Traditional Hamburg publisher: RTL wants to cut 700 jobs at Gruner + Jahr

After merging with the Gruner + Jahr magazines, RTL took a closer look at the magazine titles. Now 700 positions are to be eliminated and 23 titles are to be discontinued or sold. Core brands such as “Stern”, “Geo” and “Brigitte” will remain.

After the merger with the TV broadcaster RTL, many magazines are to be discontinued at the traditional Hamburg publisher Gruner + Jahr. Flagships like “Stern”, “Geo”, “Brigitte” and “Capital” should be continued, RTL announced. However, many other magazines, including mainly offshoots of the main issues, are to be discontinued, sold or only published digitally.

Management expects around 500 jobs to be cut. A further 200 jobs are to be eliminated through sales. With the elimination of around 700 jobs, more than one in three of the 1900 full-time jobs in the magazine segment would be affected. The vast majority of the job cuts will affect Hamburg and are not planned in the editorial area, but in administrative areas, it said.

RTL boss: “Focus on core brands”

RTL boss Thomas Rabe informed the staff at the publishing house’s headquarters on Hamburg’s Baumwall about his plans. “We have decided to focus on the core brands and to develop them further with investments of around 80 million euros until 2025,” explained the manager.

Now, together with the employee representatives, socially acceptable solutions are to be developed for the employees concerned. The majority of jobs should not be eliminated in the editorial offices, but rather in IT, in the human resources and legal departments, in building management, in communications or in marketing.

23 titles are discontinued or sold

Specifically, the plans look like this: The 13 brands “Stern”, “Geo”, “Capital”, “Stern Crime”, “Brigitte”, “Gala”, “Schöner Wohnen”, “Houses”, “Couch”, “Geolino “, “Geolino mini” and the digital areas of “Eltern” and “Chefkoch” remain in the portfolio. According to the company, they account for around 70 percent of sales.

All other magazine titles will be discontinued or sold. For example, RTL sees no future for offshoots of core brands such as “Geo Era” and “Geo Knowledge”, “Brigitte Woman” and “View” (Stern). The magazines “Guido” about the designer Guido Maria Kretschmer and “Barbara” about the TV presenter Barbara Schöneberger are also discontinued. There are 23 titles in total. RTL is considering a sale for the five brands “Business Punk”, “Art”, “PM”, “Beef!” and “salon”. The RTL shares in “11 Friends” and in the publishing group Deutsche Medien-Manufaktur in Münster (“Landlust”, “Essen & Drinking”) are also for sale.

Discussions with works council and employees

Rabe, who is also Bertelsmann boss, said about the current status in an interview with the dpa: “There had been expressions of interest – verbally and in writing. But there were no exploratory or sales talks, let alone offers. We will be having talks in the next few weeks begin.”

Rabe said they wanted to talk to the works council and the employees first. “Then we will take our time to explore the market over the next few weeks and see who is really interested in which title and in what order of time we will release the titles.”

30 million euros alone are to be invested in “Stern+”.

According to RTL, investments in the reorganization of the publishing business will primarily relate to digital paid content and digital services. They are distributed with 30 million euros to “Stern+”, 30 million euros to the other core brands and 20 million euros to new spaces. “Stern+” is to be expanded as a paid offer with content in conjunction with “Stern”, “Geo”, “Capital” and “Stern Crime”.

RTL Deutschland’s publishing business will remain primarily in Hamburg, as it is today. With the exception of corporate functions, there will be no relocation of jobs. It is planned to move into new premises in Hamburg with the publishing business by the end of 2024 at the latest.

Protests against intentions to sell

RTL Germany, headquartered in Cologne, had integrated the German magazine division of the Hamburg publishing house into its portfolio in 2022 and is hoping for synergies. Both areas belong to the Bertelsmann Group. In recent months, RTL has examined the magazine portfolio. Top managers from Gütersloh and Cologne took a close look at all the publishing titles and recommended what should be kept and what should possibly be sold.

There had been protests from employees and trade unionists against a possible sale of the titles of the Hamburg publishing house, which for decades was one of the most powerful media houses in Europe.