Three of Germany’s largest publishing groups plan to link up their distribution networks tocreate a joint company for nationwide mail distribution in competition to Deutsche Post. Axel
Springer, Georg von Holtzbrinck and WAZ together with Rosalia AG (Luxembourg) have signed a jointventure contract under which each partner will hold a 25% stake in the new company. The project issubject to the approval of the antitrust and media authority.The new German mail delivery firm will be headed by entrepreneur Günter Thiel, founder andformer CEO of Thiel Logistik AG, and most recently CEO of TNT Logistics Central & EasternEurope. “The postal market in Germany will grow rapidly in the coming years after the totalmonopoly on mail delivery ends at the end of 2007,” Thiel said in a statement issued by AxelSpringer AG. “The liberalisation of the market will open up new opportunities for consumers as wellas for companies with the related know-how. Our sights are set on becoming the clear number twomail distributor behind Deutsche Post AG.”
The new postal company is scheduled to begin operation at the beginning of 2006. Until now thepostal services offered by the publishing houses have been limited to regional distribution. Inorder to offer mail delivery nationwide the regional mail distribution companies operated by thefour partners – PIN AG (Berlin, Leipzig, Cologne, Frankfurt), WPS (Ruhr region), ThPS (Thüringen)and PDV (Hamburg) – will be integrated into the new company. In 2006 the company is expected togrow to a size that will make nationwide distribution possible. Berlin will be the operationalheadquarters while administration will be located in Luxembourg.
Axel Springer is Europe’s largest newspaper publisher with titles such as Bild-Zeitung, Die Weltand Der Spiegel. The Georg von Holtzbrinck group includes the financial newspaper Handelsblatt,while the WAZ group has regional newspapers in North Rhine Westphalia.
