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Publisher Petra Grotkamp (left) and her daughter Julia Becker
Photo: Jakob Studnar / picture alliance / Jakob Studnar / Funke Mediengruppe / dpa
The shareholder family Grotkamp claims to take over all shares in the Funke media group.
The family announced on Thursday that they had »bought the shares of the Schubries and Holthoff-Pförtner family with effect from the beginning of 2024«.
In the past few days, “Manager Magazin” and “Welt” reported on the impending change in the shareholder structure.
According to the family's announcement, the transaction will be completed in two stages: the management of the company will be transferred immediately to the Grotkamp family, and the acquisition of shares will take place on January 2, 2024. Nothing was known about the purchase price.
The deal has yet to be approved by antitrust law.
The Grotkamp family currently holds two thirds of the media company based in Essen, which has numerous regional newspapers and magazines in its portfolio.
The family includes Petra Grotkamp and her children Julia Becker, Nora Marx and Niklas Wilcke.
"Aggravating market situation"
Grotkamp is the daughter of Jakob Funke.
Together with Erich Brost, he founded the “Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung” (“WAZ”) in 1948 - with that, both of them laid the foundation stone for the media company.
The company has been called Funke Mediengruppe since 2013.
A few years ago, Julia Becker took over the chairmanship of the supervisory board from her mother.
The other two family lines Schubries and Holthoff-Pförtner together hold a third of the company.
The Grotkamp family cited the "necessity of clear shareholder and management relationships in a worsening market situation, as seen by all shareholder tribes" as the reason for taking over all shares.
Julia Becker, chairwoman of the supervisory board, emphasized: »We are aware of the responsibility we are taking on with this step, but we are very pleased to be able to complete the path that our mother Petra Grotkamp took in 2012 with the acquisition of the Brost shares in the near future. «
In addition to the »WAZ«, the Funke media group also includes newspaper titles such as »Hamburger Abendblatt« and the »Berliner Morgenpost«.
The central editorial office in Berlin has been contributing national content since 2015.
hpi / dpa