubert ­Burda Media into new markets are presented not only by
BURDA Annual Report
101
Financial Statements 2013
The media industry
In 2013, the Digital Division generated €1,410.0 million in sales, and
thus 53.3 percent of total corporate sales (2012: €1,159.5 million,
or 47.2 percent).
in million€
2012
in percent
in million€
2013
in percent
Change
in percent
Digital
1,159.5
47.2
1,401.0
53.5
+20.8
Domestic Publishing
645.5
26.3
629.9
24.1
-2.4
Foreign Publishing
419.3
17.1
37 7.9
14.4
-9.9
Printing
223.8
9.1
204.1
7.8
-8.8
7.9
0.3
4.0
0.2
-49.4
2,456.0
100.0
2,616.9
100.0
+6.6
Other
Sales revenues
Sales development, net assets and
financial situation
the existing portfolio, but also by the positive development of
these growth regions.
The increasing prosperity in the emerging markets correlates with
the increasing rate of literacy worldwide, which is now 84.0 percent, compared with 76.0 percent 20 years ago (source:
UNESCO). For example, 90 percent of all school-age children
in developing regions now attend at least elementary school
(source: United Nations).
102
BURDA Annual Report
The prior year’s positive trend in the sales of the Hubert ­Burda
Media Group continued in this past fiscal year. Again in 2013,
this positive trend in sales was driven by the Digital Division. The
market for the products of the Domestic Publishing Division
­continued to decline. However, sales revenues in Foreign
Publishing and in the Printing Division were also below the figures of the prior year. This was primarily attributable to the
declines in the wholesale and partwork business, as well as
reduced utilization – in the Printing Division – due to declining
orders from customers of small-scale printing jobs.
In accordance with expectations, consolidated external sales
increased by 6.6 percent, to €2,616.9 million (2012: €2,456.0 million). Operating performance (aggregate unconsolidated sales
revenues) increased by 4.8 percent, to €3,248.8 million (2012:
€3,101.2 million).
The consolidated balance sheet total increased slightly by
€5.0 million, to €1,551.3 million (2012: €1,546.3 million). While
fixed assets were close to the levels of the prior fiscal year,
inventory increased by €28.4 million, to €169.1 million, and
receivables rose by €29.5 million, to €370.0 million.
As in the prior year, the increase in inventory and receivables
from goods and services was essentially attributable to expansion of business activity in the area of e-commerce.
According to the separate fixed-asset schedule, additions to
fixed assets totaled €148.1 million (2012: €308.0 million); total
investments affecting cash flow were €132.5 million. A significant part of this investment total was attributable to the acquisition of companies and the expansion of the consolidation group.
Group liabilities decreased by €39.2 million, to €661.7 million
(2012: €700.9 million). While most other liabilities remained at
the levels of the previous year, bank loans were reduced from
€349.7 million (2012) to €306.4 million (2013). This development
is attributable, in particular, to the increased repayment of draws
on revolving credit lines, which occurred parallel to the usual
scheduled installment payments. At €153.2 million, net debt (bank
Digital
loans minus liquid assets, minus other securities) is close to the
level of the prior year (2012: €152.7 million).
Medium- and long-term capital, consisting of equity, mediumand long-term accruals, and medium- and long-term liabilities,
decreased by €52.6 million during the current reporting year, to
€844.3 million (2012: €896.9 million). This was primarily attributable to the previously mentioned repayment of credit lines that
had been used. In particular, the medium-term revolving credit
lines, which have been approved in the meantime, continue
unchanged and can be used at any time if necessary.
At a result of the positive business trend and also because of the
change in the consolidation group, equity increased by €27.9 million to €425.9 million. With the balance sheet total only slightly
higher, this increase in equity raised the equity ratio to 27.5 percent (2012: 25.7 percent).
Medium- and long-term capital almost completely cover the
fixed assets of the ­Burda Group (2012: 104.9 percent).
The Group has developed in line with expectations and, as in
earlier years, demonstrates sound financial conditions. The
financing structure offers adequate flexibility for further
positive development.
­Burda brings together the corporation’s strategic online operations in the Digital Division. Companies include e-commerce and
marketing platforms, direct marketing, customer management,
recommendation and dating portals, as well as shareholdings in
social media. In addition, digital activities include a joint venture
investment business and more than 30 direct and indirect investments in radio and television broadcasters.
In 2013, the Digital Division generated €1,401.0 million in sales,
and thus 53.5 percent of total corporate sales (2012: €1,159.5 million, or 47.2 percent). The expansion of successful participating
investments, which was targeted in the previous year, has been
implemented and is now also reflected in the trend of sales revenues, which fulfilled expectations. The Digital Division currently
runs Hubert ­Burda Media’s strategic Internet operations within
six subunits:
­BurdaTech
­BurdaTech consolidates activities in the area of consumer electronics and uses the Chip Group and the consumer electronics
companies Cyberport and computeruniverse to cover the entire
supply chain, from consultation to transaction.
­BurdaTech includes the Chip Group as well as participating
interests in the e-commerce companies Cyberport GmbH and
computeruniverse GmbH. Cyberport GmbH, which operates
throughout Europe, focuses on the German-speaking market.
At www.cyperport.de it offers more than 40,000 technology and
lifestyle products. By linking the online shop with real-world
sales affiliates, Cyperport has become a multichannel company.
In 2013, Cyberport opened new outlets in Cologne, Stuttgart
and Essen, thereby raising the number of sales affiliates in
Germany and Austria to 12. Following an earlier, sharply upward
trend, growth in sales slowed down significantly in 2013 under
enormous competitive pressure, ultimately showing only a slight
increase. The second commercial enterprise also operating in
BURDA Annual Report
103
Financial Statements 2013
53.5 %
The consolidated sales of the divisions developed as follows:
Europe is computeruniverse GmbH. Its online shop at www.
computeruniverse.net includes more than 150,000 hardware,
software, entertainment, and household electronics items.
Media across the digital world are the core business of Chip.
Its portfolio includes magazines like Chip, Chip Foto-Video, Chip
Test & Kauf and Power Play, which are sold not only through traditional sales channels, but also through digital platforms such as
the company’s own online kiosk and the Chip Tablet Edition. The
second important part of the brand is the Chip Online portal, with
its download platform and sales consultation for computers, cell
phones and home entertainment. It is one of the top five German
Internet offerings, with 14.12 million unique users (AGOF internet
facts 2013-II; 2012: 14.8 million unique users). The portal is also far
ahead in mobile use, with almost 1.8 million unique users (AGOF
mobile facts 2013-II). In addition, Chip operates its own technology test center, with more than 1,500 product tests per year.
TOMORROW FOCUS AG
­ urda is the principal shareholder of TOMORROW FOCUS AG,
B
one of the leading publicly traded Internet corporations in
Germany. The group is active in three segments: travel, publishing and subscriptions. On January 1, 2013, TOMORROW FOCUS
AG took over all shares of the operator of Netmoms.de, a portal
for parents and women. In June 2013, TOMORROW FOCUS AG
increased its shareholdings in HolidayCheck AG, an operator
of hotel evaluation and travel booking portals, by acquiring 100
percent of the shares. The startup date was 10 October 2013 for
www.huffingtonpost.de, the German-language edition of the
Huffington Post, which was founded in the US in 2005. This portal for news and debates is produced under a license from
TOMORROW FOCUS Content & Services GmbH, a 100 percent
subsidiary of TOMORROW FOCUS AG. The goal is to reach the
break-even point in the third year of operation and to become
one of the five largest providers of news in Germany within five
104
BURDA Annual Report
years at the latest. In October 2013, TOMORROW FOCUS AG
sold all shares of the digital and creative agency TOMORROW
FOCUS Technologies GmbH, effective as of December 2, 2013.
This sale is part of “Company Strategy 2018,” which was
adopted at the beginning of 2013 and which provides for a clear
focus on online-based business models for end consumers in
the core areas of travel, advertising and subscriptions.
­BurdaDirect
­ urdaDirect is a business-to-business provider in ­Burda’s digital
B
business. ­BurdaDirect is active in the areas of e-commerce,
mobile commerce, dialog marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), direct marketing, sales and technology, and
considers itself a full-service provider for the online and offline
business models of its customers. ­BurdaDirect’s business is
built on three pillars. The first pillar comprises subscription services on the subjects of dialog marketing and publishing services. Among other things, the entire subscription business of the
­Burda publishing companies is administered here. The
second pillar comprises IT and e-commerce solutions for
online commerce, online marketing, mobile marketing and CRM.
The third pillar is performance marketing, which includes crossmedia dialog marketing campaigns, among other things.
The core business of ­BurdaDirect is supplemented by other
business activities in six separate legal entities. These are the
online florist business Valentins, the tour operator daydreams,
the B2B incentive service provider BONAGO, the insurance
comparison portal INO24, and provider of advertising inserts
PaketPLUS. The portfolio is completed by online retailer Silkes
Weinkeller GmbH, in which ­BurdaDirect has been an investor since
October 2013.
zooplus AG
Measured by sales revenues and overall performance, the
exchange-listed zooplus AG is the leading online retailer for pet
supplies in Europe. According to preliminary figures, the overall
performance of the company grew by 26.9 percent in 2013, from
€335.6 million in the prior year to €426.0 million, thereby significantly exceeding the goal for the year of €400 million. Sales revenues were about €407.0 million (2012: €319.2 million). The
company zooplus sells a selection of over 8,000 products for
pets. So far, this successful business model has already been
introduced in 23 countries in Europe. In Germany, zooplus is the
most popular online shop, even more popular than providers
such as Amazon. This was the finding of a customer satisfaction
study conducted in early 2014 by E-Commerce Center Cologne
together with the logistics provider Hermes.
XING AG
­ urda has held a controlling interest in XING, Germany’s largest
B
business community, since 2012. According to preliminary figures, the corporate revenues of the publicly traded XING AG
rose by 15.5 percent in 2013, to €83.3 million. This Internet platform for business, jobs and career is used by a total of about
7.0 million members in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (2012:
6.1 million members), and by 14.1 million members worldwide
(2012: 12.9 million members). More than 800,000 of these people are paying users of the premium product. With kununu, an
employer rating platform that has belonged to the corporate
group since January 2013, XING is strengthening its position in
the “social recruiting” area even further. kununu is the largest
European job rating portal, with over 500,000 ratings and
140,000 rated companies. The 100 percent subsidiary XING
Events GmbH (previously Amiando) offers conference and
seminar organizers an event management software program for
online event registration and ticketing.
Ventures and conferences
The five above-mentioned fields of activity of the Digital Division
are closely supported by the organization that holds the reknowned DLD events and also by strategic management of
participating interests. In 2013, DLD Media expanded its network
again and, in addition to the premier DLD conference in Munich
and Tel Aviv, organized “Global Events” in Palo Alto and New
York. “DLD Cities” also took place in London and Rio de Janeiro.
In the corporate venture investment business, ­Burda’s goal is to
support companies in implementing their growth strategy, in order to increase the value of these companies in a sustainable
manner. In this regard, the year 2013 was characterized by divestments of shareholdings, such as the sale of a minority holding in Avenso AG.
Strategy
After years of notable, rapid growth, 2013 was the year in which
­Burda Digital stabilized. The primary focus was on increasing the
margins of existing shareholdings and companies. The goal was
to organize the corporate group for sustainably profitable
growth in the coming years. In addition, for the first time, members of the group took advantage of synergies resulting from
increased collaboration among the companies and common
market opportunities. Smaller-scale acquisitions were also
undertaken, such as that of Silkes Weinkeller, an e-commerce
company for wine sales.
BURDA Annual Report
105
Financial Statements 2013
Around seven million members in the
D-A-CH region use XING for business,
job and career (2012: 6.1 million
members). Worldwide, the portal has
14.1 millio­n members (2012: 12.9 million).
Forecast
Risks for this division
For 2014, it is expected that there will be notable market growth
and significant growth in the sales and earnings of companies
and investments in all digital areas. The consumer Internet, and
therefore also the companies in this corporate group, will grow
more significant as a channel for advertising and transactions.
There will also be great opportunities in the linkage of content
and commerce. This applies, in particular, to the ­BurdaTech
Group and XING.
The focus is on organic growth of existing shareholdings. In
addition, the Digital Division will look more intensively for
attractive later-stage digital companies. The intention is to
further increase the profitability of the Digital Division by taking
over digital companies with a great potential for growth.
The dominant position of large US digital companies is very likely
to pose a risk for the digital business activities. Hubert ­Burda
Media will counteract these tendencies by carefully selecting
new digital business models and by integrating them into our
existing digital business. For the digital business, the fast pace
of change in these business models poses an inherently high
risk. Under some circumstances a business model existing today
might not be able to permanently hold its ground in the market
tomorrow. Companies that conduct business over the Internet
are subject to a high risk that prices could drop as the result of
global price transparency. For that reason, sales markets will be
continually monitored and short-term responses will be initiated.
In the Domestic Publishing Division of Hubert ­Burda Media, publishing activities are determined by three publishing groups with
a clear focus on target groups. A total of 91 magazines are
periodically published in the three units, ­BurdaLife, B
­ urdaStyle
and B
­ urdaNews (2012: 83). Additional companies active in this
business division are the central marketer BCN, the content
marketing provider ­BurdaCreative, ­BurdaIntermedia, and the
central research unit, Media Market Insights. ­Burda manages
magazine sales in Germany through an existing joint venture with
FUNKE MEDIENGRUPPE, called the Moderner Zeitschriften
Vertrieb (MZV).
The trend in traditional sources of revenue
Again in 2013, the publishing industry in Germany was characterized by a decline in the two core markets of advertising and
sales. Competition in the advertising market has further intensified. Gross advertising revenue of all consumer magazines in the
entire advertising market, including media advertising, declined by
0.9 percent, and the share of the advertising market declined by
0.5 percentage points, to 13.3 percent (source: Nielsen). In 2013,
the Domestic Publishing Division generated €629.9 million in
revenue, and thus 24.1 percent of total corporate revenue (2012:
€645.5 million or 26.3 percent). The goal of stabilizing revenue in
the traditional publishing business was largely achieved. In this
regard, the division was able to develop new areas of revenue
that were very successful. This process of change will be continued in 2014.
106
BURDA Annual Report
­BurdaLife
­BurdaLife has the largest circulation of the three media groups
that operate on a national level. Since January 2014, it has
included Medien Park Verlage and Verlagsgruppe Berlin. The
brands of B
­ urdaLife focus on the everyday needs of consumers
and, in terms of circulation, have market-leading positions in the
areas of food and living (source: MA 2013 II). B
­ urdaLife publishes around 50 periodicals in Germany with a circulation exceeding 15.51 million customers (source: MA 2014 I; 2012 figures:
16.18 million, source: MA 2013 I). In 2013, the individual divisions
of the publishing unit sold a total of 198 million copies of their
magazines (2012: 207 million; source: MZV). The portfolio
includes weekly entertainment and women’s magazines such as
Freizeit Revue, Super Illu and Lisa, as well as special-interest
magazines in the areas of food (Meine Familie & ich, Lust
auf Genuss, among others), lifestyle (Wohnen & Garten, Lisa
Wohnen & Dekorieren, among others), gardening (Mein schöner
Garten, among others), country (Mein schönes Land, among
others), advice (Guter Rat) and puzzles. With the expansion of its
brand families, cross-media cooperative arrangements and new
developments, ­BurdaLife is constantly creating new media products that are tested in the market and periodically published with
financial success.
­BurdaStyle
­BurdaStyle offers a portfolio of exclusive media brands and is,
with its 8.17 million readers (2012: 7.14 million; source: MA 2013 I),
the largest media provider in Germany in the areas of fashion
and entertainment (compare MA 2014 I). With Bunte, B
­ urda Style,
Elle, Instyle, Freundin and Donna, the group has brands that influence consumer behavior of female readers. In August 2013, the
group expanded its portfolio with Harper’s Bazaar, in a joint venture with US media company Hearst. On the other hand, Cover, a
BURDA Annual Report
107
Financial Statements 2013
Domestic Publishing
+0.6 %
women’s magazine introduced in August 2012, was withdrawn
from the market after its March 2014 issue. Following its motto,
“One Story, Any Screen,” ­BurdaStyle also displays journalistic
content in a platform-neutral manner. The online presence of
Bunte was further developed for this purpose in December 2013,
for example. Content is also offered in a manner custom-tailored
for mobile end devices. Bunte’s brand environment is completed
by live events such as the New Faces Award and the Festival
Night during the Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival).
­BurdaNews
­ urdaNews is a leading provider of printed and digital media
B
offerings that are primarily oriented to male target groups. It
considers itself an integrated media company because of its
multimedia preparation of journalistic content. The magazines
regularly reach 13.5 million readers (MA 2014 I; figures for 2012:
14.35 million, MA 2013 I). In 2013, mobile and digital offerings
were enhanced, in particular, and new income streams were
opened up. The most recent extensions of lines were successfully established: Focus-Gesundheit, with up to 70,000 copies
sold per issue, and Focus-Diabetes, with about 50,000 copies
sold. Under new editorship since the end of 2012, the news
magazine Focus has been given a more modern look and has
made a name for itself with journalistic revelations that have
brought international attention. The number of copies sold was
510,000, and circulation was increased by 2 percent, to 4.38 million readers (see MA 2014 I). The digital version of Focus is
established on all common mobile platforms and is being continually refined, like the app for TV Spielfilm, which has been supplemented with social media elements, a link to multi-media libraries, and a paid-content offering. (By the end of 2013, the app had
108
BURDA Annual Report
been downloaded more than 13 million times. In regard to visits
to the mobile offerings, there were 147.9 million visits in
December 2013, compared with 112.3 million in December 2012;
source: Google Analytics.)
BCN
BCN is the central marketer of Hubert ­Burda Media. In 2013,
BCN increased its market share from 16.7 to 17.3 percent
(source: Nielsen Media Research). BCN also expanded its sales
network internationally (to the US, Great Britain, France, Austria/
Switzerland, with representatives in a total of 17 countries). The
BCN portfolio includes magazines of FUNKE MEDIENGRUPPE,
SKY Germany, the Indian Hindustan Times, the Epoch Times, the
Chinese lifestyle magazine Shang, titles of the Danish publisher
Malling Publications, and the French corporate group Lagardère.
An important factor in BCN’s growth strategy is its media- and
client-neutral structure, which is oriented to the requirements of
the market.
­BurdaCreative
After the realignment in 2012, 2013 was a year of growth for
content marketing provider ­BurdaCreative. In February 2014,
­BurdaCreative acquired the digital content agency wunder
media production GmbH, and will operate and expand it in a
manner that complements ­BurdaCreative. Operating in the
central business field of content marketing, ­BurdaCreative
designs and operates customers’ own media channels and develops them ­further on all media platforms that are relevant for the
interaction between brands and consumers.
­BurdaIntermedia
Sales
­ urdaIntermedia is a cross-divisional unit that, since 2012, has
B
brought together essential parts of the cross-media activities
of the Domestic Publishing Division that are outside of the traditional magazine business. These include websites such as
Bunte.de and DasKochrezept.de, which were completely revised
in 2013; mobile offerings; TV formats; production and marketing
of events such as Bambi and New Faces Award; merchandising
products of the publishing brands; and ticketing for live events.
With a 22.0 percent share of the market in terms of sales, the
company MZV, the joint venture with FUNKE MEDIENGRUPPE,
remains number one in marketing of German magazines, as
it has been in previous years, and number two in the German
press distribution market (source: Presse Fachverlag). Also in
Sales, B
­ urda is looking for new ways to reach the consumer. In
this connection, the retail food business (supermarkets, large
forms of retail trade, and discounters) is becoming more important; according to the 2013 structural analysis of the retail industry, its share of gross press revenue was about 48 percent.
Media research
In 2013, Media Market Insights (MMI), the central market research
unit of Hubert ­Burda Media, pressed ahead with basic cooperation projects for the German publishing environment. Under the
motto “Know how Germany lives,” the four media companies
Hubert ­Burda Media, Axel Springer, Bauer Media Group and
Gruner + Jahr presented their first-ever joint market media study,
“best for planning” in September 2013. The study supersedes
the previous German market media studies, ­Burda’s “Typology
of Wishes” and Axel Springer’s and Bauer Media Group’s
“Consumer Analysis.” In addition, MMI had an essential share of
the further development of AIM and its shift model, which shows
the correlation between advertising investments and advertising
success for individual media types and impact indicators, thereby ensuring transparency in strategic media planning. Eleven
publishers, 23 media agencies, and 21 companies that advertise are participating in AIM.
Strategy
Domestic Publishing launched the growth program GROW! for
the period 2013 to 2015. This program builds on two programs
of prior years, which had the purpose of changing structures
and processes in a sustainable manner and which resulted in
concentration on profitable products, expansion of cooperative
arrangements at the industry level and expansion of the range of
products. In GROW! every producing profit center must
develop growth strategies based on its core competencies in
order to broaden its portfolio and sources of revenue.
Forecast
Despite the structural and economic challenges, the Domestic
Publishing Division is optimistic about the future and is pursuing
its growth ambitions. Because of the high quality of its journalism and the strength and credibility of its brands, Domestic
Publishing is firmly anchored in the environment of 54 million
BURDA Annual Report
109
Financial Statements 2013
BCN increased its market share in
2013 from 16.7 to 17.3 percent.
Burda and its partners published a
total of 293 titles outside of Germany
(2012: 240). Central and Eastern
Europe remains the most important
region with 228 titles (2012: 196).
readers throughout Germany (source: MA 2013 II). The goal is
to build on this proximity to people over all platforms and to
develop new sources of revenue in direct interaction with consumers, through innovation, as well as organic and external
growth. For 2014, it is assumed that sales revenues will move to
the level of the prior year. The number of titles and digital products offered by the division will be expanded in 2014 and should
moderately increase. Acquistions initiated in the first quarter of
2014 (wunder media production GmbH and a majority holding in
Blue Ocean Entertainment AG) will sustainably support this trend.
Risks for this division
The ever growing use of journalistic offerings on the Internet and
the oversupply of advertising space will very likely result in lower
revenue in traditional print media. This risk is countered by the
development of new revenue streams that are outside of the traditional advertising and marketing business and that are oriented to the needs of consumers. The activities of the Domestic
Publishing Division are brought together in the centrally managed GROW! project.
110
BURDA Annual Report
Hubert ­Burda Media concentrates its foreign publishing activities in the Foreign Publishing Division, under the operational
leadership of ­BurdaInternational. Important markets are Central
and Eastern Europe, Turkey, Asia and Western Europe.
­BurdaInternational operates in a total of 17 countries. In 2013,
­Burda and its partner publishers published a total of 293 titles
outside of Germany (2012: 240). Central and Eastern Europe
has remained the most important region, as in the prior year,
with 228 titles (2012: 196).
In 2013, external sales of the Foreign Publishing Division totaled
€377.9 million (2012: €419.3 million), and thus were below expectations. The decline was primarily the result of the weaker wholesale and partwork business in Russia and negative currencyexchange-rate trends.
Trend
In Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan), the primary
focus is on the retail market, with a large portfolio of magazines
in these segments: women (fashion, youth, fashion & style, parents), people, food, living, family advice, gardening, men (lifestyle,
cars, computers), interactive magazines (readers write for readers), and crossword puzzles.
In Central and Western Europe (Czech Republic, Romania, Poland,
France, Great Britain), in addition to a similarly very strong portfolio of our own brands, numerous international titles such as Elle,
Glamour, Instyle, Marie Claire and Harper’s Bazaar are published
under licensing agreements. In 2013, our market position in
Poland was further strengthened by acquisitions. With the acquisition of the Polish companies of the Gruner + Jahr Group, ­Burda
further expanded its leading position in the magazine market
there, not only in regard to readership, but also in regard to the
advertising market.
In Turkey, Hubert ­Burda Media and the Dogan Media Group jointly manage the largest Turkish magazine group Dogan-­Burda,
which is distinguished by a broadly diversified portfolio of titles.
In the Asian markets (Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia,
Taiwan and India), the focus is on the luxury segment, with brands
such as Prestige. The advertising business in this area is being
expanded by carefully targeted brand events. The luxury segment
has also played an important role in India since the acquisition
of the publishing company Exposure Media Marketing Private
Ltd. in June 2013. Since then, ­Burda has been publishing five
regularly appearing advertising titles there.
In addition, ­BurdaInternational is further expanding digital activities in all markets. For example, since 2013 it has had a minority
shareholding in a Turkish company that operates the e-commerce portal Lidyana in Turkey. Lidyana.com went online in
February 2012 and has developed into one of the largest shopping portals in Turkey, with a focus on fashion accessories and
jewelry. In addition, since 2012, ­BurdaInternational has been
invested in the Polish company Showroom Sp. z o.o., which
operates an e-commerce portal under the same name, for
designer brands for the youth market.
Strategy
At ­BurdaInternational, the signs continue to point toward growth
and transformation. In addition to organic growth in the existing
markets, the expansion of magazine brands into multi-platform
products (online, mobile, print) is continuing, along with development of additional revenue sources such as events, tours and
book publications. We are also continuing to expand e-commerce products that are closely linked with our brands, such as
online shops under our own brand names.
Diversification of our offerings is also progressing. In markets
with a portfolio that is primarily oriented toward the mainstream
audience, sophisticated customer segments are increasingly
being addressed with high-quality products. One example of this
is the expansion of the segment of high-quality interior decoration titles through the purchase of the business operations of
the specialty publishing company Salon-Press and the integration of the home furnishing magazine H.O.M.E.
Particularly in Poland, the now-completed process of consolidating the newly acquired entities offers potential for additional
increases in efficiency. The collaboration among the individual
national issues of cross-border brands, in respect to editorial
content, design, and marketing measures, is also being intensified. For individual digital brands from the German ­Burda port­
folio, there are opportunities for internationalization, which can
be based on existing structures at ­BurdaInternational.
Forecast
For 2014, ­BurdaInternational expects stable sales returns in the
great majority of cases, when calculated in the respective country’s currency. However, because of the continuing weakness
of important currencies (particularly the ruble and the hryvnia),
there will be declining sales revenues when calculated in euro.
Although most of the markets throughout Europe are mature,
and the wholesale and partwork business is stagnating in Russia,
­BurdaInternational expects that there will be continued organic
growth in the existing and recently acquired media brands.
In Romania, following the purchase of the Sanoma-Hearst companies, ­BurdaInternational aims to achieve market leadership in
the advertising and marketing business. The emerging markets
in South America and East Asia also offer opportunities for
growth in the area of magazines and digital media products. The
company will continue to invest in the luxury segment and in digital activities, so a slight increase in the number of titles or investments can be expected in these areas.
BURDA Annual Report
111
Financial Statements 2013
Foreign Publishing
Vieux-Thann
Offenburg
Nuremberg
New Delhi
BurdaDruck main sites
Risks for this division
Continuing political instability (currently in Ukraine, Thailand and
Turkey) and volatile economic and financial markets (especially
in Russia) could have noticeable impacts on the sales and earnings trend in the international publishing business. In addition, an
intensifying debt crisis in individual European countries or a collapse of the financial markets could endanger the positive trend
in the economy. The result could be declining revenues for
advertising customers and therefore lower advertising income
for the publishing companies. Local legislative initiatives, such as
a prohibition of advertising for certain consumer items, could
have significant impacts on the advertising market. The disposable income of readers and customers could also be affected
by such developments, which in turn could result in declining
external sales in the print and digital businesses.
112
BURDA Annual Report
­BurdaDruck specializes in the production of high-quality magazines, catalogs and advertising material in high-volume gravure
printing, and in all services necessary for this. In addition to the
Hubert ­Burda Media publishing houses, customers include
independent publishers and customers from a variety of
sectors. Since 2012, marketing, production planning and order
processing have been pooled in B+B Media Services GmbH,
Offenburg, a joint venture of ­BurdaDruck and Karl Rauch Verlag
GmbH & Co. KG. Outside of Europe, ­BurdaDruck is present in
New Delhi, India. In 2013, ­BurdaDruck acquired the shares of the
former joint venture partner, the Hindustan Times. The Indian
printing company is consequently a 100 percent subsidiary of
­Burda Druck GmbH, Offenburg. Since then, it has operated
under the name BurdaDruck India.
The ­BurdaDruck Group is one of the largest printing companies
in Europe, with a company site and two plants in Offenburg, a
company site in Nuremberg, and a company site in Vieux-Thann,
France. In 2013, its external sales amounted to €204.1 million
(2012: €223.8 million). The decline was steeper than expected.
The company operates in an industry that has been characterized for years by declines and overcapacity. Although the market
has been regularly losing printing capacity – B
­ urda as well
decommissioned a rotary printing press in Nuremberg in 2013 –
at the same time, the demand has been declining in at least the
same scope. As a result, the intense, cutthroat competition over
prices has continued unabated. In addition, large, reel-fed offset
printing machines are increasingly penetrating what used to
be the domain of gravure. When assessing the European competition, distinctions should no longer be made between gravure
printing and large reel-fed offset; instead, large reel-fed printing
should be considered as a whole.
Details
Corresponding to the trend throughout Europe, printed tonnage
is declining at ­BurdaDruck as well. It declined from 387,000 tons
in 2012 to 361,000 tons in 2013. Utilization declined by 6.7 percent and was consequently worse than assumed even in 2012.
This was attributable to the decline in circulation and volume,
not only in the magazine segment, but also in the catalog business for traditional mail-order businesses. The bankruptcy of
important customers from a variety of sectors and the resulting
discontinuation of print products contributed to a decline
in utilization.
Although overall costs were reduced again in 2013, the corresponding savings were far from sufficient to compensate for
the decline on the revenue side. The trend in energy costs
also negatively impacted the overall result. Since the company’s German operations are encumbered by the EEG tax
amounting to €52.77 per megawatt-hour, they have a competitive disadvantage in respect to competitors in neighboring
European countries.
In 2013, ­BurdaDruck India developed in a gratifying manner
in regard to productivity, sales and financial results. The acquisition of orders in India is progressively improving. In addition,
there were initially successes in the acquisition of orders for
production of school textbooks for the African continent.
Strategy
­ urdaDruck will continue to manage costs in a consistent manB
ner in all segments that can be influenced, and will take all possible, sensible measures to strengthen its ability to compete. At
the end of 2014, at the Nuremberg site, we will begin efforts to
improve the vertical range of production by setting up saddlestitching equipment. In the meantime, all sites now have a flexible working-time model that allows the company to adjust
quickly to customer requirements, which are changing with ever
shorter notices. In 2014, B+B Media Services GmbH will become
a broker for Printing Division services, in order to allow quicker
and more efficient accommodation of customer wishes.
The trend in the emerging markets will have a positive impact on
the Printing Division. One result of the continually increasing rate
of literacy is expected to be a continually growing demand for
educational material and for media overall. ­Burda is accommodating this development. For example, in 2013, ­BurdaDruck
printed its 50 millionth textbook for countries in de­veloping
regions. It can be expected that the business field “Education
Market International” will continue to expand.
Forecast
The tough, cutthroat competition over prices in the European
printing market will continue. It must be assumed that demand
in the European printing market will continue to decline on the
order of 4.0 percent per year. For the corporation’s German
operations, the EEG tax, which will increase again in 2014,
means an additional burden and further exacerbation of the
already huge competitive disadvantage in respect to printing
companies in neighboring European countries. Price increases
are looming for raw materials, too. However, in view of the tough
competition throughout Europe, it will not be possible to pass on
the higher costs through printing prices. For ­BurdaDruck, this
means there will be a further moderate decline in utilization and
a marked decline in sales revenue – the latter primarily attributable to the changed invoicing at B+B Media Services GmbH.
BURDA Annual Report
113
Financial Statements 2013
Printing
The number of employees has grown
in 2013 to 10,017 (2012: 9,241). The
two most important sites are Munich
with 2,209 employees and Offenburg
with 1,769.
Risks for this division
It must be assumed, with a high degree of probability, that circulation and volume will continue to decline in the area of magazines and the traditional catalog business for mail-order businesses. Opportunities could arise in the e-commerce area,
where it can be seen that Internet mail-order businesses are trying to generate further growth by approaching target groups
with printed advertising material. B+B Media Services will step
up its activities in this segment. The relevant national and inter­
national printing markets will therefore be intensively observed
and dealt with.
There is also a risk in the changing creditworthiness of key customers. We are responding to the related risks of losses on
receivables with systematic creditworthiness assessments and
the use of a policy insuring against bad debts and, as appropri­
ate, also with an agreement on advance payments, as well as
very close monitoring of unpaid items.
Rising costs, especially for raw materials and energy, will most
likely have a negative impact on Printing Division results because
these costs can only be passed on to customers to a limited
extent. The Printing Division is responding to these risks with consistent cost management and continual process optimization.
114
BURDA Annual Report
With its large number of different companies and business models, Hubert ­Burda Media is a very attractive employer. ­Burda
uses modern human resource management tools in order to get
qualified new employees, to train young employees at the beginning of their careers, and to continually nurture and further
develop existing personnel. With these tools, ­Burda would like to
attract highly qualified interested parties in all business fields,
national and international – especially software developers and
programmers, who are necessary for the expansion of digital
activities. In 2013, the Recruiting Center of Human Resources
therefore reorganized itself with the goal of finding qualified
future employees even faster and more efficiently.
Employee structure
In 2013, the number of employees increased to 10,017 (2012:
9,241). This impressive growth is primarily attributable to the
inclusion of the new Polish companies (+224 employees) and the
change in the consolidation method of ­BurdaDruck India
(+133 employees). The Group’s companies are represented at
more than 20 sites in Germany, the most important of which are
Munich with 2,209 employees, Offenburg with 1,769 employees
and Hamburg with 948 employees.
Outside of Germany, the largest country sites are in Russia,
Poland, the Czech Republic and Ukraine.
The average age of employees in the Group is 39. Women constitute 52.3 percent of employees and 41.3 percent of all managers.
Training
Systematic employee development
­ urda offers many diverse entry opportunities for junior employB
ees. In 2013, the trainee programs that had been carried out for
many years were revised and oriented to current requirements.
Six “graduate trainees” are going through the 18-month program
for junior employees, the “­Burda Graduate Program – Master
Trainees for Media Excellence.” This program is intended to prepare them for their later duties as managers by deploying them
in all four business divisions. Nine trainees participate in the
“­Burda Advanced Program – Bachelor Trainees for Media
Success”. During this 12-month trainee program for young talent,
participants are trained as specialists in their principal area. The
goal this year is to acquire all 15 trainees as full-time employees.
In the fall of 2013, 23 new journalists began their dual training at
the ­Burda School of Journalism. Over the course of 24 months,
the students will learn, on a theoretical and practical level, how to
develop cross-technology content for different brands and target groups on their own, and also how to implement the content
both textually and visually. From the group that finished in 2013,
18 trainees (86 percent) were hired.
Above and beyond that, ­Burda at this time offers a wide variety
of training programs throughout Germany for 49 apprentices in
13 occupational categories.
In addition, ­Burda links scientific and practical occupational
training through dual-study programs in Ravensburg and
Mannheim. In 2013, five junior employees began a dual-study
program at B
­ urda in the majors econonics, media design, and
information technology. From the class of 2013, two dualstudies graduates were hired.
In 2013, ­Burda made it possible for about 600 interns to get
practical experience in an international media company.
­ urda implemented four different professional and management
B
programs in 2013 in order to promote junior employees, prepare
future managers for their new roles, and support experienced
managers in their jobs. The Basic Development Program is
geared toward promoting the social, personal and methodological skills of junior employees (2013: 23 participants). The Basic
Management Program (BMP) is designed for junior employees,
in order to prepare them for later management tasks (2013:
27 participants). The Senior Management Program (SMP) was
oriented toward selected management, to boost their individual
leadership and management skills (2013: 22 employees). In the
Leadership Program for Journalists, management and junior
employees from editorial staffs learned the basic principles of
modern leadership skills (2013: 15 employees).
Continuing-education programs are continually refined and are
custom-tailored to meet the needs of the companies and
employees even better. For example, technical skills and management training programs were revised and restructured at
the beginning of 2014. They are going to be set up under the
titles, “GO! – Start up yourself,” “LEAD! – Leading teams” and
“EMPOWER! – Leading leaders.”
In the past year, B
­ urda’s continuing-education offerings for internal use included 260 different seminars, presentations, and
training programs. A total of 2,869 participants took advantage
of the offerings. In addition, there were 96 external continuingeducation activities with a total of 116 participants from ­Burda.
BURDA Annual Report
115
Financial Statements 2013
Human Resources
-1,307
tons: the annual CO2 emissions
decreased by 1,307 tons (19,721 tons
to 18,414 tons) at the Offenburg
headquarters.
Leadership tools
In 2013, performance reviews were introduced throughout Germany.
The ­Burda Competence Model was developed and drafted in
2013. This orientation framework describes interpersonal skills
that are crucial for the success of an organization. The goal is
to identify, develop and create a permanent bond with talented
individuals, based on these skills. In 2014, this model, together
with the performance reviews, will first be implemented in all
units of the Digital Division. The plan is to extend the use to other
divisions over the course of the year.
Compatibility of career and family
­ urda aims to integrate parents back into work life quickly and
B
smoothly following the individually arranged parental leave, and
offers individual, flexible solutions to achieve this. The nonprofit
Hertie Foundation has already awarded ­Burda the “Family and
Career” Certificate a number of times for its Munich and
Offenburg sites. The recertification process has already been
successfully concluded for 2014.
The day care facility B
­ urda Bande was established in Munich
back in 1997; at the end of 2013, 56 children were receiving day
care there. The day care center ­Burda Bambini opened in
Offenburg in November 2011. At the end of 2013, 11 small
children and seven kindergarteners received care there. For
employees who personally tend to family members who require
care, ­Burda offers individual, flexible working-time solutions,
beyond what is required under the law.
116
BURDA Annual Report
Health and occupational safety management
“Live healthily, work more easily” – this motto summarizes
­­Burda’s health measures. The topics addressed in events and
campaigns of 2013 ranged from colon cancer prevention, to
ergonomics at the workplace, to individual measures on the subject of health and stress. In addition, in cooperation with insurance companies, ­­Burda organized educational events on topics
such as “Healthy Snacking” and “Hydrate to Get Fit” at various
­Burda sites. At ­Burda, the subject of occupational safety is a
component of the environmental protection and safety management system. Occupational safety measures range from designation of safety officers and first responders in the various units,
to regular inspection rounds with the company physician. In
addition, there are plans to establish Group-wide health management, which will include not only currently existing activities,
but also further necessary measures.
Work and life in balance
­Burda also offers various types of sports and activities that bring
together employees with common interests in their free time.
Yoga during the noon lunch break, karate in the video studio,
Pilates and Zumba are just a few of the many types of sports
that are offered at the various sites. In 2013, employees and their
families ran together on the track at the large sports festival
“­Burda runs!” In addition, there were activities such as “­Burda
kicks!” and the “­Burda Ski Cup.”
Outlook
The above-mentioned tools of modern human resources management will be refined and expanded in the future. In 2014, the
focus is on carrying out the recruiting process in a professional
manner and raising the quality of the pool of job applicants. The
plan is to reach highly qualified employees, who are needed for
the development of the company, faster and more efficiently.
Another area of focus is the development and qualification
of managers, so that they will be able to function even more
successfully as “entrepreneurs in the enterprise.”
Acting in an entrepreneurial manner requires a sense of social
responsibility. Especially in the producing units, ­Burda therefore
strives for sustainable development that meets the needs of the
current generation without endangering the opportunities of
future generations. In production, the latest technology is therefore used to make economic growth consistent with preservation of a healthy environment.
Energy management and climate protection
At the Offenburg site, ­BurdaDruck voluntarily participates in the
Community Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, also known as
the “eco-audit.” This is a community system for environmental
management and environmental audits of business enterprises.
As a central element of this involvement, ­Burda publishes an
environmental declaration every three years and a brief updated
version every year. This provides all interested parties with information about production activities, related environmentally relevant topics, and action that has been taken to protect the environment efficiently and sustainably.
Because of its participation in the climate initiative of the German
Printing and Media Industries Federation, ­BurdaDruck can use
the professionally respected, Federation-developed CO2 calculator to calculate the carbon footprint of printing orders for its
customers. This determination is based on the amount of paper
used and on site-specific emissions. ­BurdaDruck succeeded in
significantly reducing total CO2 emissions at these printing sites:
At the Hauptstraße site in Offenburg, CO2 emissions were reduced
by 1,307 tons, from 19,721 to 18,414 tons. In the Gutenbergstraße
site, also in Offenburg, CO2 emissions increased slightly, from
3,495 tons to 3,667 tons (+172 tons). At the Nuremberg site,
emissions declined by 1,605 tons, from 17,614 to 16,009 tons.
BURDA Annual Report
117
Financial Statements 2013
Environment and sustainability
Sustainable paper production
Along with price, quality and availability, the environmental quality of the raw materials is important for the acceptance of print
products. ­BurdaDruck strives for complete transparency of the
paper production process, starting with the extraction of raw
materials for paper in the forest.
Production chain certificates are intended to inform the customer of the fact that the raw materials used come from forests that
are managed in an exemplary manner. The certification systems
relevant to the printing industry at present are those of the FSC
(Forest Stewardship Council) and the PEFC (Programme for the
Endorsement of Forest Certification). ­BurdaDruck’s gravure
printing operations in Offenburg, Vieux-Thann and Nuremberg
have both certificates, allowing them to confirm to customers
that only certified raw materials have been used, and to add
the respective logos to products made from certified paper.
­ urda is particularly involved in areas ranging from art, literature
B
and education to research, science and health. ­Burda also uses
its media expertise for good causes. For example, in major
events such as the awarding of the Bambi prize, aid organizations and particular individuals receive attention for their
social involvement.
The Hubert ­Burda Foundation, which was founded in 1999, receives significant support from the Group corporations. Promotional activities in the areas of science, education, art and the
­humanities include, among others, the Felix B
­ urda Foundation,
the European Translator Prize and the Petrarca Prize.
The Felix B
­ urda Foundation, an institution also primarily supported by Group affiliates, has been involved in prevention of colon
cancer since 2001. To reach its goal of “No Colon Cancer in
Germany,” the foundation relies on broadly based communication – from advertising in social media to political lobbying. By
the end of 2012, about five million people in Germany had taken
advantage of the legally required screening colonoscopy, thereby improving their chances against colon cancer. In about
291,000 of these procedures, advanced adenomas, which would
have become cancerous in a few years, were detected and
removed (Source: Lutz Altenhofen, Chafik El Mahi, Arne Weber,
Jens Kretschmann, Maik Heringer, Fritz Lichtner, Abschluss­
bericht 2012 und Rückblick auf 10 Jahre Früherkennungs-Kolo­
skopie in Deutschland [2012 Final Report and Review of 10
Years of Screening Colonoscopies in Germany] presented at the
30 Oct. 2013 meeting of the Screening Colonoscopy Advisory
Board, Berlin). After colonoscopy screening became a legally
BURDA Annual Report
mandated health insurance benefit in 2002, the Felix B
­ urda
Foundation accomplished another goal in 2013, as the Law on
the Further Development of the Early Detection of Cancer and
Quality Assurance through Clinical Cancer Registries went into
effect in April 2013. This creates the legal basis for introducing a
nationwide invitation procedure in which all insured persons of
50 years old and above receive a personal letter inviting them
to participate in a colon cancer screening.
Hubert ­Burda Foundation
Felix ­Burda Foundation
118
Report on opportunities
Tribute to Bambi Foundation
The Tribute to Bambi Foundation supports organizations that
help impoverished children in Germany. About 70 organizations
have been assisted since the campaign was initiated by the
magazine Bunte in 2001. For example, in 2013, organizations
that received assistance included Verein Kids Hamburg e.V.,
which makes mentally handicapped girls strong so that they can
protect themselves from sexual assaults, and Kinder-AugenKrebs-Stiftung, which campaigns for early detection of eye
cancer in children.
Christian Liebig Foundation
Focus Magazin Verlag GmbH has been involved with ChristianLiebig-Stiftung e.V. since 2003. In the past 10 years, thousands
of children in Malawi and Mozambique have been given the
opportunity for a better future through the construction of
schools and orphanages and the awarding of dozens of scholarships. In all projects, the foundation worked independently as
well as in cooperation with large charitable organizations.
Hubert ­Burda Media has many different opportunities; the most
significant are described below.
For ­Burda, opportunities for growth primarily come from the rapidly growing importance of the consumer Internet as a channel
for advertising and transactions.
In the case of magazines in the Domestic Publishing Division, the
expansion of magazine brands to other product areas – such as
commerce, events and merchandising – is opening up additional opportunities for revenue. Although the traditional markets for
magazine sales and advertising show few opportunities for
growth in Germany, ­Burda might be able to profit from an
expected consolidation of the magazine market, which tends to
be crowded. In the marketing of magazines, the company can
profit from the positive evidence of the effectiveness of the AIM
data tool. There are additional opportunities in the growth market of “content marketing,” in which the Group is already well
positioned through ­BurdaCreative.
Outside of Germany, ­Burda can develop good opportunities for
growth that have resulted from the increasing prosperity in former third-world and in emerging countries, as the need for printed and digital media products, and also the need for printed
products in general, will rise.
The continuing digitalization throughout the world, along with the
increasing level of prosperity and education, creates opportunities for digital business models and for opening new markets
with media products. Last but not least, it can be expected that
quite a few large companies will enter the market of “emerging
markets,” or expand their involvement there, which will result in
new opportunities in the media business and also in the printing
of advertising materials, for example.
As it already has up until now, ­Burda will take sensible advantage
of the opportunities that arise, in order to continue the financial
development of the Group.
BURDA Annual Report
119
Financial Statements 2013
Corporate social responsibility
As previously noted above in part, Hubert ­Burda Media’s business divisions are subject to risks that are inseparable from
entrepreneurial activities. However, even though the risk situation is basically unchanged, risks will not have any significant
impact on the development of the Group.
Risk management
Hubert ­Burda Media responds to the various business risks with
an efficient and effective risk management system, which follows
the principles and the framework of the internationally recognized risk management standard ISO 31000. The procedure for
assessing and evaluating risks, which has been in existence for
many years, was further refined in the past fiscal year as well. As
part of a risk workshop with the company management, potential risks are systematically identified and evaluated, following a
uniform risk catalog. The risk catalog includes compliance risk
categories along with strategic, operational and financial risks.
The respective responsible individuals take appropriate action
based on this information. The risk management process is efficiently supported by standard software. Centralized and local
monitoring functions, as well as an independent internal audit,
monitor the effectiveness of risk management in order to ensure
that risks are detected early on, correctly assessed and continually monitored.
Investment risks
Risks arising from significant investments, projects and acquisitions are identified through reviews of investments and are
authorized by in-house monitoring of approvals. Large-scale
one-time investments are applied for and approved within the
framework of an expenditure approval guideline. Risks that arise
in connection with tangible, productive assets or financial
120
BURDA Annual Report
investments could lead to lower valuations, which would negatively impact earnings in accordance with the size of the investment. Risks related to shareholdings mainly come from risks
ranging from a significantly worsened situation of the relevant
company to bankruptcy. These are monitored by appropriate
investment monitoring. We assess the significance of these
risks for the Group as minor when considered individually
and altogether.
Financial and liquidity risks
Exchange rate and interest rate risks as well as other financial
risks are closely monitored, effectively managed and partially
reduced through hedging transactions. A treasury guideline
defines the scope of options for taking on exchange rate and
interest rate risks, and centralizes the necessary hedging
activities.
Interest and currency hedging transactions are only entered
if they can minimize risks related to changes in corresponding
underlying transactions.
Currency exchange risks are regularly analyzed on the basis of
Group-wide reports on currencies that are significant for ­Burda.
Basically, hedging units – including ones that are relevant for
­balancing of accounts – are formed between underlying trans­
actions (purchase and sales transactions, which are very likely
to be in foreign currency) and hedging transactions in the form
of forward currency contracts. Hedging based on micro and
portfolio hedges is undertaken in order to offset future cash flow
fluctuations that are caused by changes in currency exchange
rates. In the case of hedging, at the current time only forward
exchange transactions or foreign currency option transactions
are undertaken. If hedging transactions are still open on the balance sheet date, the effectiveness of the hedging units is investigated by means of the cumulative dollar offset method. Outside
of existing hedging relationships, significant exchange rate risks
are currently seen in the case of the ruble. At present time, we
assess as rather low the risk of potential devaluations of the net
working capital denominated in foreign currency because of
exchange rate changes. If it is financially sensible, bank loans
will also be taken out in foreign currency for the purpose of
establishing natural hedging relationships.
Interest rate risks are also centrally monitored on a continuous
basis and, where it makes sense, are protected by micro-hedges.
The goal of this kind of hedging is to avoid potential negative
cash flow fluctuations due to variable-interest bank loans. Since
the arranged interest rate swaps reflect the underlying transactions in all parameters relevant to the valuation, hedging units
were formed that are 100 percent effective. The effectiveness is
reviewed using the critical term-match method, taking into
account the creditworthiness of the hedge partner. In the case
of variable-interest bank loans that are not covered by any hedging transactions, we are currently assuming that there is no
significant interest rate risk.
With the aid of adequately high credit lines and a consistently
positive cash flow, Hubert ­Burda Media is always provided with
sufficient liquidity.
IT and data protection risks
In order to avoid or reduce IT risks, Hurbert ­Burda Media makes
use of backup computers, data backup systems, and virus and
access protection, among other things. Specific emergency
tests additionally reduce potential risks. The Internet presence
of companies needs to be constantly available; in this area, data
losses or attacks by hackers pose high risks to revenue and reputation in some cases, depending on the business model and
degree of dependency on IT systems. In this regard, the trend to
be noted is that these attacks are being carried out in a substantially more targeted way. In the past fiscal year, Hubert ­Burda
Media has taken this issue even more strongly into account with
the introduction of risk-oriented information security management. The protection of information and IT systems is continuously monitored and improved, based on recognized standards.
Compliance with data protection laws is extremely important for
the business activities of Hubert ­Burda Media. Protection of data
is therefore intensively monitored by independent, highly skilled
data security specialists.
Risks arising from legal procedures
Legal risks arising from existing contracts or current proceedings are covered, as needed, by the establishment of provisions
(loss reserves). Court decisions in the area of press law as well
as amendments of the law initiated on the European level are
analyzed for the purpose of identifying the resulting risks and
limitations to business activities in time, and reacting accordingly.
Supplementing the Press Cothousandde, the main compliance
requirements under press law are stated in the Guidelines for
the Editorial Work of Hubert ­Burda Media in Germany.
As the protection of brands and the protection of intellectual
property rights are very important to Hubert ­B urda Media, all
­relevant developments in this field are closely monitored
and analyzed.
Risk management in respect to financial reporting
The requirements for monitoring the accounting and financial
reporting in an appropriate and reliable manner remain strict.
The internal monitoring and risk management system ensures
that all requirements are met. It is designed to ensure, with a
satisfactory degree of certainty, that financial reporting is reliable and that the preparation of the consolidated financial statements are in conformance with relevant laws and standards.
During preparation of the consolidated financial statements, the
BURDA Annual Report
121
Financial Statements 2013
Risk report
122
BURDA Annual Report
Outlook
After the balance sheet date, no events have occurred that substantially impact the assets, financial position or profit situation.
The rising gross domestic product (forecast for 2014: + 1.6 percent; German Council of Economic Experts, Annual Assessment
for 2013/14), the continued willingness of Germans to spend
and the high rate of employment create good conditions for
­Burda’s business within Germany. Although the euro crisis has
faded in the public perception, allowing the Germans’ trust in the
currency to be strengthened, it has not been eliminated by any
means. Nevertheless, general consumer confidence in Germany
is likely to be fundamentally positive for ­Burda’s sales markets –
both in the printing and digital areas.
The consumer Internet will become more important as a channel
for transactions and advertising in 2014 and beyond and, based
on the sales transacted through the Internet, will grow by an
estimated 15.0 percent per year. The Digital Division will make
use of this growth and will thus achieve the greatest growth
among the business divisions of the Group again in 2014. In
some business fields, however, the company is in direct competition with the dominant American technology and e-commerce
companies, which can operate in Europe under better competitive conditions than European companies themselves.
In Germany, sales revenue from popular magazines is expected
to decline slightly in 2014. The advertising market of popular
magazines will likely also decline to a moderate extent. It is
expected, however, that the Domestic Publishing Division will be
able to maintain its market position this year as well. The
Domestic Publishing Division has strong brands that are relevant
for consumers and has good possibilities for developing additional sources of revenue.
In relevant foreign markets where ­Burda operates (especially
Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Romania), the local currencies and
therefore the exchange rates in respect to the euro have
increasingly come under pressure. This will have negative
impacts on the sales trend, even though our market position can
be strengthened overall. In addition, there could be further political instability and unforeseeable restrictions imposed by political
decision-makers. Such restrictions could also apply to media
providers in marketing and in magazine sales. The increasing
prosperity and increasing literacy, particularly in Asia, basically
suggest a growing need for media. All in all, this creates good
preconditions for ­Burda to get a foothold in the Asian markets
with additional media products.
In the area of gravure, growth is possible only in foreign markets,
where the need for educational media is strongly increasing due
to a rising level of education, among other things. In Europe, the
need for high-volume print products will continue to decline.
The competition for advertising money among the national media
providers markedly intensified in 2013 and, at the same time, the
supply of advertising space continued to rise. The competition
set off by globally operating technology and e-commerce companies has also noticeably increased. The efficient structures of
Hubert ­Burda Media, the consistently encouraged diversification
and related balancing of risks are creating the prerequisites for
­Burda to continue asserting itself, even under intensified conditions – provided that economic growth in Germany and in a few
foreign markets moves within the expected framework. For 2014,
moderately increasing Group revenue is therefore expected.
Over the medium and long terms, after a successfully concluded
transformation phase, ­Burda has good chances for stable
growth and a long-term positive trend in its media business.
BURDA Annual Report
123
Financial Statements 2013
completeness of the financial reporting, the principle of functional division, and adherence to the four-eyes principle ensure
that all transactions are recorded promptly and in due time in
order to ensure on-schedule completion of the accounts.
Intragroup transactions are fully recognized, balanced and eliminated. Issues related to agreements that have been reached,
that have effects on accounting and that are subject to disclosure are identified and correctly represented in the statements.
The use of an intragroup Shared Service Center is essential in
this process. The Shared Service Center prepares the statutory
statements of most of the consolidated German affiliates and is
responsible for the central implementation of the consolidation
work and the preparation of the consolidated statements.
Consistent accounting is assured through Group-wide regulations and processes, suitable analysis of the incoming data, and
the use of SAP software applications.
Events after the balance sheet date
Assets
(6) Fixed assets
Intangible assets
Concessions, industrial property rights, and similar rights and assets,
and licenses in such rights and assets
Goodwill
Prepayments
Tangible assets
Land, similar rights and buildings, including buildings on leasehold land
Technical equipment and machinery
Other equipment, factory and office equipment
2012
k€
2013
€
855,017
846,875,451.47
Equity
397,976
425,865,907.21
427,637
421,194,813.46
Accruals
360,994
371,339,155.00
133,830
138,878,401.55
(1 0)
Tax accruals
174,583
176,560,436.60
292,279
281,374,332.86
(11)
1,528
942,079.05
(12)
253,030
235,953,6 9 6 . 2 8
163,083
153,582,403.37
43,631
38,754,048.70
Equity and liabilities
(9)
Pension accruals
33,165
36,109,674.10
Other accruals
153,246
158,669,044.30
Payables
700,851
661,675,125.21
349,658
306,393,186.32
Bank loans and overdrafts
Customer advances
Trade payables
6,486
10,150,603.66
252,742
247,233,382.07
42,518,266.52
Payables to companies in which the company has a participating interest
9,234
9,135,183.87
1,133
1,098,97 7.69
Other liabilities
82,731
88,762,769.29
174,350
189,726,941.73
Participating interests
144,467
161,382,355.34
Shares in affiliated companies
25,075
22,740,760.27
721
583,899.08
Financial assets
Loans to companies in which the company has a participating interest
Securities
3,861
3,817,710.47
226
1,202,216.57
Current assets
678,206
692,307,608.58
Inventories
140,751
169,113,697.30
Other loans
Raw materials and operating supplies
26,897
25,797,798.23
Work in progress
13,319
10,837,071.52
Finished goods and merchandise
99,440
131,436,175.53
1,095
1,042,652.02
340,480
369,995,314.29
251,639
269,314,664.96
Prepayments
Receivables and other assets
Trade receivables
Receivables from companies in which the company has a participating interest
29,855
28,154,579.64
Other assets
58,986
72,526,069.69
Other securities
32,641
7,312,261.39
164,334
145,886,335.60
13,066
12,150,771.44
1,546,289
1,551,333,831.49
Cash on hand, German Central Bank balances and
other bank balances and checks
(8) Prepaid expenses and deferred charges
Total assets
The numbers in parentheses refer to information in the notes.
124
2013
€
45,183
Prepayments and construction in progress
(7)
2012
k€
BURDA Annual Report
(8)
Deferred income
68,814
75,628,889.44
(13)
Deferred tax liabilities
17,654
16,824,754.63
1,546,289
1,551,333,831.49
Total equity and liabilities
BURDA Annual Report
125
Financial Statements 2013
Consolidated Balance Sheet as of 31 December 2013
Hubert B
­ urda Media Holding Kommanditgesellschaft
Number of consolidated companies:
Domestic
Foreign
Total
31 Dec 2012
31 Dec 2013
146
149
73
85
219
234
thereof
fully consolidated
186
205
consolidated pro rata
14
14
affiliated companies
19
15
(1) General remarks
The consolidated financial statements as of 31 December 2013
were prepared in accordance with the regulations of the German
Law on Corporate Disclosure (“Publizitätsgesetz”).
(2) Consolidation group
Of the fully consolidated companies, 56 reported shares held by
third parties (2012: 50). There were 25 companies with low business volumes and/or no business activities. These were not consolidated as they were of minor importance for conveying a true
and fair view of the net assets, financial position and results of
operation (2012: 21). The consolidated companies are listed in
an appendix to the notes in accordance with Sec. 313 (2) HGB
(German Commercial Code). ROSEA Grundstücks-Vermietungs­
gesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt BURDA Medien Park KG, Düssel­
dorf, as well as ROSEA Grundstücks-Vermietungsgesellschaft
mbH & Co. Objekt BURDA Offenburg KG, Düsseldorf, were consolidated in accordance with Sec. 290 (2) no. 4 HGB.
(3)Principles of consolidation
As a rule, the annual financial statements of the consolidated
companies were prepared as of 31 December 2013. In the case
of four companies, interim statements were prepared as of
31 December 2013, for the purpose of inclusion in the Group
consolidated statements. The inclusion of affiliated companies
was based on their financial statements as of 31 December 2013.
For acquisitions up until the end of fiscal year 2009, consolidation of investments for the fully and proportionately consolidated
subsidiaries was carried out according to the book value method in accordance with Sec. 301 (1) no. 1 HGB, old version. Under
this method, the book values of the investments were offset with
126
BURDA Annual Report
the pro rata equity subject to consolidation at the date of the
acquisition of shares or initial inclusion in the consolidated
statements.
The revaluation method in accordance with Sec. 301 (1) HGB,
new version, applies for acquisitions since the beginning of
­fiscal year 2010. In this method, the stated value of the shares
in the relevant subsidiary held by the parent company is offset
against the equity of the subsidiary that is apportionable to
these shares, and that corresponds to the market value of the
assets, liabilities, accruals and special items that must be included in the consolidated financial statements. Accruals are valued
in accordance with Sec. 253 (1) clauses 2 and 3 as well as (2)
HGB, and deferred taxes are valued in accordance with Sec.
274 (2) HGB. Offsetting is carried out on the basis of the value
stated at the time the company concerned became a subsidiary.
Any goodwill arising from the consolidation of investments up
until the end of fiscal year 2009 was capitalized and offset proportionately against equity. This treatment of goodwill was
retained and also continued to apply in the fiscal years following
31 December 2009. In fiscal year 2013, €21,664k of this existing
goodwill was newly offset (2012: €22,711k). Goodwill from acquisitions since 1 January 2010 is depreciated in the income statement over the course of the anticipated useful life.
For acquisitions up until the end of the fiscal year 2009, inclusion of affiliated companies in the consolidated statements followed the capital share method in accordance with Sec. 312 (1)
clause 1 no. 2 HGB, old version, whereby consolidation of equity
was carried out as of the date of acquisition. Past goodwill was
carried forward and an amount equal to €1,196k was offset
against equity in fiscal year 2013 (2012: €3,902k).
Starting in fiscal year 2010, investments in affiliated companies
have been disclosed at book value in the consolidated financial
statements. The book value and any difference between the
book value and the share of equity are calculated as of the date
the company became an affiliated company. Any difference arising from the consolidation of investments is calculated, carried
forward, written off and dissolved in accordance with Sec. 312 (2)
HGB, new version. The disclosed goodwill resulting from previous years and shown under the balance sheet item of the same
name was previously transferred to the investment book value
of the corresponding affiliated company in 2010.
At the reporting date, the difference between the book value and
the share of equity in the affiliated companies amounted to
€17,479k; the goodwill included therein amounted to €16,686k.
The goodwill from the consolidation of investments generally has
a useful life of up to 15 years. Periods of useful life over five years
result from the business model of the company concerned. In
the case of a business model similar to a subscription business,
Hubert ­Burda Media continues to rely on figures that are based
on experience with the development or duration of comparable
customer bases in the publishing business, and that are also
expected in the future. The same applies to sales-oriented business models, because in this case, too, the company has experience (for example, with comparable product life cycles) that justifies a correspondingly long period of useful life. The straight-line
method of depreciation is used.
Any difference arising from the consolidation of investments
on the liabilities side is disclosed as a separate item after equity and is dissolved in accordance with Sec. 309 (2) HGB. As of
the balance sheet date, there was no difference on the liabilities side.
Loans and other receivables, accruals, and liabilities among the
companies included in the consolidated statements have been
omitted, along with deferred items. Sales revenues, expenses
and earnings among companies included in the consolidated
statements were offset against each other.
(4) Currency conversion
Accounts receivable and other assets, bank balances, and
accounts payable denominated in non-euro foreign currencies
were converted into euro at the exchange rate applicable at
the time of transaction or the higher or lower currency exchange
rate as of the balance sheet date. Items with a remaining term
of up to one year were generally valued at the exchange rate
applicable as of the balance sheet date.
Conversion of the equity position of consolidated companies
outside the European Currency Union was carried out using historical exchange rates; remaining balance sheet items were
converted at the average spot exchange rate on the balance
sheet date, and profit and loss account items at the annual average exchange rates. Resulting conversion differences were offset against equity, not affecting net income.
BURDA Annual Report
127
Financial Statements 2013
Notes to the Consolidated Financial
Statements for the Fiscal Year 2013
The accounting and valuation principles that applied last year
remained unchanged.
Assets and liabilities were valued in compliance with the prudence principle and in accordance with the methods applied for
the parent company.
Intangible assets acquired were valued at acquisition cost and
were depreciated according to the straight-line method over the
course of their anticipated useful life. Unscheduled depreciation
was undertaken to the extent necessary. Offsetting or amortization of goodwill was based on an anticipated useful life of up to
15 years, depending upon the business model of the company
in question. Internally generated intangible assets were
not capitalized.
Tangible assets were recognized at acquisition or production
cost, less scheduled depreciation and, if required, unscheduled
depreciation. In addition to individual costs, production costs
also include appropriate portions of material and production
overhead. As a rule, moveable depreciable assets were written
off over their useful life according to the straight-line method;
alternatively, in the case of fixed assets added prior to 1 January
2010, moveable depreciable assets were written off according
to the declining-balance method for tax reasons. In these old
cases, the method used is changed to the straight-line method
as soon as this results in higher annual depreciation.
128
BURDA Annual Report
Independently usable assets subject to depreciation were fully
written off in their year of acquisition and treated as disposals in
the consolidated development of fixed assets insofar as their
respective acquisition or production costs were not above
€410.00 (low-value assets). If the acquisition or production costs
exceeded €410.00, the respective assets were capitalized and
written off as scheduled over the course of their useful life.
Financial assets were recognized at original cost or the lower
fair value in the event of an impairment that was expected to
be permanent. Interest-bearing loans were recognized at face
value. Low-interest loans and non-interest-bearing loans were
discounted according to their remaining time to maturity.
Raw materials, operating supplies and merchandise were
recorded at the average acquisition cost. If the replacement cost
and/or market price was lower at the reporting date, that figure
was used in the valuation. Finished goods and services and work
in process were capitalized at cost or the lower fair value at the
reporting date. In addition to individual material and production
costs, production costs include appropriate portions of material
and production overhead, as well as depreciation insofar as it is
applicable to production.
All separately identifiable risks were taken into consideration in
the valuation of accounts receivable and other assets. An appropriate general provision was formed to cover general credit risks.
Corporate tax credits pursuant to Sec. 37 (5) KStG (German
Corporate Tax law) shown under other assets were valued at
cash value.
Other securities were valued at acquisition cost and/or lower
market prices at balance sheet date.
Liquid assets were recorded at face value.
A revaluation up to the carrying amount of the assets was recorded if an unscheduled depreciation was carried out on assets or
if current assets were recognized at a lower of cost or market
value and the reasons for the depreciation have become partially
or completely irrelevant in the meantime. This does not apply
to any unscheduled write-down of goodwill carried out in previous years.
Accruals for pensions, part-time employment preceding retirement, anniversaries or death-related benefits are inventoried as
of 31 October of the fiscal year. These accruals were determined on the basis of actuarial computations using biometric
probability (2005 G Heubeck mortality tables) in accordance
with the projected unit credit method, taking into consideration
the following general assumptions valid as of 31 October 2013:
The interest rate of 4.9 percent per year applied during the fiscal
year corresponds to the market interest rate for an assumed
remaining term to maturity of 15 years, averaged over the last
seven fiscal years, as calculated and published by the German
Federal Bank. In cases of a remaining term significantly shorter
or longer than 15 years, the actual remaining terms and the cor­
responding interest rates calculated and published by the German
Federal Bank were applied.
Because the majority of the pension obligations are based on regulations for new employees entering the group from September
1994 on, and because the still-active employees entitled to the
pension fund have been with the company for a long time as of
the balance sheet date, fluctuations at individual plants and sites
were not considered in this calculation due to their immateriality.
An average annual fluctuation of 3.0 percent per year in the first
10 years of employment was assumed with regard to accruals
for anniversary bonuses and for death-related benefits. Starting
Increases in
remunerations and
pensions
Assumed remaining
term to maturity
Interest rate
Fluctuation
in % p. a .
in years
in % p. a .
in % p. a .
Pensions
1.8
up to 28
up to 4.97
0
Part-time employment preceding retirement
1.8
2
3.50
0
Anniversaries
n/a
15
4.90
up to 3.0
Death-related benefits
1.8
15
4.90
up to 3.0
BURDA Annual Report
129
Financial Statements 2013
(5) Accounting and valuation principles
130
BURDA Annual Report
a reasonable commercial assessment. The liabilities were
recorded at their anticipated repayment amount. Future price
and cost increases were considered insofar as sufficiently
objective indications of their occurrence were available.
Accruals with a remaining term of more than one year are discounted by the average market rate prevailing over the past
­seven fiscal years as calculated and published by the German
Federal Bank.
Liabilities were recorded at their repayment amount.
Insofar as hedging is carried out in order to secure currency
exchange rates, the hedging rates are generally applied to the
valuation of the respective receivables and payables. An accrual
for contingent losses is created for any potential excess losses
from currency hedging transactions.
Insofar as transactions were valued as units, they were capitalized by applying the net hedge presentation method.
(7) Receivables and other assets
(9)Equity
€429k (2012: €675k) in trade receivables, €278k (2012: €166k)
in receivables due from companies in which the company has
a participating interest and €5,937k (2012: €6,594k) in other
assets have a remaining term of more than one year. All other
accounts receivable and other assets are due within a year.
Subject to separate disclosure, receivables due from companies
in which the company has a participating interest would have to
be disclosed as trade receivables in the amount of €20,717k and
as other assets in the amount of €7,438k.
Other assets include corporate tax credits pursuant to Sec. 37 (5)
KStG amounting to €4,740k.
Other assets also include input tax-refund claims in the amount
of €3,587k, which legally accrue only after the reporting date.
Equity comprises the capital and reserve accounts of the general
partner and the limited partners, the exchange rate difference
resulting from currency conversion, the goodwill offset against
equity, the reserves of subsidiaries, Group net profit, and thirdparty interests in consolidated subsidiaries.
(10)Tax accruals
Accruals for taxation primarily include amounts to be paid in
2014, and also include amounts related to risks identified in
tax audits.
(11)Other accruals
(8)Prepaid expenses and deferred charges
(6) Fixed assets
The development of the individual items of the consolidated
fixed assets is shown in a separate fixed-asset schedule.
The goodwill reported is primarily the result of the initial consolidation of investments. Unscheduled depreciation on tangible
and intangible assets amounted to €8,791k in the fiscal year
(2012: €11,344k).
The prepaid expenses and deferred charges shown on the consolidated balance sheet on the assets side contain a discount as
defined in Sec. 250 (3) HGB in the amount of €83k (2012: €97k).
The balance sheet item on the liabilities side primarily comprises
deferred income from subscriptions and online memberships.
Other accruals primarily comprise amounts for outstanding supplier invoices, holiday entitlements, other personnel expenses,
returns, discounts and rebates, litigation risks, and losses from
pending transactions.
BURDA Annual Report
131
Financial Statements 2013
at the 11th year of employment, the fluctuation at an individual
site was not considered in this calculation due to its immateriality.
As part of the German Accounting Law Modernization Act
(BilMoG), in force since 29 May 2009, the valuation of current
pensions or pension entitlements has changed. The difference
resulting from the changed valuation of current pensions or pension entitlements is allocated over a period of 15 years. The
amount not yet allocated according to Sec. 67 (2) EGHGB
accounts for €32,515k as of the reporting date.
Pension plan reinsurance values which would have otherwise
been disclosed under other assets were offset against the pension obligations in the amount of €2,815k, for which the insurance policies were taken out. These values correspond to the
market value and the amortized cost of the offset assets as well
as the repayment amount of the offset liabilities. The reinsurance values have been confirmed by the respective insurance
companies. They have been valued at the amount as derived by
the insurance company from the capital coverage calculated in
accordance with the normal course of business for the end of
the insurance period or, at minimum, as derived from the guaranteed repurchase value.
To guarantee the obligations arising from the accruals of parttime employment preceding retirement, the employers have provided bank guarantees on behalf of the beneficiaries.
The tax accruals and other accruals considered include all identifiable obligations and risks at the reporting date on the basis of
Remaining terms to maturity
Bank loans and overdrafts
Customer advances
Trade payables
Payables to companies
in which the Group has a participating interest
Other liabilities
Taxes
Social security obligations
Other liabilities
€34,174k of bank loans and overdrafts are secured by security
rights over real property, €14,862k by transfer of ownership of
machines, and €13,930k by assignment of accounts receivable
and by transfer of ownership of inventories. Subject to separate
disclosure, all payables due to companies in which the company
has a participating interest would have to be disclosed as other
liabilities. In the previous fiscal year, other liabilities related to
taxes amounted to €33,964k, and other liabilities resulting from
social security obligations amounted to €2,848k.
(13) Deferred tax liabilities
The deferred tax liabilities arising in connection with Sec. 274 HGB
primarily result from lower tax-based values of fixed tangible
assets. These were offset against deferred tax assets, most of
which result from differences in tax-based values of pension
accruals. In addition, deferred tax assets include losses carried
forward, which will likely be used within the next five years. The
deferred tax assets remaining after the offset have not been
capitalized in accordance with the option under Sec. 274 (1)
clause 2 HGB.
Therefore, the recorded deferred taxes result entirely from the
application of Sec. 306 HGB. The amount on the balance sheet
is based on the differences between the elimination of intercompany profits, the consolidation of debts, and the capitalization of
hidden reserves within the context of consolidation of equity.
The tax rates for the respective Group units were applied for the
valuation; these rates ranged from 10.0 percent to 34.1 percent.
132
BURDA Annual Report
under 1 year
1 to 5 years
over 5 years
Total
k€
k€
k€
k€
82,817
199,718
23,858
306,393
10,150
1
0
10,151
247,223
10
0
247,233
9,135
0
0
9,135
84,433
4,330
0
88,763
38,892
0
0
38,892
2,742
0
0
2,742
42,799
4,330
0
47,129
433,758
204,059
23,858
661,675
(14) Hedging units
(15) Contingent liabilities
The group has concluded interest rate swaps using matching
maturities to hedge against future interest rate fluctuations arising from variable-interest bank loans. Hedging units are formed
between the amounts due to banks as underlying transactions,
and the hedging transactions in the form of interest rate swaps.
Hedging based on micro-hedges is undertaken in order to offset
future cash flow fluctuations due to variable interest rates.
These interest rate swaps show a nominal value of €70,576k and
a negative fair value of €3,919k. The nominal value of the underlying transactions is €101,576k, resulting in a hedging scope of
69.5 percent. The net present value is used in order to determine the fair values of the interest rate swaps. This method calculates the present values of the future payments up until the
end of the contract, taking as a basis the forward rates that
were calculated on the basis of the yield curve.
The effectiveness of hedging activities with regard to the risk of
changing interest rates was measured prospectively using the
critical term-match method and taking into consideration the
financial standing of the hedge partner, as all parameters relevant to valuation match. The evaluation unit is thus 100 percent
effective. The interest rate swaps show the nominal values and
maturities as of the balance sheet date:
Nominal value
in k €
Euribor
Remaining term
to maturity
50,000
6 months
9 Aug 2016
6,100
6 months
29 Mar 2018
6,000
6 months
9 Mar 2016
5,000
3 months
30 Dec 2014
2,028
3 months
31 Mar 2019
1,448
6 months
30 Sept 2014
In addition, the Group is also subject to currency risks within
the framework of its business activity. Hedging units are formed
between underlying transactions (purchase and sales transactions, which are very likely to be in foreign currency) and hedging
transactions in the form of forward currency contracts. Hedging
based on portfolio hedges is undertaken in order to offset future
cash flow fluctuations that are caused by changes in currency
exchange rates. These forward exchange transactions show a
nominal value of €5,200k and a negative fair value of €79k. The
nominal value of the underlying transactions is €7,263k, resulting in a hedging scope of 71.6 percent. The fair values of the forward exchange transactions were calculated on the basis of
present value and option price models. The Group assesses the
probability of occurrence of future underlying transactions as
very high, because for the most part these are predictable foreign currency transactions. Furthermore, the hedging volume is
distinctly below the scope of the hedged foreign currency
transactions.
The effectiveness of the hedging in regard to currency exchange
risk is investigated prospectively and retrospectively using the
cumulative dollar offset method. The forward exchange transactions show the following characteristics:
At the balance sheet date, the Group companies had contingent liabilities from guarantee agreements in the amount of
€3,392k. As of the balance sheet date, there were no indications for a possible claim, as there is a sufficiently high probability that the underlying obligations will be fulfilled by the
companies concerned.
(16)Other financial obligations
To secure business operations, the Group companies enter
medium- and long-term rental contracts. Significant other financial obligations resulting from these and other contracts existed
at the following amounts and due dates at the balance sheet date:
k€
a) Limited in time
278,984
Due in 2014
57,941
Due between 2015 and 2018
171,997
Due after 2018
49,046
b) Unlimited in time (amount per year)
Nominal value
in k €
Currency
Due dates
5,200
USD
due in 2014
4,799
At the balance sheet date, there were liabilities from initiated
investment projects in property, plants and equipment in the
amount of €2,056k, as well as from miscellaneous other financial obligations amounting to €24,861k resulting from contracted
payments which were not yet due as of the balance sheet date.
BURDA Annual Report
133
Financial Statements 2013
(12)Payables
(21)Employees
k€
1. Classification by division
2,616,864
Domestic Publishing
629,850
Foreign Publishing
37 7,908
Digital
1,400,971
Printing
204,105
Other
4,030
2. Classification by region
2,616,864
Domestic sales
1,689,895
Foreign sales
Average number during the year
Industrial employees
1,011
Salaried employees
8,828
9,839
Comprising
Male employees
4,654
Female employees
5,185
379 of these employees were at proportionately consolidated companies
926,969
Number at year’s end
Number of employees
(18) Wages and salaries, social security, and expenses
related to retirement benefits and support
k€
498,972 (19) Income from participating interests
k€
8,766 (20)Total audit fee
k€
Total
1,515
Annual audit services
1,149
Other certification services
37
Tax advisory services
92
Other services
134
237
BURDA Annual Report
10,017
380 of these employees were at proportionately consolidated companies
(22)Other information
The Munich-based companies zooplus AG and TOMORROW
FOCUS AG and the Hamburg-based company XING AG are
exchange-listed subsidiaries that are included in the consolidated financial statement. In March 2013, December 2013 and
February 2014, respectively, the Management and Supervisory
Boards of these made their declarations of compliance with
the German Corporate Governance Code pursuant to Sec.
161 AktG (German Stock Corporation Act) permanently available
to shareholders on the Investor Relations pages of their respective websites, www.zooplus.de, www.tomorrow-focus.de and
www.xing.de.
Offenburg, 21 March 2014
The Management Board
Dr. Paul-Bernhard Kallen (Chairman)
Holger Eckstein
Philipp Welte
Stefan Winners
BURDA Annual Report
135
Financial Statements 2013
(17) Sales revenues
Intangible assets
Acquisition/
production costs
Status 1 Jan 2013
Additions from
changes in
consolidation
group
Additions
Disposals from
changes in
consolidation
group
Disposals
Transfers
Currency
translation
effects
Depreciation
(accumulated)
Book value
31 Dec 2013
Book value
31 Dec 2012
Depreciation
for the fiscal year
€
€
€
€
€
€
€
€
€
€
€
1,057,441,253.71
60,296,175.70
24,572,379.19
29,447,283.47
3,856,387.48
2,417,606.93
-1,275,355.50
688,953,575.62
421,194,813.46
427,636,800.52
67,525,022.50
310,195,986.89
13,713,525.92
23,456,802.70
5,767,040.54
3,841,438.75
1,732,699.15
-1,222,291.88
199,389,841.94
138,878,401.55
133,829,400.48
27,459,304.25
745,717,124.00
46,539,070.91
0.00
23,680,242.93
0.00
2,409,733.04
-47,618.48
489,563,733.68
281,374,332.86
292,279,257.22
40,065,718.25
1,528,142.82
43,578.87
1,115,576.49
0.00
14,948.73
-1,724,825.26
-5,445.14
0.00
942,079.05
1,528,142.82
0.00
767,373,463.21
10,241,429.85
19,005,767.69
1,087,861.11
42,063,027.35
-7,873.89
-3,901,001.42
513,607,200.70
235,953,696.28
253,030,448.51
36,953,098.07
324,185,516.71
3,207,041.86
512,955.33
0.00
25,380,960.92
0.00
-1,649,013.63
147,293,135.98
153,582,403.37
163,083,442.95
8,280,570.08
295,873,969.61
5,426,969.03
2,495,903.57
0.00
9,553,690.86
34,426.71
-570,962.02
254,952,567.34
38,754,048.70
43,631,166.77
11,011,275.73
146,181,148.72
1,538,360.96
15,443,169.63
1,087,861.11
6,806,604.58
284,978.88
-1,673,428.60
111,361,497.38
42,518,266.52
45,183,010.62
17,661,252.26
1,132,828.17
69,058.00
553,739.16
0.00
321,770.99
-327,279.48
-7,597.17
0.00
1,098,97 7.69
1,132,828.17
0.00
215,336,457.38
7,151,369.46
26,855,479.62
8,948,003.33
10,198,733.97
-2,409,733.04
-358,859.06
37,701,035.33
189,726,941.73
174,349,595.80
2,461,964.87
161,837,348.76
1,915,700.94
20,516,048.45
0.00
3,430,696.40
-500,012.69
0.00
18,956,033.72
161,382,355.34
144,467,318.03
588,000.00
44,235,149.38
5,235,668.52
5,248,727.29
8,948,003.33
6,647,677.77
-1,909,720.35
-353,467.54
14,119,915.93
22,740,760.27
25,074,358.11
1,656,052.34
198,962.10
Concessions, industrial
property rights and similar
rights and assets, and licenses
in such rights and assets
Goodwill
Prepayments
Tangible assets
Land, similar rights and
buildings, including buildings
on leasehold land
Technical equipment and
machinery
Other equipment, factory and
office equipment
Prepayments and construction
in progress
Financial assets
Participating interests
Shares in affiliated companies
Loans to companies in which the
company has a participating
interest
851,534.85
0.00
61,911.58
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
329,547.35
583,899.08
720,948.60
8,186,787.29
0.00
0.00
0.00
92,487.43
0.00
-1.49
4,276,587.90
3,817,710.47
3,861,333.96
0.00
225,637.10
0.00
1,028,792.30
0.00
27,872.37
0.00
-5,390.03
18,950.43
1,202,216.57
225,637.10
18,950.43
2,040,151,174.30
77,688,975.01
70,433,626.50
39,483,147.91
56,118,148.80
0.00
-5,535,215.98
1,240,261,811.65
846,875,451.47
855,016,844.83
106,940,085.44
Securities
Other loans
Totals
136
BURDA Annual Report
BURDA Annual Report
137
Financial Statements 2013
Development of Fixed Assets of the Group
Shareholdings pursuant to Sec. 313 (2) HGB of
Hubert Burda Media Holding Kommanditgesellschaft
as of 31 December 2013
Shares in %
Shares in %
a) Fully consolidated companies
Burda Grundstücksgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, Offenburg
100.00
Hubert Burda Media Holding Kommanditgesellschaft, Offenburg
Burda Grundstücksverwaltungsgesellschaft Objekt München mbH, Offenburg
100.00
Hubert Burda Media Holding Geschäftsführungs-GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Burda Holdings (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Bangkok/Thailand
Abonnenten Service Center GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Burda Holding Publishing Polska Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland
100.00
Aenne Burda Verwaltungsgesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, Offenburg
100.00
Burda Immobilien GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Altradia GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Burda Information Services GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
amiando UK Ltd., Birmingham/Great Britain
100.00 1)
Burda Intermedia Publishing GmbH, Munich
100.00
Amica Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich
100.00
Burda Internetdienstleistungsgesellschaft mbH, Munich
100.00
Amica Verlag Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Munich
100.00
Burda International GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Burda Magazine Holding GmbH, Munich
100.00
90.91
bestwetten.de GmbH, Baden-Baden
100.00
Burda Media Entertainment GmbH, Munich
100.00
bitiba GmbH, Munich
100.00 2)
BURDA Media 2000 s.r.o., Prague/Czech Republic
100.00
Burda Media Polska Sp. z o.o., Wroclaw/Poland
100.00
Burda Media Service GmbH, Offenburg (in the future: Burda Service-Handel-Märkte GmbH)
100.00
Burda Medien Vertrieb GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
BL Engineering Solutions Private Limited, New Delhi/India
Blumendepot GmbH, Mörfelden-Walldorf
BONAGO Incentive Marketing Group GmbH, Offenburg
51.00
100.00
75.10
Brand Media Solutions GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Burda News Druck GmbH, Darmstadt
100.00
Bunte Entertainment Verlag GmbH, Munich
100.00
Burda NG Polska Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland
100.00
Burda NG Polska Sp. z o.o. Spol. Komandytowa, Warsaw/Poland
100.00
Burda (Thailand) Co., Ltd., Bangkok/Thailand
64.30
Burda Broadcast Media Baden-Württemberg GmbH & Co. KG, Offenburg
100.00
Burda Praha spol. s r.o., Prague/Czech Republic
100.00
Burda Broadcast Media Geschäftsführungs-GmbH, Munich
100.00
BURDA PRINT CEE s.r.o. - v likvidácii, Bratislava/Slovakia
100.00
Burda Broadcast Media GmbH & Co. KG, Munich
100.00
Burda Publishing Polska Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland
100.00
Burda Broadcast Verwaltungs GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Burda Publishing Polska Sp. z o.o. Spol. Komandytowa, Warsaw/Poland
100.00
Burda Ciscom GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Burda Romania S.R.L., Bucharest/Romania
100.00
Burda CN Polska Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland
100.00
Burda Senator Verlag GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Burda Communications Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland
100.00
Burda Service AG, Basel/Switzerland
100.00
Burda Community Network GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Burda Services GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Burda Community Network International GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Burda Singapore Pte. Ltd., Singapore
100.00
Burda Community Network International Italia S.r.l. i.L., Milan/Italy
100.00
Burda Sports Group GmbH, Munich
100.00
Burda Creative Group GmbH, Munich
100.00
Burda Taiwan Co. Ltd., Taipei/Taiwan
Burda Digital Commerce GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Burda Verlag Osteuropa GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Burda Digital GmbH, Munich
100.00
Burda Wireless GmbH, Munich
100.00
Burda Digital Systems GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
BurdaStyle, Inc., New York/USA
100.00
Burda Digital Ventures GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Burda-Ukraina, Kiev/Ukraine
100.00
Burda Direct France SAS, Schiltigheim/France
100.00
BZV Zeitschriften Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich
100.00
Burda Direct GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
BZV Zeitschriften Verlag Verwaltungs-GmbH, Munich
100.00
Burda Direct Interactive GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Cellular GmbH, Hamburg
100.00 3)
Burda Direkt Services GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
CHIP Communications GmbH, Munich
100.00
Burda Druck GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
CHIP Digital GmbH, Munich
100.00
BURDA DRUCK FRANCE SAS, Vieux-Thann/France
100.00
CHIP Holding GmbH, Munich
100.00
BURDA DRUCK INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, New Delhi/India
100.00
Cinema Verlag GmbH, Hamburg
100.00
Burda Druck Nürnberg GmbH & Co. KG, Nuremberg
100.00
computeruniverse GmbH, Friedberg
100.00
Burda Druck Nürnberg Verwaltungs GmbH, Nuremberg
100.00
CP-Retail GmbH, Berlin
100.00 4)
Burda Food Partners GmbH, Munich
100.00
Cyberport GmbH, Dresden
Burda France SAS, Paris/France
100.00
Cyberport Services GmbH, Dresden
100.00 4)
Burda Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, Offenburg
100.00
daskochrezept.de GmbH, Wetzlar
100.00
Burda Glam AG, Basel/Switzerland
100.00
Debitor-Inkasso GmbH, Bad Schwartau
100.00
138
BURDA Annual Report
80.00
96.00
BURDA Annual Report
139
Financial Statements 2013
BDV Beteiligungen GmbH & Co. KG, Munich
49.00
Shares in %
DLD Media GmbH, Munich
100.00
MFI Meine Familie und ich Verlag GmbH, Munich
100.00
DLD Ventures GmbH, Munich
100.00
Mirabo AG, Basel/Switzerland
100.00
edelight GmbH, Stuttgart
100.00
mobileminds GmbH, Munich
100.00
Editions DIPA Burda SAS, Schiltigheim/France
100.00
NetMoms GmbH, Cologne
100.00 3)
EDITIONS HUBERT BURDA MEDIA SAS - PARIS, Paris/France
100.00
Neue Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Offenburg
100.00
Editions Nuit & Jour SAS, Paris/France
100.00
OOO Burda Distribution Services, Moscow/Russia
100.00
Elitemedianet GmbH, Hamburg
100.00 3)
OOO Everest Distribution, Moscow/Russia
100.00
Essential Publishing Limited, Colchester/Great Britain
100.00
OOO Press Point International, Moscow/Russia
100.00
Exposure Media Marketing Private Ltd., New Delhi/India
100.00
OOO TK Pressexpo, Moscow/Russia
100.00
fi services gmbh, Pleidelsheim
100.00 5)
organize.me GmbH, Munich
100.00 3)
Finanzen100 GmbH, Cologne
100.00
Ortenauer Papierverarbeitung GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Fit for Fun Verlag GmbH, Hamburg
100.00
PaketPLUS Marketing GmbH, Berlin
Focus Magazin Verlag GmbH, Munich
100.00
P-Eleven GmbH, Hamburg
100.00
Focus Money Redaktions-GmbH, Munich
100.00
Pixelate Ventures Sp. z o.o., Krakow/Poland
100.00
Focus TV-Produktions GmbH, Munich
100.00
Playboy Deutschland Publishing GmbH, Munich
100.00
Freedreams B.V., Nimwegen/Netherlands
100.00
Publicité Nuit et Jour SARL, Paris/France
100.00
freundin Verlag GmbH, Munich
100.00
ROSEA Grundstücks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt BURDA Medien Park KG, Düsseldorf
100.00
FTM Freizeit- und Trendmarketing GmbH & Co. KG, Cleves
100.00
ROSEA Grundstücks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt BURDA Offenburg KG, Düsseldorf
100.00
FTM Freizeit- und Trendmarketing Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Cleves
100.00
RPC Voyages SAS, Courbevoie/France
Globus Verlag GmbH, Munich
100.00
sevenload GmbH, Cologne
Grupo Galenicom Tecnologias de la Informacion (eConozco), S.L., Barcelona/Spain
100.00 1)
Silkes Weinkeller GmbH, Velbert
HolidayCheck AG, Bottighofen/Switzerland
100.00 3)
Smart Inkasso Service GmbH, Lüneburg
100.00
HolidayCheck Polska Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland
100.00 3)
STARnetONE GmbH, Berlin
100.00
Hubert Burda Media France SAS, Paris/France
100.00
Super Illu Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin
100.00
Hubert Burda Media Hong Kong Limited, Hong Kong/China
100.00
Super Illu Verlag Verwaltungs-GmbH, Berlin
100.00
Hubert Burda Media India Private Limited, New Delhi/India
100.00
10betterpages GmbH, Munich
Hubert Burda Media Limited, Colchester/Great Britain
100.00
TF Digital GmbH, Munich
100.00 3)
Hubert Burda Media UK LP, Colchester/Great Britain
100.00
The Entertainment Company GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Hubert Burda Media, Inc., New York/USA
100.00
TOMORROW FOCUS AG, Munich
IGV-Treuhand GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
TOMORROW FOCUS Content & Services GmbH, Munich
100.00 3)
INO24 AG, Pleidelsheim
3)
50.08
55.00 3)
100.00
74.90
89.04
58.84
86.08
TOMORROW FOCUS Media GmbH, Munich
100.00 3)
ino24 clever versichert GmbH, Pleidelsheim
100.00 5)
Tomorrow Travel B.V., Woerden/Netherlands
100.00 3)
Institut für Medien- und Konsumentenforschung IMUK Geschäftsführungs-GmbH, Erding
100.00
TOMORROW Travel Solutions GmbH, Munich
100.00 3)
Institut für Medien- und Konsumentenforschung IMUK GmbH & Co. KG, Erding
100.00
TOV Burda Distribution Services Ukraina, Kiev/Ukraine
100.00
Internet Magazin Verlag GmbH, Munich
100.00
Treehouse Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland
100.00
TV Spielfilm Verlag GmbH, Hamburg
100.00
InTime Media Services GmbH, Oberhaching
51.00
jameda GmbH, Munich
100.00 3)
tv.gusto GmbH, Cologne
Komunikace 2000 s.r.o., Prague/Czech Republic
100.00
Valentins GmbH, Mörfelden-Walldorf
100.00
83.50
kununu GmbH, Vienna/Austria
100.00 1)
Valiton GmbH, Munich
100.00
Kurbaum GmbH, Baden-Baden
100.00
Verlag Aenne Burda GmbH & Co. KG, Offenburg
100.00
M.I.G. Medien Innovation GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Verlagsgruppe Milchstrasse GmbH, Hamburg
100.00
matina GmbH, Munich
100.00 2)
Verwaltungsgesellschaft MAX Verlag mbH, Hamburg
100.00
MAX Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg
100.00
VSG Advertising Italy S.r.l., Milan/Italy
100.00
Media Market Insights GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
Webassets B.V., Zeist/Netherlands
Medienpartner International GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
XING AG, Hamburg
Meteovista B.V., Zeist/Netherlands
100.00 3)
XING Events GmbH, Hamburg
140
BURDA Annual Report
50.99 3)
50.63
100.00 1)
BURDA Annual Report
141
Financial Statements 2013
Shares in %
Shares in %
XING International Holding GmbH, Hamburg
100.00 1)
MZV Export-Import Zeitschriften-Vertrieb Verwaltungs-GmbH, Unterschleißheim
40.00
XING Networking Spain, S.L., Barcelona/Spain
100.00 1)
MZV Moderner Zeitschriften-Vertrieb GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft, Unterschleißheim
40.00
XING Switzerland GmbH, Sarnen/Switzerland
100.00 1)
MZV Moderner Zeitschriften-Vertrieb Verwaltungs-GmbH, Unterschleißheim
40.00
Xino-Media GmbH, Offenburg
100.00
NEVA Media GmbH, Berlin
43.10
ZAO Burda Interaktiv, Moscow/Russia
100.00
Radio Arabella Studiobetriebsgesellschaft mbH, Munich
20.56
ZAO Sales, Moscow/Russia
100.00
Showroom Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland
25.09
ZAO Verlagshaus Burda, Moscow/Russia
100.00
Tripsbytips GmbH, Berlin
35.20
United Ambient Media AG, Hamburg
42.31
Webguidez Entertainment GmbH, Berlin
37.01
zooplus AG, Munich
50.92
zooplus france S.A.R.L., Strasbourg/France
100.00 2)
zooplus italia s.r.l., Genoa/Italy
100.00 2)
zooplus Pet Supplies Import and Trade Ltd., Istanbul/Turkey
100.00 2)
d) Companies pursuant to Sec. 296 HGB or Sec. 313 (2) no. 4 HGB
zooplus polska sp. z.o.o., Krakow/Poland
100.00 2)
Acton GmbH & Co Heureka KG, Munich
40.21
zooplus services ESP S.L., Madrid/Spain
100.00 2)
Beijing Vogel Burda Media Advertising Ltd., Beijing/China
49.00
zooplus service Ltd., Oxford/Great Britain
100.00 2)
Burda Hong Kong Limited, Hong Kong/China
82.15
Zoover France SARL, Courbevoie/France
100.00 3)
Cyberport S.a.r.l., Luxembourg/Luxembourg
100.00 4)
Zoover GmbH, Cologne
100.00 3)
Dialog Service Center GmbH, Neckarsulm
Zoover International B.V., Zeist/Netherlands
100.00 3)
Europe Online Deutschland GmbH, Munich
100.00
Zoover International Holland Filiaal, Zeist/Netherlands
100.00 3)
FamilyBook GmbH, Cologne
100.00 3)
Zoover Media B.V., Zeist/Netherlands
100.00
3)
HolidayCheck France SAS, Paris/France
100.00 3)
Zoover Travel B.V., Zeist/Netherlands
100.00
3)
Gesellschaft für integrierte Kommunikationsforschung Verwaltungs GmbH, Munich
25.00
ZVB Zeitschriften-Vertriebs AG, Basel/Switzerland
100.00
IncGamers Ltd., Falkirk/Great Britain
33.33
Nachtagenten GmbH, Munich
29.97
b) Proportionately consolidated companies pursuant to Sec. 310 HGB
NEVA Media GmbH, Berlin
B+B Media Services GmbH, Offenburg
50.00
Online International Beteiligungs-GmbH, Munich
BB RADIO Länderwelle Berlin/Brandenburg Beteiligungs GmbH, Potsdam
50.00
Privatradio Landeswelle Mecklenburg-Vorpommern GmbH & Co. Studiobetriebs KG, Rostock
BB Radio Länderwelle Berlin/Brandenburg GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft, Potsdam – Group –
50.00
Privatradio Landeswelle Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Verwaltungs GmbH, Rostock
Burda Hearst Publishing GmbH, Munich
50.00
DOGAN BURDA DERGI YAYINCILIK VE PAZARLAMA A.S., Istanbul/Turkey
50.77
43.10
100.00
47.15
29.40
Studio Gong GmbH & Co. Studiobetriebs KG, Munich – Group –
41.67
48.61
Tifuve GmbH, Munich
Güll GmbH, Lindau
49.00
Virtueller Bau-Markt Aktiengesellschaft, Meerbusch
HPB Press Holding Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia
50.00
Vogel Burda (Beijing) Advertising, Beijing/China
100.00
Musicstarter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin
50.00
Vogel Burda Medya Yayimcilik ve Tic. A.A., Istanbul/Turkey
100.00
M.O.R.E. Lokalfunk Baden-Württemberg GmbH & Co. KG, Ulm
50.00
zooplus Eastern Europe TOV, Kiev/Ukraine
100.00 2)
M.O.R.E. Lokalfunk Baden-Württemberg Verwaltungs-GmbH, Ulm
50.00
zooplus Kroatien d.o.o., Zagreb/Croatia
100.00 2)
Presse-Service Güll GmbH, St. Gallen/Switzerland
49.00
zooplus Nederland B.V., Rotterdam/Netherlands
100.00 2)
SEG Stegenwaller Entertainment Group GmbH & Co. KG, Essen
50.00
Zoover Internet Teknolojileri Tuzim Ticaret Ltd., Kusadasi/Turkey
95.00 3)
SEG Stegenwaller Entertainment Group Verwaltungs GmbH, Essen
50.00
Zoover Italia SARL, Monza/Italy
95.00 3)
TOO Burda-Alatau Press, Almaty/Kazakhstan
50.00
100.00 2)
26.02
1) Indirect participating interest of XING AG
c) Affiliated companies pursuant to Sec. 311 HGB
2) Indirect participating interest of zooplus AG
AlphaSights Ltd., London/Great Britain
28.80
3) Indirect participating interest of TOMORROW FOCUS AG
Dergi Pazarlama Planlama ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Istanbul/Turkey
44.00
4) Indirect participating interest of Cyberport GmbH
Escapio GmbH, Berlin
47.20
5) Indirect participating interest of INO24 AG
Gesellschaft für integrierte Kommunikationsforschung mbH & Co. KG, Munich
25.00
Lidyana Elektro Hitzmetler Ithalat Ihracat Pazarlama A.S., Istanbul/Turkey
24.10
Mediaprint & Kapa Pressegrosso spol. s r.o., Prague/Czech Republic
38.78
MZV Export-Import Zeitschriften-Vertrieb GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft, Unterschleißheim
40.00
142
BURDA Annual Report
BURDA Annual Report
143
Financial Statements 2013
Shares in %
The following translated auditor’s opinion relates to the German version of the complete
consolidated financial statements and group management report:
The preceding consolidated financial statements and group
management report intended for publication conform with legal
requirements and supplementary provisions of the company’s
Articles of Association. We have issued the following auditor’s
opinion on the complete (German version of the) consolidated
financial statements and group management report:
Auditor’s Opinion
“We have audited the consolidated financial statements prepared
by Hubert Burda Media Holding Kommanditgesellschaft, Offen­
burg – comprising the balance sheet, profit and loss statement,
and the notes – and the group management report for the fiscal
year from 1 January to 31 December 2013. The company’s
Management Board and General Partner are responsible for
the preparation of the consolidated financial statements and
group management report in accordance with the provisions of
German commercial law and the supplementary provisions
­contained within the company’s Articles of Association. Our
responsibility is to express an opinion on the consolidated
financial statements and the group management report based
on our audit.
We conducted our audit of the consolidated financial statements
in accordance with Sec. 317 HGB (German Commercial Code)
and in compliance with the (German) principles of proper auditing adopted by the Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer (IDW). Those
standards require that we plan and perform the audit in such a
way that there is reasonable assurance of detecting inaccuracies and violations that materially affect the presentation of the
net assets, financial position and results of operations, as given
in the consolidated financial statements and management report,
with due regard for general accepted accounting principles.
Knowledge of the business activities and the economic and legal
environment of the Group, as well as expectations in regard to
144
BURDA Annual Report
possible errors, are taken into account in the determination of
audit procedures. In the audit, the effectiveness of the accounting-related internal control system and the evidence supporting
the information in the consolidated financial statements and
group management report are assessed primarily on the basis
of random samples. The audit includes assessment of: the annual financial statements of the companies included in the consolidated financial statement; the definition of the consolidation
group; the accounting and consolidation principles applied; and
the significant estimates made by the company’s Management
Board and General Partner. In addition, it also includes evaluation of the overall presentation of the consolidated financial
statements and group management report. We are confident
that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Our audit has not led to any reservations.
In our opinion, based on the findings of our audit, the consolidated financial statements comply with the legal regulations and the
supplementary provisions contained within the company’s Articles
of Association and give a true and fair view of the net assets,
financial position and results of operations of the group, in accordance with (German) principles of proper accounting and the
supplementary provisions contained within the company’s Articles
of Association. The group management report is consistent with
the consolidated financial statements and as a whole provides
an accurate view of the group’s position and accurately presents
the opportunities and risks of future development.”
Karlsruhe, 26 March 2014
PricewaterhouseCoopers
Aktiengesellschaft
Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft
Andreas Fell, Wirtschaftsprüfer
Dr. Martin Nicklis, Wirtschaftsprüfer
Imprint
Publisher:
Burda GmbH
Corporate Communications
Arabellastraße 23, 81925 Munich
Tel. + 49 (0) 89 92 50 25 75
www.hubert-burda-media.de
www.burda-news.de
OversightPhilipp Wolff
ManagementJulia Korn
Managing Editor
Bernd Hölzner
Art Direction
Marcus Reichle
Editorial Support Christin Apel, Christiane Blana, Verena Bücher, Jonas Grashey,
Berthold Heidbüchel, Lisa-Marie von Raepke, Marianne Lena Reif,
Alice Schwetz, Dorothee Stommel
ProductionMichael Schekatz
Group Management Report
Heinz Spengler
Publishing Company:
Burda Creative Group GmbH
Arabellastraße 23, 81925 Munich
Tel. + 49 (0) 89 92 50 13 20
www.burdacreativegroup.de
Management and Concept
Christine Fehenberger
Editor-in-ChiefFabrice Braun
Managing Editor
Britta Schmidt
Managing Editor, International
Susan Sablowski
Art Direction
Veronika Schmidt
AuthorsChristoph Henn, Alexandra-Katharina Kütemeyer, Anne Lehwald,
Anatol Locker, Niclas Müller, Lisa von Ortenberg, Sascha Sarmast,
David Schumacher
EditorsLeonie Adeane, David Barnwell, Richard Mote, Asa Tomash
Photo Editors
Michaela Beck, Anka Müller
Image Processing
Silvana Mayrthaler
ProofreaderAsa Tomash
Production
Wolfram Götz (Dir.), Rüdiger Hergerdt, Cornelia Sauer
Printing
Kastner & Callwey Medien GmbH
Paper
Sirio Pearl Ice white, 300 g/m2; PlanoScript, 120 g/m2;
Argenta matte satin, 90 g/m2
Printed in Germany
© 2014 Hubert Burda Media
Photo Credits04, 06, 08, 44-49, 78-83 Michael Hudler; 04, 10-17 Stefen Chow; 04, 1825, 26-35, 36-43, 72-77 Robert Fischer; 50-55, 66-71 Matthias Haslauer;
56-65 Martin Adolfsson, Illustrations: 86-92 Clemens Maurer

Amino Acid Analysis - GBA

Air Bearing VABU-12 - Vectronic Aerospace GmbH

HC serves from July BiH as Master Distributor - hc

Agisoft PhotoScafl Professioflal Editiofl - Stafld

Product Termination Notification

The offshore wind farm Global Tech I

Distribution News / Press Release Best Distributor 2014: Rutronik

EU-funded driving system to boost electric cars

CE+ company brochure (pdf)

RENEXPO® HYDRO 2014 Flyer (in English)