Süddeutsche Zeitung

The Süddeutsche Zeitung is one of the most important national daily newspapers in Germany. It is considered to be more left-liberal and attaches greater relevance to cultural issues than comparable daily newspapers. Like most newspapers, the SZ is struggling with a declining print circulation, but at the same time has a growing digital business.

SZ was owned by five shareholder families until 2007, when four families (except the Friedmann family) finally sought to sell the company. Public interest was immense and there were prominent bidders. However, the winning bidder was SWMH, which was already a minority shareholder and had secured a right of first refusal.

In 2017, reporting on the Panama Papers caused a stir. Süddeutsche was the first media outlet to gain access to the documents and was then able to evaluate the information in an international research network (ICIJ). The ICIJ received the Pulitzer Prize for its work, making Süddeutsche the only German media outlet to do so.

Key facts

Audience Share

3.1%

Ownership Type

private

Geographic Coverage

National

Content Type

paid content

Data Publicly Available

ownership data is easily available from other sources, e. g. public registries etc.

2 ♥

Media Companies / Groups

Süddeutsche Verlag

Medien Union

Ownership

Ownership Structure

Süddeutsche Zeitung belongs to Süddeutsche Verlag GmbH, whose majority shareholder (81.3 %) is Südwestdeutsche Medien Holding GmbH (SWMH). Another shareholder is SV Friedmann Holding GmbH (18.8 %), which represents the interests of the Munich-based Friedmann publishing family. It is also worth mentioning the stake held by Medien Union GmbH in SWMH (47.5%), whose Managing Director Thomas Schaub has also been Chairman of the SZ Editorial Board since 2021 and is therefore one of the most influential people at SZ.

Voting Rights

Resolutions can be passed by the shareholders with a simple majority at a shareholders' meeting.

Individual Owner

Group / Individual Owner

The Ebner Family

The Ebner publishing family has been active in the media landscape in southern Germany for several generations. Eberhard Ebner, who was co-publisher and shareholder of Südwest Presse, died at the beginning of 2024. Ebner was also Chairman of the Supervisory Board of SWMH and a member of the Editorial Board of Süddeutsche Zeitung.

9.7%
Media Companies / Groups
Facts

General Information

Founding Year

1945

Affiliated Interests Founder

The Allies were looking for suitable people to receive a license to publish a daily newspaper in Bavaria. The decisive factor was that the people were not migrants, i.e. that they had witnessed the Nazis' deeds in the country, and they were guided by the pre-war party profile. The following three men were ultimately selected:

Affiliated Interests Ceo

Dr. Christian Wegner

born 1974 in Bad Homburg, studied business administration and was a member of the Executive Board of ProSiebenSat.1 Media SE until 2017. He has been Managing Director of Südwestdeutsche Medienholding GmbH since 2018 and also Managing Director of Süddeutsche Zeitung since 2021.

Affiliated Interests Editor-In-Chief

Wolfgang Krach

Editor-in-chief of the SZ since 2015, began his career at the Donaukurier and studied philosophy in Munich. In the 1990s he worked for Stern and Spiegel before joining the SZ as editor-in-chief in 2003.

Affiliated Interests other important people

Oliver Friedmann

Grandson of Werner Friedmann, who became the fourth licensee of the Süddeutsche Zeitung in 1946. Today, Oliver Friedmann is on the editorial board of the SZ and the Friedmann publishing family holds an 18.8% stake in the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Contact

Süddeutsche Zeitung GmbH

Hultschiner Straße 8

81677 München

Tel.: +49 89 2183 0

E-Mail: redaktion@sueddeutsche.de

Website: www.sueddeutsche.de

Financial Information

Revenue (in Mill. $)

€ 310 Mio.(2021) / USD 365 Mio.

Operating Profit (in Mill. $)

Missing Data

Advertising (in % of total funding)

Missing Data

Market Share

Missing Data

Further Information

Meta Data

As a limited liability company, Süddeutscher Verlag does not publish any business figures. Turnover figures are only available for 2021 - and only from indirect sources. Süddeutsche Verlag did not respond to our enquiry about the lack of information.
The average dollar exchange rate for 2021 was used for the conversion (USD 1.18 for 1 euro).

  • Project by
    Medieninsider LOGO
  •  
    Global Media Registry
  • Funded by
    Funded by Deutsche Postcode Lotterie