Social Democratic Party of Germany

The Social Democratic Party (SPD) is a German political party. It has its roots in the founding of the General German Workers' Association in 1863. It has been known by its current name since 1890. The party has provided three Chancellors in the past, and the current Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, also comes from the SPD. Furthermore, the party also provides the current Federal President, Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The party was banned during the Nazi era, but resumed its activities in the Federal Republic of Germany after 1945, while in the German Democratic Republic it was incorporated into the Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED). Since reunification, the SPD has been one of the largest parties in Germany in terms of both its electorate and the number of party members. The SPD is currently part of 12 of the 16 state governments. It provides the head of government in seven federal states, and in Saarland it has been the sole governing party since 2022.

The SPD not only currently provides the chancellor and the federal president, but with 207 seats it is also the largest faction in the Bundestag, the German parliament. The President of the Bundestag, Bärbel Bas, is also a member of the SPD. In the governing coalition between the SPD, the FDP and the Greens, seven ministers belong to the SPD.

The SPD is not the only party to have stakes in media companies, but its holdings also include high-reach publishers such as the Madsack Media Group. While it is not unusual for parties to publish their own magazines or party publications through their own media companies, the SPD also owns shares in major daily newspapers.

The origins of these newspaper publishers and printers go back a long way. As early as the 19th century, the SPD was involved in various workers' newspapers. However, the so-called “Socialist Laws” banned the party and its newspapers and magazines from 1878 onwards. It was not until 1890 that new publications were founded. These were mostly financed by the party members themselves and were therefore owned by the SPD. During the Nazi era, these publishing houses, printing works and their assets were confiscated, so that it was only after 1945 that the structures that still exist today were formed. The central holding company is Deutsche Druck- und Verlagsgesellschaft mbH (ddvg). It is wholly owned by the SPD, with almost 90 per cent being held in trust by the current treasurer, while the remaining percentage is held by a trust company, which in turn is wholly owned by the SPD party executive.

The ddvg is the SPD's central asset management company. All business activities are handled by this holding company. The ddvg holds direct stakes in around a dozen companies. However, these holdings result in further shares, so that the ddvg currently lists holdings in 41 companies. These are not always media companies; the portfolio also includes asset management companies, real estate companies and a travel agency. Since ddvg holds investments not only in individual media companies, but also in publishing houses and media groups, it also has investments in various individual (micro) publications. The Commission on Concentration in the Media (KEK) counts ddvg as having holdings in 370 individual titles (online, print, radio and TV), with the majority of these being attributable to the 23 per cent holding in the Madsack Media Group, which also includes the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND).