The Russian publishing house Burda, which publishes the magazines Playboy, Liza and Dobrye Sovetov, has changed owners. The current owner, the German company Hubert Burda Media, sold the stake to the commercial director Jürgen Ulrich, who now runs the Russian publishing house. This was reported by the newspaper “Kommersant” with reference to sources, the information was confirmed to the publication in the publishing house.
Ulrich will become the main owner of the publishing house, but due to restrictions on the share of media ownership in Russia by foreigners, he will attract partners to buy out a significant share, the sources of the publication specified. Restrictions on foreigners in the media were adopted in 2014: foreigners were prohibited from owning more than 20% of the parent company of the media. At the same time, according to clause 19.1 of the law on mass media, “any form of control over the founder of the media [и] over the editorial office <...>“. In case of violation of the media, the license may be revoked.
Burda is one of the largest publishing houses in Russia, where it has been operating since 1995; publishes magazines Burda, Oops, Liza, Playboy and others. Until 2015, the Russian publishing house Burda was part of the German media holding Hubert Burda Media. After the adoption of amendments to the law on the media, the German structure reduced the stake to 10%. 90% of LLC “Everest Culture”, the managing director of the publishing house, in 2015 was bought by the chief accountant of Burda, Alexander Efimov. According to SPARK-Interfax, Playboy Wireless CEO Olga Alekseenko and Production Director Danil Tarasenko each own 45% in Everest Kultura; the remaining 10% through Everest Distribution LLC were still controlled by a German media holding. According to the sources of the publication, the actual management of the publishing house, as before, was carried out by the German media holding.
“Burda International’s strategic focus is increasingly shifting towards Central and Western Europe, so Russia is no longer our main sales market. The sale of Russian companies is a logical step in the implementation of this new strategy, ”Martin Weiss, a member of the Board of Directors of Hubert Burda Media, told the publication. He noted that Ulrich will lead the business and “will continue to maintain close contacts with us.”
Ulrich’s partner may be Roman Doroshenko, who several years ago bought out the distribution business of Burda, the Sales company, from the German Hubert Burda Media, the sources of the publication say.
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