Weka Holding

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WEKA Holding GmbH & Co. KG

logo
legal form GmbH & Co. KG
founding 1st October 1973
Seat Kissing , GermanyGermanyGermany 
management Wolfgang Materna
Number of employees 1,502
sales 235 million euros
Branch media
Website www.weka-holding.de
As of December 31, 2014

The Weka Holding is a German media group mainly for specialists and special interest -Information and in further education. The headquarters of the parent company is in Kissing near Augsburg .

With 19 media companies in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands, the publishing group is the eighth largest German-language specialist publisher. According to Publishers Weekly , Weka was number 47 among the largest publishers worldwide in 2014. Since the company was founded in 1973, the group has been owned by the founding Mützel family. In 2020, the group of companies was completely taken over by the holding company Paragon Partners .

history

On October 1st, 1973 Werner and Karin Mützel founded the “Weka Fachverlag for Administration and Industry” in Kissing near Augsburg. The first Weka products were advertising-financed specialist books, forms and information brochures for new residents in cities and communities. Since 1976, B2B reference works have also been offered in direct sales and through bookstores.

Between 1978 and 1997 subsidiaries were founded in Switzerland, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Austria, the USA, Belgium, Poland, Spain and Hungary.

From 1985 other companies were taken over and in the following years some of them were sold or discontinued. On the company's 25th anniversary in 1998, the publishing group comprised 36 specialist publishers and software houses in 11 countries with around 3,000 employees and € 400 million in sales. In 2001 a sale of the Weka magazine group to Süddeutscher Verlag failed. The Weka Media GmbH & Co. KG was created in 2001 by merging the house Baufachverlage, management specialist publishers, the specialist publisher for technical management and logistics center.

In 2008, Weka Austria took over Springer Business Media Austria with 17 “B2B” specialist magazines for various industries. In the same year the group sold its original core business, the Info / Cartography division, to mediaprint from Paderborn; the last print shop was also sold. Since then, Weka Holding has focused on Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands as well as on target groups for B2B and B2A specialist information, technical special-interest topics and the area of ​​"creative design".

Since 2011, Weka Fachmedien Österreich has been offering specialist events that deal with topics such as automotive, refrigeration and air conditioning and energy self-sufficiency. In 2012, Weka took over Info-Techno Baudatenbank GmbH in Mondsee, which was founded in 1992 and operates product information systems and online platforms in the construction sector. In 2013, Weka dissolved the editorial offices of PCgo , PC Magazin , Internet Magazin and Business & IT. All content is obtained from external service providers. Editors only act as product managers . In 2014, Weka employed around 1,500 people in 19 media companies at 15 main locations in five European countries and achieved sales of € 235 million. In September 2014, Weka Media took over some specialist magazines and the associated online presence from the Haufe Group .

The Weka media group Munich in Haar (near Munich) offers media in the areas of IT, Internet, electronics, automation, home entertainment and telecommunications. The “Media Group” division includes the publishers Weka Media Publishing , Weka Fachmedien , Weka Businessmedien , Weka Industriemedien , Franzis-Verlag and Frechverlag .

The company founder Werner Mützel died on March 20, 2018 at the age of 77.

In April 2020, Paragon Fund III, managed by the investment company Paragon Partners , submitted its plan to take over the Weka Group to the Federal Cartel Office for review.

Periodicals of the Weka publishing group (selection)

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The WEKA group of companies . Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  2. ↑ a b Federal Gazette : Consolidated financial statements for the financial year from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2014
  3. ↑ Description of the company . Weka.de, accessed on March 22, 2018.
  4. ↑ Ranking of the 100 largest publishers. buchreport.de , May 2016, archived from the original on August 25, 2016 ; accessed on March 22, 2018 .
  5. ↑ The World's 56 Largest Book Publishers, 2014 . In: publishersweekly.com , July 27, 2014, accessed March 22, 2018.
  6. ↑ see website Weka Holding , quote: "In 2020 the WEKA group of companies was completely taken over by the private, owner-managed investment company Paragon Partners."
  7. ↑ Süddeutscher Verlag wins trial against Weka . buchmarkt.de , March 18, 2005, accessed on March 22, 2018.
  8. ↑ Events. Weka Fachmedien Austria, archived from the original on August 17, 2017 ; accessed on October 9, 2016 .
  9. ↑ WEKA takes over Austrian INFO-TECHNO Baudatenbank GmbH from EPPG . focus .de, October 15, 2012, accessed on March 22, 2018.
  10. ↑ Restructuring at “PCgo” and “PC Magazin”: Dismantling in the editorial office - content from service providers . kress.de , July 17, 2013, accessed on March 22, 2018.
  11. ↑ Expansion of the market position in the field of assistance: WEKA MEDIA takes over the title of the Haufe Group. In: weka.de. November 5, 2014, accessed January 2, 2017 .
  12. ↑ Werner Mützel passed away. In: presseportal.de. WEKA Holding GmbH & Co KG, March 21, 2018, accessed on March 22, 2018 .
  13. ↑ https://www.buchreport.de/news/investor-will-weka-uebernehmen/
  14. ↑ presseportal.de WEKA Business Media takes over the CoachTrainerAkademieSchweiz