Leo Kirch

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Leo Kirch (born October 21, 1926 in Würzburg , † July 14, 2011 in Munich ) was a German media entrepreneur . In 1955 he founded a film distribution company, which he had expanded into one of the largest German media groups by the early 2000s , the Kirch Group . Leo Kirch was instrumental in building up private and pay-TV in Germany. In 2002 his company had to file for bankruptcy and was subsequently broken up. Kirch took legal action against Deutsche Bank until his death in 2011 . Its chairman at the time, Rolf-E. Breuer had triggered the insolvency - as has since been judged by the court - through an interview statement on the company's poor creditworthiness at the beginning of 2002. Kirch, who was almost blind in the last years of his life due to diabetes , was considered conservative and extremely public shy. He was friends with the long-time German Chancellor Helmut Kohl , among others . Kirch's great potential for political influence through his numerous television stations, including ProSieben and Sat.1 , as well as through his holdings in other media groups have been massively criticized in some cases.

Life

Leo Kirch was the son of the plumber and part-time winemaker Robert Kirch and his wife Katharina. He grew up in Fahr am Main (today part of Volkach ). From 1932 to 1940 he attended elementary school in Fahr and then from 1940 to 1943 the upper secondary school in Würzburg .

In July 1943, at the age of 17, Kirch was drafted into the air defense . Among other things, he was involved in repelling an American bomb attack on the Franconian Schweinfurt at dawn on October 14, 1943. In April 1945 he deserted and returned to Fahr.

After graduating from high school in Würzburg, he studied mathematics and physics at the University of Würzburg from 1946 . In June 1950 he was expelled from the university and then began studying business administration at the University of Economics and Social Sciences in Nuremberg . From 1952 he was an assistant at the University of Munich and preferred to deal with electronic media . In June 1958 he was at the Nuremberg HfWS doctorate ; The subject of his dissertation was the influence of space on the range of traffic .

In 1954 Kirch married his fellow student Ruth Weigand (1926-2016). From this marriage in 1957 the son Thomas Kirch emerged. In 1988, he was one of the two founding shareholders of the TV station ProSieben , the successor to Eureka TV . His second, illegitimate son Michael Kirch was born in 1963.

Leo Kirch died on July 14, 2011 at the age of 84; previously he suffered from diabetes mellitus and heart disease for years. The funeral service took place in St. Michael in Munich . Among the mourners were Prime Minister Horst Seehofer , Hubert Burda , Helmut Kohl and Helmut Markwort . Leo Kirch's grave is located in Munich- Oberföhring in the cemetery near the Church of St. Lorenz.

Film rights dealer

As a film rights dealer, Leo Kirch rose to become one of the most important and influential media entrepreneurs in Germany since the 1960s . He bought the rights to his first film, La Strada by Federico Fellini , which he personally brought from Italy in 1956, with borrowed money that he received from his wife's family. He built a complex and confusing company with countless subsidiaries and holdings.

To this end, he founded Sirius Film undkauf GmbH in 1955, BetaFilm in 1959 and TaurusFilm in 1963, which were used for the distribution of films and television programs. 1966 followed the establishment of Unitel and 1968, the IdunaFilm for cinema and TV movie productions and in 1975 the establishment of the company Beta Technology , as a service center of the Kirch Group, and in 1983 the Taurus video. Kirch's first major acquisition in 1985 represented a ten percent stake in Axel Springer- Verlag.

The ZDF decades was totally dependent on him, as it does not own Hollywood possessed contacts. In order to dissolve this dependency on a single film dealer, the broadcaster wanted to acquire film rights from other companies until it emerged that these companies also belonged to Kirch. When the broadcaster saw Kirch as a competitor with the advent of private television in the mid-1980s and broke off its business relationship with him, no more Hollywood films were shown on ZDF for a few years.

1983 Kirch experienced a setback when the ARD acquired a large and long-term film package from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and United Artists or MGM / UA in its own negotiations . Here were u. a. contain the films of the James Bond series and a number of MGM hits like Das Appartement or Eins, Zwei, Drei . The classic Gone with the Wind (USA 1939) was not included in this package because some MGM rights reverted to it after Kirch had initiated a legal dispute with ARD and the studio against this agreement.

For the first time, ARD had concluded its own output deal directly with a Hollywood studio. The license rights between ARD and the studio were extended in 1997 for a further ten years. MGM was able to enforce that the pay rights contained in the rights package fell back to MGM. In 1997, Kirch then signed a ten-year license agreement for MGM / UA films for pay TV . Some free rights in the ARD package have now expired. After MGM now belongs to Sony Pictures Entertainment , there was an agreement between ProSiebenSat.1 Media and MGM / SONY in 2006 .

Media company

In 1985 Leo Kirch acquired a stake in Axel Springer Verlag , at the end of the 1980s he joined the television broadcaster Sat.1 , and in the mid-1990s he founded the pay-TV provider DF1 (now Sky ). At this time, Leo Kirch controlled large parts of the German and part of the European media market through his various holdings.

As early as the 1990s, there were repeated reports of financial difficulties in the Kirch Group that were on the verge of bankruptcy . The reasons for this were excessive investments in pay-TV, which were based on a misjudgment. In other European countries it was possible to operate pay TV profitably because there were only a few free-to-air channels there. However, Kirch tried to market his film supplies in several channels on free TV and also in the pay channel Premiere. Many films and series were even broadcast promptly on Premiere and a free TV channel. This oversupply resulted in weak sales figures. Due to the fact that the encryption or access authorization system of the Premiere decoder d-box was easy to decode , there were many non-paying viewers ("black viewers"). Kirch also invested enormous amounts in the Bundesliga , which contributed to the fact that players' salaries could rise sharply there.

In 2002 the Kirch Group again became aware of payment difficulties. The CEO of Hypovereinsbank , Albrecht Schmidt , therefore offered Kirch over 1.1 billion euros in February 2002 for his 40 percent stake in Axel Springer AG.

In April 2002 KirchMedia had to file for bankruptcy in view of over 6.5 billion euros in debts and liabilities. As a result, their individual divisions were broken up. Leo Kirch withdrew from the company, but retained extensive stakes in companies in Switzerland that did not fall into the bankruptcy estate.

In 2002, Kirch sued Deutsche Bank because, in his opinion, it was complicit in the bankruptcy. This guilt is said to result from a statement by Rolf-E. Breuer , the spokesman for the board of directors of Deutsche Bank at the time. Breuer had said relatively clearly in an interview with the business broadcaster Bloomberg that it was known that the Kirch Group would no longer receive any loans. In Kirch's opinion, this statement resulted in the subsequent termination of his loans by all other banks. The focus of the investigation was, among other things, a meeting of Leo Kirch, Rolf-E. Breuer, Thomas Middelhoff , Erich Schumann and the then Chancellor Gerhard Schröder on January 27, 2002 in a restaurant in Hanover .

After the Federal Court of Justice ruled on January 24, 2006 that only the subsidiary that had taken out the loan from Deutsche Bank (PrintBeteiligungs GmbH), but not Kirch or Taurus Holding GmbH, the management company of the Kirch Group, would in principle be entitled to compensation entitled, filed church in May 2007 for alleged damage PrintBeteiligungs GmbH a power suit against the German bank amounting to 1.6 billion euros initially one. Rolf E. Breuer had already given up his mandate as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Deutsche Bank as a result of the BGH judgment on May 3, 2006 . Essentially, it was about the Springer shares, which served as collateral for the loan and had been sold by Deutsche Bank after the loan was terminated. The lawsuit was partially dismissed on November 25, 2008 by default judgment. After Kirch objected to the default judgment, the trial was held again on November 23, 2010. The action was dismissed in its entirety by judgment of the Munich District Court I on February 22, 2011.

In December 2005, a KGL Pool GmbH filed a further action for damages against Deutsche Bank and Mr. Breuer based on the assigned rights of 17 shareholders of the Kirch Group, which was completely dismissed by the Munich District Court I on March 31, 2009. The appeal was heard orally on February 25, 2011 before the Munich Higher Regional Court , which found that the Munich Regional Court had “gone far too short” by rejecting the lawsuit. On March 24, 2011, it proposed a settlement with an amount of 775 million euros, which Deutsche Bank rejected. On December 14, 2012, the Munich Higher Regional Court ruled that Kirch or his heirs were entitled to compensation from Deutsche Bank, the amount of which was to be determined by an expert opinion. A settlement was reached on February 20, 2014, according to which Deutsche Bank will pay the Kirch heirs 775 million euros plus interest and other costs.

Return as a media entrepreneur

In October 2007 it became known that Kirch had re-entered the television rights trade: With his company Sirius GmbH , he wanted to market the television rights of the Bundesliga from summer 2009 and had guaranteed the Bundesliga clubs three billion euros for a period of six years. However, the relevant contract was terminated by the DFL on September 25, 2008 under pressure from the Federal Cartel Office.

KF 15 GmbH, which is attributable to Leo Kirch, also held a 17.0 percent stake in Constantin Medien AG (formerly EM SportMedia AG). Constantin Medien owns the television broadcaster Sport1 (formerly “Deutsches Sport Fernsehen”), the Internet sports portal Sport1.de and the production company Plazamedia. Constantin Medien AG also has a 47.3 percent stake in Highlight Communications AG, which has a large share in the sports marketer TEAM and the German cinema producer Constantin Film .

Kirch and Helmut Kohl

relationship

Leo Kirch and former Federal Chancellor Helmut Kohl were friends for several decades. When Kohl asked friends and supporters for donations of 6 million German marks after the CDU donation affair to repair the financial damage for the CDU, Kirch made the largest donation (1 million DM). Kirch was also the best man at Kohl's second wedding on May 8, 2008.

Controversial consultancy contract

As part of press releases on the Kirch Group's insolvency proceedings , it became known in 2003 that Kohl had controversial consulting contracts with the company. After his chancellorship, Kohl had received DM 600,000 each for three years while he was a member of the Bundestag. His service should be "advice on current and strategic political developments in Germany and Europe" in personal discussions with Kirch. According to media reports, a minimum performance was not stipulated. Critics like Hans Herbert von Arnim pointed out that Kirch's media and television empire benefited from a particularly church-friendly media policy during Kohl's chancellorship. Hans-Christian Ströbele , at that time chairman of the Greens in the parliamentary committee for investigating party donations , said that the consultancy contract raised an "urgent suspicion of subsequent payment for government actions" or the acceptance of benefits . Kohl supported Leo Kirch several times during his tenure. In 1995 he advocated the use of Kirch's d-box at the Telekom supervisory board and in 1997 he intervened at the EU Commission for permission for the Kirch Group and Bertelsmann to cooperate in the pay-TV sector . Other CDU politicians with very similar Kirch contracts after their term of office were the former Post and Telecommunications Ministers Christian Schwarz-Schilling and Wolfgang Bötsch , whose areas of activity and decisions as ministers and broadcasting councilors had a significant impact on the German media landscape, in particular on private television, which is important for Kirch have had. The discovery of these events led to considerable irritation and expressions of suspicion, also from circles of the CDU / CSU, but ultimately had no consequences for Kohl and the other concerned because no laws had been violated.

literature

Movie

  • The great Zampano - Who was Leo Kirch? ZDF, 45 min, broadcast on December 12, 2017.

Web links

Commons : Leo Kirch  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Media entrepreneur Kirch is dead. Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, accessed on July 14, 2011 .
  2. ↑ Short biography on Wissen.de ( Memento of the original from January 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed on 20130601 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wissen.de
  3. ^ ZDF documentary about Leo Kirch: The German Citizen Kane. prima.de, accessed on December 12, 2017.
  4. ^ Süddeutsche de GmbH, Munich Germany: "It was way ahead of its time". Retrieved December 30, 2017 .
  5. ^ Leo Kirch. Who's who, accessed July 14, 2011 .
  6. ↑ The monster. the daily newspaper, February 23, 2002, accessed on July 14, 2011 .
  7. ↑ The most important players in bankruptcy poker . In: manager magazin , May 8, 2002.
  8. ↑ AZ : 1502 IN 879/02
  9. ↑ The dream of Leo Kirch - An empire, its creator and the story of its downfall. Süddeutsche Zeitung, June 12, 2002, accessed on July 14, 2011 .
  10. ↑ Chronicle: History of a Decay. Süddeutsche Zeitung, June 18, 2002, accessed on July 14, 2011 .
  11. ^ Hans Leyendecker, Klaus Ott: Der Zeuge M. In: Süddeutsche.de. January 11, 2014, accessed on January 11, 2014 : “Was it once discussed at dinner with Gerhard Schröder whether to fillet Leo Kirch's media empire? Not really, said ex-Bertelsmann boss Thomas Middelhoff in court in June 2011. But a year later he told the public prosecutor a different story and incriminated Deutsche Bank and its ex-boss Breuer. "
  12. ↑ 07
  13. ↑ Federal Court of Justice: Federal Court of Justice decides on the action for a declaration of damages by Dr. Kirch against Deutsche Bank AG and Dr. Breuer. No. 13/2006. Update service of Federal Law Juris.de, accessed on July 14, 2011 .
  14. ↑ No compensation for Kirch. Press release No. 04/2011. Regional Court Munich I, February 22, 2011, accessed on July 14, 2011 .
  15. ↑ Complete judgment of the Munich Regional Court I of February 22, 2011. (No longer available online.) ZIP-Online.de, February 22, 2011, archived from the original on January 31, 2012 ; Retrieved August 8, 2011 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / zip-online.de
  16. ↑ 05
  17. ↑ Kirch bankruptcy in court - judgment in the legal dispute with Deutsche Bank. Justice Bavaria, District Court Munich I, March 31, 2009, accessed on July 14, 2011 .
  18. ^ Trial in Munich: The German bank, your ex and Kirch. Süddeutsche Zeitung, February 25, 2011, accessed on July 14, 2011 .
  19. ↑ Kirch's heirs continue. FAZ.NET, July 14, 2011, accessed on July 14, 2011 .
  20. ↑ Deutsche Bank has to pay damages to Kirch-Erben . Spiegel Online , December 14, 2012, accessed December 14, 2012
  21. ^ Settlement in legal dispute: Deutsche Bank pays Kirch heirs more than 775 million euros . Spiegel Online , February 20, 2014, accessed February 20, 2014.
  22. ↑ Kirch markets the Bundesliga soccer league. horizont.net, October 10, 2007, accessed July 15, 2011 .
  23. ^ The comeback of Leo Kirch. Focus, October 9, 2007, accessed July 14, 2011 .
  24. ↑ DFL terminates contract with Sirius. Bundesliga, September 25, 2008, accessed on July 14, 2011 .
  25. ↑ The market value of the Dr. Helmut Kohl . In: Berliner Zeitung , March 10, 2000
  26. ↑ a b ARD publishes Kohl's consultancy contract with Kirch . In: FAZ , July 31, 2007
  27. ↑ A friend and patron of Helmut Kohl
  28. ↑ Not acceptable
  29. ↑ Marcel Rosenbach , Christoph Schult: As lubricated . In: Der Spiegel . No. 17 , 2003 ( online ).
  30. ↑ On the full life of the "great Zampano" Süddeutsche.de, December 12, 2017.
personal data
SURNAME Kirch, Leo
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German media entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH October 21, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Wurzburg
DATE OF DEATH July 14, 2011
Place of death Munich