Michael Koelmel

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Michael Kölmel (born January 31, 1954 in Karlsruhe ) is a German entrepreneur . Among other things, he became known as the founder of the film distributor Kinowelt and owner of the publishing and bookselling company Zweiausendeins . Kölmel was also the owner of the Leipzig Central Stadium until 2016 . In his entrepreneurial activities he often cooperates with his brother Rainer Kölmel .

Life

Michael Kölmel studied mathematics and economics in Karlsruhe and Göttingen from the mid-1970s . In 1984 he received his doctorate in economics from the Georg-August University in Göttingen . It was there that his passion for film became evident. In 1978 he founded a film club at the university and, together with Anne Ahrends, with whom he also took over the management of the Göttingen Film Festival, was responsible for the programming of three cinemas in and around Göttingen. Kölmel is married to Doris Apell-Kölmel, who has a doctorate in art history, with whom he was already engaged at the Göttingen Film Festival at university, and has two sons. The Kölmel couple have owned a cinema in Dießen am Ammersee since 1999 .

Scientific activities

Since April 1, 2010 Michael Kölmel has been honorary professor for media economics and AV economics at the Institute for Communication and Media Studies at the University of Leipzig , Department of Media Studies and Media Culture. There he teaches at the Chair of Media Studies and Media Culture.

Entrepreneurial activities

From 1981 Kölmel leased the Centrallichtspiele cinema in Herzberg am Harz near Göttingen. In 1984 he and his brother Rainer founded the film distribution company Kinowelt in Göttingen. and specialized in relatively unknown films for art house cinemas. The first rental right on a film the Kölmel brothers bought was for Gregory's Girl (1980) by Bill Forsyth . Kinowelt's breakthrough came with the feature film The English Patient in 1996. A rapid expansion course followed, and in May 1998 the company went public on the Neuer Markt as Kinowelt AG. From 2001 the company, to which the last 60 companies belonged, got increasingly into financial difficulties. A film package acquired by Warner Bros. Entertainment in 1999 for DM 560 million was boycotted by the then defeated RTL Group / Bertelsmann and Kirch Group and was thus virtually worthless. At the end of 2001, Kinowelt AG had to file for bankruptcy with a debt of half a billion euros .

From 1998 onwards, Kölmel tried to market radio broadcasting rights in the soccer field through his Sportwelt Beteiligungs GmbH . 90% of the Sportwelt shares belonged to the Kölmel family, the remaining 10% were held by Kinowelt AG. Sportwelt GmbH invested a lot of money in traditional clubs that had fallen deeply in order to jointly benefit from a possible return of success. Kölmel and his company invested DM 133 million , which were passed on to the football clubs as a loan for the television rights. With a few exceptions, the strategy did not work. Sportwelt Beteiligungs GmbH went bankrupt in 2002 and the traditional clubs concerned got into an even more precarious financial situation. Kölmel subsequently went to court against associations that did not repay their loans.

In October 2002, Kölmel was arrested in Munich on suspicion of delaying bankruptcy and breach of trust with a total loss of almost 23 million euros in relation to the insolvencies of Kinowelt AG and Sportwelt GmbH (the latter with two thirds of the damage), imprisoned for two days and then released on bail. The Munich Regional Court sentenced him in June 2004 to a suspended sentence of 22 months and a fine of 326,000 euros for embezzlement and deliberate bankruptcy after the public prosecutor had initially demanded nine years in prison. Another indictment by the Munich public prosecutor in mid-2006 because of opaque events in the cinema and sports world in the early 2000s was dropped in November 2006.

Kölmel and his brother Rainer succeeded in January 2003, among other things through a loan from Sparkasse Leipzig, the film library from the bankruptcy estate of the insolvent Kinowelt AG at a price of 32 million euros for their newly founded Kinowelt GmbH based in Leipzig, where Michael Kölmel has been since 2003 lives to acquire. The then Mayor of Leipzig, Wolfgang Tiefensee , had campaigned for Kölmel after the latter had been involved as an investor in the Leipzig Central Stadium since 2000. Kölmel bought a total of 18 subsidiaries of the former Kinowelt AG, including Kinowelt Filmverleih, Kinowelt Home Entertainment, Arthaus Filmvertrieb , as well as the film publishing house of the Authors and Youth Film GmbH which was taken over in 1999 . With Kinowelt GmbH, which had already generated 44 million euros in 2003 and had 80 employees in 2004, Kölmel was able to make profits again. At the beginning of 2008, Kinowelt was sold for an estimated 70 million euros by the press to the French film company Studiocanal , a subsidiary of Canal + , which in turn belongs to the French media group Vivendi .

In 2000, Kölmel and its EMKA Immobilien-Beteiligungs-GmbH were awarded the contract to build and operate the new central stadium in Leipzig . Kölmel contributed 27 million euros to the total costs of 90 million euros. In 2006 the public prosecutor's office in Leipzig investigated suspicion of misappropriating subsidies in connection with the stadium renovation, but stopped the investigation in 2007. Despite hosting five games at the 2006 World Cup , operations without professional football in Leipzig were in deficit for a long time. Kölmel therefore considered a sale, which however failed in April 2005. In the years that followed, Kölmel tried to win financially strong investors for a commitment to one of the Leipzig clubs. This goal could initially not be achieved after the entry of the Austrian beverage manufacturer Red Bull , which Michael Kölmel had recruited, failed at FC Sachsen Leipzig in 2006 due to fan protests and the statutes of the German Football Association . In the summer of 2009 there was finally an agreement between SSV Markranstädt and Red Bull. The football department of the Markranstädter was spun off with the aim of advancing into paid football under the name RB Leipzig . The move to the central stadium took place at the beginning of the 2010/2011 season, whereby Red Bull secured the naming rights and the stadium was renamed the Red Bull Arena . Kölmel left the ZSL-Betriebsgesellschaft mbH in 2006, which manages the Leipzig Arena and the Red Bull Arena, but was reappointed managing director in 2009. At the end of 2016, it was discussed in the press whether RB Leipzig is leaving the Red Bull Arena, which the club is renting from Kölmel, and building its own stadium, or whether it is buying and converting the Kölmel arena because there is no longer enough space. On December 22nd, 2016, RB Leipzig announced in a press conference that they had reached an agreement with Kölmel on the purchase of the stadium and that they wanted to expand the stadium by 14,000 seats from 2018. A purchase price of 70 million euros was mentioned in the press.

In 2004, Kölmel founded the pay-TV channel Kinowelt TV through his MK Medien Beteiligungs GmbH together with his brother-in-law Achim Apell, each with a 50% share . This was bought by AMC Networks in 2014 .

In 2006 it became known that MK Medien Beteiligungs GmbH was taking over the Frankfurt publishing, music and book trading company Zweiausendeins . The new owners planned to expand and redesign the company. Two thousand and one is owned by Michael Kölmel to this day.

With his company Weltkino, which was founded at the end of 2012 with a partner, Kölmel has been active again in the film rental business since 2013 after a five-year break. In 2018, the world cinema offering comprised around 120 films. Kölmel has been a board member of AG Verleih since 2019 .

Kölmel also owns the production company Film Aufbau Leipzig GmbH, founded in Leipzig in 2007.

In 2019 he acquired a residential property on Strausberger Platz as a white knight .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Michael Kölmel in the Munzinger archive , accessed on July 2, 2009 ( beginning of article freely available)
  2. ↑ a b Cinema World in the Province of Hiero Itzo, February 1986
  3. ↑ Michael Kölmel: How I gave Union a second life bz-berlin.de, January 20, 2016
  4. ↑ The two super movie buffs from Ammersee ammerseekurier.de, July 21, 2015
  5. ^ University of Leipzig: Team
  6. ↑ Blickpunkt Film: Kinowelt Medien AG mediabiz.de, accessed: November 1, 2016
  7. ↑ a b c d e MDR : Dr. Portrait of Michael Kölmel ( memento from January 18, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), May 2, 2006.
  8. ↑ DVD Center: Background: Die Welt der Kinowelt ( Memento of the original from August 10, 2009 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. , March 16, 2000, accessed July 2, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.dvd-center.de
  9. ^ The first film dealer goes to the Kinowelt stock exchange tagesspiegel.de, May 4, 1998
  10. ↑ What to do with the knobs? spiegel.de, November 22, 2011
  11. ↑ a b Kölmel's world of cinema and football in court faz.net, April 14, 2004
  12. ^ Once insane and back spiegel.de, May 30, 2005
  13. ↑ a b new business: Sportwelt withdraws from Fortuna Düsseldorf , November 6, 2001, accessed on July 2, 2009.
  14. ↑ The giant is to be kissed awake
  15. ↑ Sportwelt insolvency: Claims frighten 14 clubs faz.net, November 26, 2002
  16. ↑ Shortly before the end of the year: Alemannia reaches an agreement with Michael Kölmel aachener-zeitung.de, December 27, 2013
  17. ^ Alemannia: dispute with Kölmel is over aachener-zeitung.de, August 19, 2014
  18. ^ Public prosecutor: Kölmel concealed risks stern.de, April 15, 2004
  19. ^ Manager im Prison wiwo.de, November 26, 2014
  20. ↑ 400,000 euros deposit: Kinowelt founder free n-tv.de, October 30, 2002
  21. ↑ Probation for Kinowelt boss Kölmel stern.de, July 22, 2004
  22. ↑ manager magazin : Kölmel judgment: "Kinowelt founder is not a serious criminal" , July 22, 2004, accessed on July 2, 2009.
  23. ↑ Kölmels Comeback manager-magazin.de, December 12, 2006
  24. ↑ Kinowelt-Kölmel again under indictment. kress.de, July 7, 2006
  25. ^ Another indictment against Kölmel welt.de, July 7, 2006
  26. ^ Investigations against the Kölmel film dealer stopped handelsblatt.com, February 19, 2007
  27. ↑ Sparkasse gives the green light: Kinowelt takeover secured n-tv.de, December 15, 2002
  28. ↑ Kölmel brothers pay the purchase price for Kinowelt welt.de, January 22, 2003
  29. ↑ MDM Infomagazin Trailer mdm-online.de, page 12, April 2003
  30. ↑ Kinowelt is now also taking over the oldest German film distributor, tagesspiegel.de, October 20, 1999
  31. ↑ French broadcaster buys Kinowelt tagesspiegel.de, January 17, 2008
  32. ↑ AREA DVD: Studio Canal takes over Kinowelt ( memento of the original from October 27, 2011 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. , January 17, 2008, accessed July 2, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.areadvd.de
  33. ↑ LEIPZIG Online: Dr. Michael Kölmel ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2008 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 July 2, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.leipzig-online.de
  34. ↑ Zentralstadion: Proceedings against Kölmel discontinued mopo.de, July 19, 2007
  35. ↑ Der Spiegel : Kölmel remains seated in the central stadium , April 25, 2005, accessed on July 2, 2009.
  36. ↑ a b c Die Welt : "Red Bull is a huge opportunity for Leipzig" , June 13, 2009, accessed on July 2, 2009.
  37. ↑ RB Leipzig buys the Red Bull Arena for 70 million euros lvz.de, December 22, 2016
  38. ↑ Der Tagesspiegel : “Two thousand and one. New owner plans ten more stores ” , December 7, 2006, accessed July 2, 2009.
  39. ↑ Wirtschaftswoche : "Kinowelt wants to expand DVD business through bookstores" ( Memento of the original from September 29, 2007 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. , August 25, 2007, accessed July 2, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.wiwo.de
  40. ↑ FAZ : Mail order: Two thousand and one sees the "black zero" ( memento of the original from May 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , February 12, 2008, accessed July 12, 2009. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.faz.net
  41. ↑ AG rental. Retrieved November 9, 2019 .
  42. ↑ https://www.rbb24.de/politik/beitrag/2019/10/berlin-friedrichshain-strausberger-platz-mieter-finden-investor-mit-herz.html
  43. ↑ https://www.morgenpost.de/bezirke/friedrichshain-kreuzberg/article227332861/Mietergemeinschaft-am-Strausberger-Platz-gerettet.html
personal data
SURNAME Kölmel, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German entrepreneur
DATE OF BIRTH January 31, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH Karlsruhe