Würzburg/Germany, October 4, 2007
The two media companies, Vogel and Burda, have reached an agreement that, as the second step of the plan which initially led to the establishment of their joint venture in 2000, Hubert Burda Media will now, as planned, purchase Vogel's 50% share in Vogel Burda Holding at year-end. The latter publishes the market-leading computer magazine, CHIP, along with its diverse line extensions in Germany and on 17 foreign markets and it is also a majority shareholder in the successful online subsidiary, CHIP Xonio GmbH (Chip.de).
The said agreement was reached subject to non-prohibition by Germany's Federal Cartel Office.
Dr. Kurt Eckernkamp, shareholder and current chairman of the supervisory board at Vogel Media, Würzburg, brought CHIP - a magazine launched in 1978 - into the joint venture with Burda in 2000. This was to enable the successful name of CHIP to expand internationally and in the online business sector within a broadly established publishing company operating in the popular magazine sector and to give CHIP lasting success in the future. Now that the successful transitional period has come to an end, Burda is taking over full ownership of CHIP in accordance with the long-term intention of the two publishers, Professor Burda and Dr. Eckernkamp.
Dr. Kurt Eckernkamp said:
"When our discussions on establishing the joint venture got underway in 2000, Professor Burda and I analyzed the strategic future of CHIP. At that stage we were already in agreement that discussions regarding a full transfer of the joint venture over to Burda would take place at a point in time which I was still to specify. The agreement we have reached means that, with Burda, the special interest magazine and the name of CHIP will be in the best of hands for giving it a long-term guarantee of a successful future. Because Hubert Burda Media holds a significant position on the market for popular magazines and is skilled in the fields of digital business, it has the resources and synergies at its disposal which are necessary for giving the name of CHIP a future with growth prospects and - in line with a matter of concern to me - for ensuring CHIP's future on the expanding global communications market."
The Vogel Media Group will be concentrating on its core area of expertise - namely, the dissemination of technical and specialist information - and on equipping it for the future against the backdrop of changing markets. In the recent past, Vogel has invested strongly in developing online portals for its traditional B2B sectors. The focus of its activities will in future lie not only in further developing its printing business but also in expanding the afore-mentioned newly developed business efficiency portals. The German IWW (Institute for Economics Sector Publishing) which belongs to the Vogel Group and which boasts more than 50 information service publications and specialist seminars in the sectors of law, economics and tax, will be supplemented further by website facilities in the course of the digitalization process. In order to underpin its core expertise even further, in January 2007 Vogel took over Compress AG which is a provider of IT specialist information in Switzerland.
Publisher's thanks go to the CHIP team
Dr. Kurt Eckernkamp said:
"The change in CHIP's ownership structure gives me occasion to express my hearty thanks to the entire CHIP team for their many years of hard work.
And in connection with this, I would like to express the wish that top priority continues to be given to its active participation in shaping the world of communications with continued great success - both in its printing and online activities. May CHIP, as a magazine which dates right back to the early days (having been launched in 1978), also continue in the future to provide the structured information required by the new generation, may it supply the right answers, reflect market and sector trends, and may it continue to draw together the elite from this publishing sector to form an opinion leader: those are the things which I wish all employees for the future.
If you have any queries, please feel free to contact:
Dr. Sabine Rohlff
Head of Communications
Vogel Business Media
97064 Würzburg
Germany
Phone +49 (0)931 418-2590
Fax +49 (0)931 418-2860
Email: sabine_rohlff@vogel-medien.de
