The Droste family

Logo of The Droste family

The Droste family holds a 32.14% stake in Rheinische Post Mediengruppe, which publishes Rheinische Post, the highest-circulation newspaper in the Rhineland, as well as Bonn's General-Anzeiger, and holds a majority stake in the Saarbrücken newspaper group (which includes titles such as Saarbrücker Zeitung and Trierischer Volksfreund).


The Droste family's connection to Rheinische Post traces back to Westphalian Heinrich Droste (1880-1958), economic journalist and publisher. In 1920, he founded the Düsseldorf liberal-conservative daily newspaper "Der Mittag" and in 1921 the Industrie-Verlag und Druckerei AG, renamed Droste Verlag und Druckerei KG in 1935. Previously, in 1925, Heinrich Droste had opened the travel agency Mittag (Düsseldorf).


After the Second World War, he was able to rescue the Droste Verlag printing presses, on which the first edition of Rheinische Post was printed on March 2, 1946. In 1970, Heinrich Droste's son, historian Manfred Droste (1927-2021), brought the Droste family business and the printing house into Rheinische Post's publishing company. He became managing director and bore economic and editorial responsibility for the company's development into a media group.


Since 2012, the second-oldest son Felix Droste (born 1963) has served as third deputy chairman of the supervisory board of Rheinische Post Mediengruppe and managing director of Droste Reisen travel agency. The oldest son Tilman Droste (born 1962) represents the family today as publisher of Rheinische Post Verlagsgesellschaft.

Media Companies / Groups

Media Outlets

Facts

Other Media Outlets

Print

  • Bergische Morgenpost 
  • Bocholter-Borkener Volksblatt
  • Der Sonntag (Düsseldorf)
  • mein Rheinland
  • Neuß-Grevenbroicher Zeitung 
  • Solinger Morgenpost
  • Top Magazin Düsseldorf
  • Wirtschaft in Nordrhein-Westfalen
  • General-Anzeiger (Bonn) 
  • Saabrücker Zeitung
  • Trierischer Volksfreund

Online

  • www.bergische-morgenpost.de 
  • www.neuss-grevenbroicher-zeitung.de
  • www.rp-online.de
  • www.solinger-morgenpost.de
  • www.top-magazin-duesseldorf.de
  • www.ga.de
  • www.bbv-net.de
  • www.saarbruecker-zeitung.de
  • www.volksfreund.de
Other Media Related Businesses

Press wholesale

  • QTRADO (Leverkusen) (42,35 %) 

Book publishing

  • DROSTE Verlag GmbH (Düsseldorf)
Affiliated Interests Family & Friends
  • Tilman Droste
    Tilman Droste, eldest son of Manfred Droste, holds the following positions in the family company: managing director at Droste Verlag, publisher at Rheinische Post Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, managing director of leverdy GmbH & Co. KG, managing director of Grupello Verlag, and managing director of MITTAG Verlagsgesellschaft mbH.
  • Felix Droste
    Felix Droste, born 1963, second-oldest son of Manfred Droste, serves as deputy chairman of the supervisory board of Rheinische Post. But he is also and above all managing director of the travel agency founded by his grandfather Heinrich Droste in 1925. Felix Droste's children Charlotte Antonia Droste (born 2000) and Christoph Droste (born 2000), fourth generation of the family, have already been granted individual power of attorney here.
Data Publicly Available
ownership data is easily available from other sources, e. g. public registries etc.
Headlines
Meta Data

The information comes primarily from publicly available registers and media reports. Some of the information may therefore be out of date.

Sources
Documents (PDF)
  • Liste der Gesellschafter der Rheinische Post Mediengruppe GmbH
    File