The email came at 10:30 a.m. on Friday morning. Subject: “To all employees”. Sender: Peter Esser, editor of the Mittelbayerische Zeitung. He had something to say, a “decision that probably came as a surprise to you,” as he writes. The publishing group of Passauer Neue Presse (PNP) buys the Central Bavarian Newspaper (MZ), that is the core message of the mail. If you ask around from the recipients, you will feel that the publisher Esser is right: Although there have been rumors for a long time, Regensburg is deeply concerned. And the worry that everything could soon be different at MZ.
With the purchase, PNP has increased its circulation from a good 145,000 copies (IVW) to more than 232,000 copies. There are also more than 75,000 copies of the Danube Courier from Ingolstadt, which the PNP had already bought in November 2016. The purchase makes the publishing group, according to its own statements, “one of the regional newspaper publishers with the highest circulation in Bavaria” – which is still an understatement. The proportions of shares are complicated on the market for regional newspapers. “We also calculated back and forth for a long time,” says Michael Busch, the chairman of the Bavarian Association of Journalists (BJV). After purchasing the MZ, the PNP would “probably not only be in the top three in Bavaria, but in the top three across Germany,” says Busch. He speaks of a “mega media deal”.
“The map from Passau to Ingolstadt, now over Regensburg, is PNP area.”
Even then, after the takeover of the Donaukurier, the industry was puzzled as to which plan PNP publisher Simone Tucci-Diekmann was pursuing with her expansion. Unlike the edgy newspaper founder Hans Kapfinger, Tucci-Diekmann, 47, had little journalistic competence when she took over the management of the publishing group twelve years ago. When she took office, she named one goal above all: growth. Seen in this way, it fits into the picture that Tucci-Diekmann is continuing her shopping spree, this time in Regensburg.
A “perfect addition” to previous publishing activities, as she can be quoted in her own newspaper. Tucci-Diekmann was not available for inquiries on Friday.
In industry circles it has been said for a long time that the PNP wants to conceal through acquisitions that its readers at home in Passau are running away. In the first quarter of 2021, the loss was minus 1.3 percent, which, however, was not noticeably bad compared to the market. In contrast to the purchase of the Donaukurier, where the curve was pointing upwards at the time, the Mittelbayerische is experiencing a similar decline in circulation as the PNP. In economic terms, Simone Tucci-Diekmann justified the step with the fact that in future advertising customers could “be made an even more targeted, cross-regional offer”.
“The map from Passau to Ingolstadt, now via Regensburg, is PNP area. Of course, that has little to do with media diversity,” says BJV boss about the deal, which the Cartel Office has yet to approve. “We observe what is happening right now with a fundamental skepticism.” Both sides have agreed not to disclose the details of the deal. However, there should be a certain budget in Lower Bavaria.
The fact that the announcements could come from Passau in the future scratches one’s self-confidence
In December 2020 the PNP publishing group announced that that she had sold her shares in the Polish media company Polska Press. “This enables our publishing group to implement the growth strategy that has begun in recent years, especially in Bavaria, even more consistently,” said Managing Director Alexander Diekmann at the time. Shortly afterwards, the Passauer Magazin reported Citizen viewthat the PNP wanted to “further expand its monopoly territory”. The report from February 2021 already mentions possible plans by the PNP to buy the Mittelbayerische Zeitung – and that, according to the Polish newspaper Pulse biznesu Around 27 million euros went into the sale of the Polish papers to the state-owned oil and petrol station group PKN Orlen.
Some of the money from Poland could soon end up in Regensburg, where a publishing era would come to an end, “after 75 years of company history,” as Peter Esser writes in his email. He believes that “a new, powerful media network is emerging”. PNP publisher Tucci-Diekmann also affirms her belief “in the future of the regional newspaper”. But there is great skepticism in the Regensburg publishing house. Especially since from Ingolstadt, from the editorial team of the Donaukurier, many unhappy voices can be heard since the takeover by the PNP publishing group. The fact that the announcements could come from Passau in the future scratches the self-confidence of the proud Regensburger Zeitung. BJV boss Busch appeals to the PNP “to refrain from cutting jobs and deteriorating working conditions in the editorial offices”. But he doesn’t sound very confident. “Experience,” says Busch, “shows that it is the employees in particular who suffer when making such purchases.”