Mediahuis has acquired the remaining 30% stake in the German publishing house Medienhaus Aachen GmbH. At the beginning of 2022, the European media group had acquired 70% of the shares in Medienhaus Aachen GmbH from the founding families of the "Aachener Zeitung" newspaper. The remaining 30% was held by the Rheinische Post Mediengruppe, which has now sold its shares to Mediahuis. With this transaction, Medienhaus Aachen is now wholly owned by the Mediahuis Group.
The expansion into the German region of North Rhine-Westphalia at the beginning of 2022 was an important step for Mediahuis, which entered the German newspaper market for the first time. As the majority shareholder, Mediahuis supported the German publishing house in its digital transformation over the past two years. This allowed Medienhaus Aachen to fully leverage the expertise and network that Mediahuis offers as a group and significantly accelerate its digital growth.
Paul Verwilt, COO of the Mediahuis Group and Chairman of the Shareholders' Meeting of Medienhaus Aachen: "Over the past two years, together with Managing Director Andreas Müller and our colleagues at Medienhaus Aachen, we have taken important steps in the digital development of the company and its news titles. After two years of constructive collaboration with the Rheinische Post Media Group, we jointly agreed that a structure with a single shareholder, rather than two media groups, would benefit the further development of Medienhaus Aachen and accelerate its digital transformation. The fact that the publisher of the 'Aachener Zeitung' is now 100% owned by the Mediahuis Group underscores our belief in a continued successful and sustainable future for Medienhaus Aachen and simultaneously strengthens Mediahuis' growth ambitions in the German market."
Johannes Werle, CEO of the Rheinische Post Media Group: “For several decades, the Rheinische Post Media Group has been actively involved in publishing in the Aachen city region through the Aachener Nachrichten, Germany’s first licensed newspaper. The merger with the Aachener Zeitung in 1975 resulted in a significant minority stake in the combined company. Now it is time to close this chapter. The Rheinische Post Media Group will focus even more intensively on its digitally advanced and controlled media brands in North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, and Saarland within its regional media business. We thank all employees of the Aachen media house for their contributions to date and wish them all the best for the future.”
The Aachen Media Group is a leading media group operating in the Aachen, Düren, and Heinsberg region (North Rhine-Westphalia). Its portfolio includes the "Aachener Zeitung" newspaper, as well as other print and digital media, radio, logistics, trade fairs, and postal services. The Aachen Media Group employs 300 people (excluding delivery personnel).
The Rheinische Post Media Group is a medium-sized media company headquartered in Düsseldorf. It publishes the Rheinische Post, the highest-circulation daily newspaper in the Rhineland, and the General-Anzeiger Bonn, the highest-circulation daily newspaper in Bonn and the Rhein-Sieg district. The media group holds a majority stake in the Saarbrücker Zeitung Group, which publishes the Saarbrücker Zeitung, Trierischer Volksfreund, and Pfälzischer Merkur newspapers. The media group's online portals are among the most widely used portals of German daily newspapers, and its stake in markt.gruppe Holding ensures a strong position in the digital classifieds market. Furthermore, the company holds stakes in 16 radio stations and eight German advertising newspaper publishers with a combined weekly circulation of approximately 1.9 million copies. High-performance printing plants in Düsseldorf and Saarbrücken, as well as highly specialized trade publications in the transport and logistics sector, complete the media group's portfolio. It currently employs around 3,000 people (excluding delivery personnel) both domestically and internationally.
Since its founding in 2013, Mediahuis has built a diverse portfolio of news media and digital brands. In recent years, the group has made significant progress in the digital transformation of its news brands. Mediahuis is successfully implementing paywalls and digital subscription services on its news sites, driven by an optimal customer experience combined with strong and independent journalism. More than 30 national and regional news titles provide news to over 10 million readers daily, both online and in print. The group employs approximately 4,600 people and generates annual revenue of more than 1 billion Euro.
