Holger Friedrich

Holger Friedrich (born 1966 in East Berlin[1]) is a German multimillionair businessman and publisher. He owns and runs Berliner Verlag, which publishes Berliner Zeitung, a German newspaper with a long tradition.

Life

Friedrich studied literature and informatics at University of Potsdam. He was co-founder of Institut für Theoretische Informatik Potsdam (Institute for theoretical informatics Potsdam). [2][3] Later he founded the Software company SPM Technologies GmbH, which got bought by SAP in 2004.[4] Friedrich later was known as an IT businessman and investor in Biotech companies. In September 2019, Friedrich and his wife Silke bought the Berliner Verlag publishing house. Neither had prior experience in publishing. In addition to the Berliner Zeitung, Berliner Verlag also published at the time of purchase the daily newspapers Berliner Kurier and Berliner Abendblatt.[5] Friedrich wrote in the first edition after he bought Berliner Zeitung that their vision is to make politics and society more interesting again. He wanted the "structurell ennui" in Berlin and Germany to confer with a media platform.[6]

Controversy

In November 2019, the German Newspaper Spiegel wrote that Berliner Zeitung had published an overly positive report ("Jubelbericht") about a Biotech-company called Centogene on its first page. The article did not disclose a potential conflict of interest, as Friedrich also owns shares of the company and is member of Centogene board.[7]

In November 2019, Friedrich stated that during his military service in the National People's Army (NVA) he had worked for the Stasi. Friedrich defended himself in an editorial in "Berliner Zeitung".[8]

References
  1. Müller, Uwe; Meier, Christian. "Neuer Besitzer des Berliner Verlags spitzelte als IM für die Stasi". Die Welt. Retrieved 19 November 2019.
  2. SPIEGEL ONLINE. "Silke und Holger Friedrich, neue Eigentümer der "Berliner Zeitung": Was haben sie vor?" (in German).
  3. Gregory Lipinski (2019-09-18). "Idealismus oder Geschäftssinn? Was die neuen Eigentümer des Berliner Verlags antreibt" (in German). Meedia.
  4. Kai-Hinrich Renner (2019-09-17). "DuMont: Holger und Silke Friedrich kaufen Berliner Verlag" (in German).
  5. https://kress.de/news/detail/beitrag/143584-berliner-verleger-silke-und-holger-friedrich-wir-sind-branchenfremd-aber-sehen-das-als-chance.html
  6. ""Berliner Zeitung": Neu-Eigentümer Silke und Holger Friedrich setzen erste Akzente". Meedia. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  7. "Neu-Verleger Holger Friedrich steht in der Kritik" (in German). DWDL.de. 15 November 2019.
  8. ""Berliner Zeitung" veröffentlicht Jubelbericht über Firma - an der der Verleger beteiligt ist". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
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