DPG Media

DPG Media is a Belgian publishing company that owns media assets in Belgium, Denmark, and the Netherlands. The firm is owned by the Van Thillo family.

DPG Media
Founded23 May 2019 
Headquarters
Antwerp
,
Belgium
Areas served
Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands
Key people
Christian Van Thillo (CEO)
ProductsPrint mediaTV and Radio Broadcasting
Online platforms
TV Production
Revenue€ 1.447 billion (2017)
€ 217 million (2017)
€ 109 million (2017)
Number of employees
5,000
Websitewww.dpgmedia.be

History

1987–2005 Formation

In 1987 the Van Thillo family, already the publishers of magazines Joepie (1973) and Dag Allemaal (1984), obtained 66 percent of shares in the Flemish publishing company Hoste nv, publisher of newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, magazine Blik and other publications. In 1990 the rest of the shares were acquired and the company’s name was changed to De Persgroep. The company had already bought Flemish newspaper publisher De Nieuwe Morgen in 1989, giving it ownership over a second newspaper, De Morgen.

Also in 1987, De Persgroep was one of nine publishers involved in the foundation of VTM or Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij, the first and still main commercial TV broadcaster in Flanders. The channel was launched on 1 February 1989. Each publisher originally owned 11.1% of the new company's shares. Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij launched a second TV channel, first known as Ka2 but now Q2, on 30 January 1995 and in the years to come either launched or bought several more, as well as two radio stations and two MVNOs. Vlaamse Televisie Maatschappij changed its name twice, first to Vlaamse Media Maatschappij (VMMa) and later to Medialaan. The ownership structure also changed, with De Persgroep eventually owning half of Vlaame Televisie Maatschappij's shares and Roularta holding the other half. This situation held until 2018, when De Persgroep bought Roularta's stake.

In 2002 De Persgroep entered the book publishing and DVD distribution sectors.[1]

De Persgroep joined forces with the Walloon media group Groupe Rossel in 2003 to acquire Editco, the publisher of French-language business paper L'Echo, mainly distributed in Brussels and Wallonia.[2] In 2005, the two groups also bought Uitgeverij De Tijd, publisher of De Tijd, the Flemish counterpart to L'Echo. Editco and Uitgeverij De Tijd merged and became Mediafin, with De Persgroep and Groupe Rossel each holding 50% in the venture.

2009–2014 Foreign acquisitions

PCM Publishing was created through the merger of two companies: Perscombinatie and Meulenhoff & Co. In 1994, Perscombinatie (de Volkskrant, Trouw and Het Parool) acquired a majority stake in Meulenhoff & Co. The Perscombinatie's name was shortened to PCM and publication of newspapers and books became its core activities.[3] In late 1995, PCM acquired the Nederlandse Dagbladunie (TVNZ and Algemeen Dagblad) and became publisher of four of the five national newspapers, four regional titles and door-to-door papers in the Randstad. PCM sold its stake in Het Parool to De Persgroep in 2002[4], making it De Persgroep's first foreign investment.

PCM was acquired by British-based investment group Apax Partners in 2004.[5] In 2005, Algemeen Dagblad and four regional newspapers were housed in AD New Media BV, with PCM holding a 63% interest in the venture.[3]

In July 2009, De Persgroep acquired a majority stake in PCM Publishing and renamed the subsidiary De Persgroep Nederland.[3] A number of transactions were connected to the main acquisition. In July 2009, De Persgroep Nederland sold the house-to-house papers (PCM Local Media) to Wegener. Shortly after, De Persgroep Nederland acquired the 37% stake that Wegener held in AD New Media BV. The acquisition also included the printing house of Wegener in The Hague. Next, De Persgroep Nederland sold NRC Handelsblad and nrc.next for 70 million euros to Egeria in 2009[6] and the PCM Algemene Boeken book-publishing unit (b.o. Meulenhoff & Co) to WPG Uitgevers and Lannoo. As a result, De Persgroep Nederland became the publisher of four national newspapers, Algemeen Dagblad, de Volkskrant, Trouw and Het Parool.[3]

In 2012, De Persgroep Nederland acquired VNU Media, a Dutch publisher of magazines and online tools for professionals, especially in the recruiting and employment sectors.[7]

De Persgroep acquired Mecom Group in 2014, thereby adding Wegener, a big publisher of regional newspapers in the Netherlands, to its assets.[8] The acquisition also included Berlingske Media, a Danish media group particularly known for the Berlingske newspaper, one of the world's oldest, and the popular tabloid paper B.T.. De Persgroep sold Midtjyske Media, Berlingske Media's regional newspaper division, to Jutland Funen Media in 2015.

2015–2018: Expansion in Belgium

In 2015, Sanoma's Belgian division sold four magazines (Humo, Story, TeVe Blad and Vitaya magazine) to De Persgroep.[9] Vitaya magazine was merged with another Persgroep title, Goed Gevoel, in February 2017.[10] De Persgroep further expanded its magazine holdings when it bought Cascade nv, publisher of the magazines Primo, Eos, Bahamontes, Motoren & Toerisme and For Girls Only, from Dutch media group Audax in 2018.[11] On 30 April 2019 the company closed two separate deals, whereby three of the former Cascade titles - Bahamontes, Motoren & Toerisme and For Girls Only - were acquired by a new company, De Deeluitgeverij, and a fourth, popular science title Eos, was sold to the new Eos Wetenschap vzw.[12]

In 2018 De Persgroep acquired Roularta's 50 percent stake in Medialaan. Roularta received a 50 percent stake in Mediafin and 217.5 million euros in cash.[13] This turned De Persgroep into the sole owner of Medialaan. The company merged Medialaan with its newspaper and magazine publishing holdings in Belgium. To represent this change, the company changed the name of its Belgian holdings to Medialaan-De Persgroep Publishing.[14]

2019–2020: Name change; expansion in the Netherlands

On 23 May, 2019, Medialaan-De Persgroep Publishing changed its name to DPG Media.[15] The new name will be used for the group's Belgian and Dutch subsidiaries as well as for the holding above the Belgian, Dutch and Danish assets.

In December 2019, DPG Media announced it was acquiring the Dutch assets of Finnish media and publishing company Sanoma, gaining ownership of a great number of Dutch magazines, such as Libelle and vtwonen, as well as of popular online media like NU.nl.[16] Sanoma's Belgian unit, that was already stripped down after selling many of its brands and businesses to both DPG Media and Roularta in previous years and consequently having become a publisher of home and deco magazines exclusively, was also included in the deal. The transaction was approved on 10 April 2020 by the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets and became effective on 20 April.

Management

In a statement that was published on 5 February 2020, DPG Media announced that as of 1 March Christian Van Thillo would be stepping down as CEO of the company, a role he had taken up for 30 years.[17] His successor is Erik Roddenhof, who previously managed the company's Belgian and Dutch businesses. He will continue to run the Dutch division, on top of his duties as CEO of the entire group. Kris Vervaet and Anders Krab-Johansen remain as CEOs of respectively the Belgian and Danish divisions.[18]

Van Thillo will become the company's board's executive chairman and in that capacity will spearhead the group's strategy, acquisition policy and the development of the group's media brands.[18]

Assets

This is a list of the different media and other companies owned by DPG Media.

TV channels

Former assets:

DPG Media used to own the following TV channels in Belgium:

Radio stations
  • DPG Media Belgium
    • Q-music
    • Joe
    • Willy
  • DPG Media Netherlands
    • Q-music
    • Joe
  • Berlingske Media (Denmark)

Former assets:

DPG Media used to own the following radio station in Belgium:

  • Radio BemBem (children's radio, digital/cable, joint venture with Studio 100)

Newspapers

Former assets:

  • De Tijd, Flemish financial daily (previously co-owned with Rossel, DPG Media has since sold its stake to Roularta)
  • L'Echo, French-language Belgian financial daily (previously co-owned with Rossel, DPG Media has since sold its stake to Roularta)

DPG Media also used to publish free city papers (now all defunct), called Zone 02/ in Brussels, Zone 03/ in Antwerp, and Zone 09/ in Ghent.

Magazines

DPG Media publishes the following magazines in Belgium:

Former assets:

  • Bahamontes (sold to De Deeluitgeverij in 2019)[12]
  • Eos (sold to Eos Wetenschap vzw in 2019)[12]
  • For Girls Only (sold to De Deeluitgeverij in 2019)[12]
  • Genieten (sold to Dupuis Presse in 2008)[21]
  • Joepie (closed in December 2015)
  • Motoren & Toerisme (sold to De Deeluitgeverij in 2019)[12]
  • Netwerk (until 2007)
  • Uw Vermogen
  • Vitaya[22] (merged with Goed Gevoel in February 2017)[10]
  • Woef (sold to Famedito in 2007)[23]

Telecom

DPG Media owns two MVNOs in Belgium:

  • JIM Mobile
  • Mobile Vikings (acquired in 2015)[24]

See also

References
  1. Hilde Van den Bulck; Sil Tambuyzer; Stef Ackx (2011). "Readers' Responses to Product+ Strategies of Print Media Brands: Increasing Readership or Commoditization of Print Media?". International Journal on Media Management. 13 (1): 71–85. doi:10.1080/14241277.2010.545362.
  2. Dendooven, Pascal. "ANALYSE. Waarom de Persgroep en Rossel l'Echo kopen". De Standaard. Mediahuis. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  3. "Over de Persgroep: Historie," Archived 2014-05-08 at the Wayback Machine De Persgroep Nederland. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  4. "De Persgroep neemt 32 procent van de aandelen in Het Parool". De Standaard. Mediahuis. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  5. "Nederlandse mediagroep PCM definitief in handen Britse Apax". Het Belang van Limburg. Mediahuis. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  6. (in Dutch) Wilco Dekker, "Persgroep geïnteresseerd in overname NRC," De Volkskrant (8 May 2014). Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  7. "De Persgroep Nederland koopt uitgever VNU Media". NRC. Mediahuis. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  8. Andy Sharman; Robert Cookson (30 June 2014). "Belgian publisher De Persgroep buys Mecom for £200m". Financial Times. Retrieved 1 April 2017.
  9. Eeckhout, Bart. "De Persgroep mag Sanoma-magazines overnemen". De Morgen. De Persgroep. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  10. Vitayamagazine.be https://abonnement.vitayamagazine.be/. Retrieved 10 April 2019. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. "De Persgroep Publishing en Medialaan nemen uitgeverij van EOS over". HLN. De Persgroep. Retrieved 11 April 2019.
  12. "Uitgeverij achter Primo en Eos ontmanteld". De Tijd (in Dutch). 2019-04-29. Retrieved 2019-05-07.
  13. "Roularta stapt uit Medialaan en in Mediafin". Knack.be. Roularta. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  14. "Medialaan en De Persgroep Publishing worden één bedrijf". Medialaan.be. Medialaan. Archived from the original on 7 September 2018. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  15. "DPG Media is de nieuwe naam voor MEDIALAAN – de Persgroep Publishing". www.medialaan-persgroep.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  16. NWS, VRT (2019-12-10). "Nederlandse magazines als vtwonen, Donald Duck en Libelle komen in handen van Belgisch DPG Media". vrtnws.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  17. "Christian Van Thillo stapt op als CEO van DPG Media". Business AM. 2020-02-05. Retrieved 2020-02-06.
  18. "Nieuwe topstructuur voor DPG Media". www.dpgmedia.be (in Dutch). Retrieved 2020-02-06.
  19. "Parool, AVRO en RTV N-H nemen AT5 over". AD.nl. De Persgroep Nederland. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  20. "Concentra en De Persgroep herschikken belangen in ATV en Vacature". Nieuwsblad.be. Mediahuis. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  21. "Genieten (tijdschrift)". Wikipedia (nl). Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  22. Alan Hope (27 May 2015). "De Persgroep takes over Humo, Story and Vitaya magazines". Flanders Today. Retrieved 27 December 2015.
  23. "Woef (tijdschrift)". Wikipedia (nl). Retrieved 10 April 2019.
  24. Debackere, Jan. "Medialaan koopt gsm-operator Mobile Vikings". De Morgen. Medialaan-De Persgroep Publishing. Retrieved 10 April 2019.
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