HAMBURG/KÖLN (dpa-AFX) - RTL Deutschland plans to eliminate around 700 of the 1900 jobs in its magazine segment around the former publisher Gruner + Jahr. To this end, magazine titles will be discontinued and sales will be examined, while investments will be made in the remaining core brands, such as "Stern," primarily in digital, the media group announced on Tuesday. The background to this is the threat of the declining publishing businesses slipping into the red.

Specifically, the plans look like this: The 13 brands "Stern," "Geo," "Capital," "Stern Crime," "Brigitte," "Gala," "Schöner Wohnen," "Häuser," "Couch," "Geolino," "Geolino mini" and the digital sections of "Eltern" and "Chefkoch" will remain in the portfolio. According to the company, they account for around 70 percent of sales. Investments of around 80 million euros are planned up to 2025.

All other magazine titles will be discontinued or sold. RTL sees no future, for example, for offshoots of its core brands such as "Geo Epoche" and "Geo Wissen," "Brigitte Woman" and "View" (Stern). RTL Deutschland CEO Thomas Rabe told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur: "Many of the titles are spin-offs. We can't imagine selling them if we keep the core brands "Geo" and "Brigitte." Otherwise, uniform brand management would not be possible." The magazines "Guido" around designer Guido Maria Kretschmer and "Barbara" around TV presenter Barbara Schöneberger will also be discontinued. There are 23 titles in total.

RTL is considering a sale for the five brands "Business Punk," "Art," "P.M.," "Beef" and "Salon. RTL's stakes in "11 Freunde" and in the publishing group Deutsche Medien-Manufaktur in Münster ("Landlust," "Essen & Trinken") are also up for sale. Rabe, who is also Bertelsmann's CEO, said of the current status: "There had been expressions of interest - verbally and in writing. But there have been no exploratory or sales talks, let alone offers. We will start talks in the next few weeks." He said the company first wants to talk to the works council and employees. "Then we will calmly sound out the market over the next few weeks and see who is really interested in which title and in what chronological order we will dispose of the titles."

RTL's plans will result in around 500 jobs being cut. This is to be done "step by step until the end of 2025." The vast majority of the job cuts will affect Hamburg, he said, and are not planned in the editorial area, but in administrative areas. In addition, there are about 200 jobs that would be transferred to new owners as a result of the planned sale. With the elimination of about 700 jobs, that would be more than one in three of the 1,900 full-time positions in the magazine segment, most of which are based in Hamburg.

RTL Deutschland, headquartered in Cologne, had integrated the German magazine division of the Hamburg publishing house into its portfolio by 2022 and is hoping for synergies. Both divisions belong to the Bertelsmann Group. In recent months, RTL has been reviewing its magazine portfolio. 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.

In an interview with dpa, Rabe said, "Gruner's strategy going forward is to focus on its core brands and main titles." He added, "We see significant value in the core brands. And we see significant compound effects between the core brands of Gruner + Jahr and RTL, not only in editorial cooperation, but especially in marketing."

Speaking about the economic situation of the publishing business, Rabe said, "In 2022, the result after all deductions was €1 million. Due to market developments in advertising and distribution, but also due to cost increases of paper and energy, Gruner + Jahr would be double-digit negative in Ebita without measures this year." Sales in the division were around 350 million euros in 2022.

Hamburg is to be retained as a magazine location. Rabe said, "We will remain in Hamburg with the businesses - except for the corporate functions, most of which will be bundled in Cologne. The employees in Hamburg are to move to new premises by the end of 2024." He did not name an exact location. "We are looking at several locations at the moment."

The shares in "Spiegel" and DDV Mediengruppe, which includes "Sächsische Zeitung," will remain in the Bertelsmann Group, Rabe said. "That was never up for debate." The businesses are assigned to the Bertelsmann Investments division, he said./rin/ngu