Annual Report 2013 by Hubert Burda Media

Burda...

Hubert Burda Media Annual Report 2013

shaping the media

Learns from his Âmistakes: Fabrizio Dâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Angelo

Big responsibility: Katharina Zwanzig

Loves fashion: Kerstin Schneider

Meeting of the global digital elite: DLD in New York

Shapes the future: Melvin Ang

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CEO Dr. Kallen on the challenges of the media transformation

melvin ang shapes the future Burda’s lifestyle brands from Singapore reflect Asian high society’s attitude toward life. Publisher Melvin Ang sees great growth opportunities for his media

sebastian matthes explores uncharted waters The Editor-in-Chief of the German Huffington Post and his team link blogs, social media and news in a revolutionary new type of news portal

Kerstin Schneider embodies passion for fashion German Elle celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2013 – and is still setting new standards. Fashion Director Kerstin Schneider shares responsibility for the magazine’s success

fabrizio d’angelo learns from his mistakes The CEO of BurdaInternational explains why you can’t be afraid of mistakes if you want to shape the media landscape of the future

The Burda School of Journalism is teaching for tomorrow In Offenburg, students learn to research, write, blog, film, program and tweet – and the best way to market themselves and their stories in the future

kjeld peters loves technology The Technical Director of Elitepartner uses the algorithm of love to help 4 million singles find happiness for life

Alexandra Schiel connects people Alexandra Schiel and the DLD team are looking for smart people – and the latest Internet trends – from all over the world for the innovation conference

Diana Knodel develops new projects The Product Manager at Xing takes the initiative to get more women interested in programming

Holger Albrecht shows his dedication The man from IT Support shows children and adolescents living in difficult circumstances how to use computers

katharina zwanzig in charge The Treasury Director is responsible for Burda’s liquidity. Without her support, many of the company’s projects would go nowhere

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The Burda alphabet Financial Statements 2013

Dr. Paul-Bernhard Kallen, CEO

Burda: a company for entrepreneurs

he year 2013 was another good year for Burda. Our company continued to grow, while remaining profitable. We were able to finance our growth with our own resources, expand and stabilize our existing businesses, and tap into new business fields. But 2013 was also a year of growing challenges: the pace at which the consumer Internet is changing the media industry has accelerated significantly yet again. New technologies are transforming everything with increasing momentum, changing every familiar consumer communication channel and enabling new relationships with our customers. Digitalization is fundamentally changing our world – and will continue to do so. Even during this phase of change we will continue to grow and remain profitable, because Burda will maintain its course, developing and implementing successful new products for its consumers – and actively shaping the future of the media. We will succeed with innovative technology and content in media products that inspire, entertain, add practical value and play an important role in the lives of our customers. Our goal is to support our customers, users and readers with our media in their pursuit of happiness. If we at Burda succeed in enriching and improving people’s lives – regardless of the technological platform – then we will be as financially successful as ever over the long term. Our company is in a strong position to tackle this task: Burda consists of 95 successful individual companies, in which 10,000 employees give their best every day to create excellent products. Because their work, ideas and attitudes set the scene for all future successes, we would like to introduce 10 Burda role models from different divisions and countries in this annual report – talented, committed, highly qualified employees who advance our company on all levels. These are colleagues who take on responsibility – for themselves and our company – and have the courage to take action. They have the strong will to help shape our future and know that this can only succeed if we understand, utilize and actively develop the technologies – both traditional and new – on which our businesses are based. These are people who intentionally take risks and learn from their mistakes for the future. They are employees who take advantage of the excellent opportunities to develop and drive new projects throughout expansive networks here at Burda. They are colleagues who perform their work not only with expertise, but also with passion – in short, people who

see themselves as “entrepreneurs within the company.” As members of the Executive Board at Burda, we feel our most crucial responsibility is to be a home for the mosttalented entrepreneurs, and give them the opportunity to invent the future together with us. On behalf of my fellow Board members, I would like to thank all of our 10,000 employees for their hard work. We all share the responsibility for ensuring that our company takes advantage of the great opportunities offered by digitalization and actively shapes change, and that Burda remains what it is: a vibrant, growing and profitable media company of the 21st century.

“We would like to introduce 10 Burda role models from different divisions and countries who advance our company.”

Dr. Paul-Bernhard Kallen The CEO of Hubert Burda Media Holding KG joined the company in 1996 as Managing Director. Dr. Kallen was appointed Member of the Executive Board responsible for technology in 1999. The political economist has been at the helm of the Group since 2010.

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The Executive Board of Hubert Burda Media (Left to right) Holger Eckstein, Board Member 足Finance; Dr. Paul-Bernhard Kallen, Chief Executive Officer; Philipp Welte, Board Member P 足 ublishing; Stefan Winners, Board Member Digital

Melvin Ang shapes the future

In highest society Burdaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s exclusive Singaporean lifestyle brands reflect Asian high societyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s attitude toward life. Their love of luxury shows publisher Melvin Ang that the growth of his media is far from exhausted

Lunch meeting with advertising customers at the venerable St. Regis Hotel

Tuesday evening in April, 9 o’clock. In Singapore, it’s still 28°C hours after sundown. It has been a long day for Melvin Ang, with a number of conferences and appointments, but if he is tired, he certainly doesn’t show it. He stands on the giant balcony of the presidential suite at the Fullerton Hotel and smiles, wearing a flawlessly matched evening outfit: white jeans, matching shirt, form-fitting green sport coat and snakeskin shoes. The publisher of the luxury magazine Prestige has invited over several

BURDA Annual Report

high-society women from this upand-coming city. He converses animatedly with his guests. “It’s wonderful to see you, Grace. How was New York? How is the better half doing?” In the background, skyscrapers – a symbol of the wealth in this metropolis of millions – illuminate the night, their lights reflected in the Singapore River. Ang and the ladies have known each other for some time. For them, the wiry Chinese man is like a friend. Giggling, they ask him his age. He will be 50 this year. “But on the inside, I’m 35.” The ladies think so, too. He

doesn’t look a day older, perhaps 36 at the most. Ang laughs – he likes that. But he is more interested in other topics. He wants to know everything about their favorite brands and destinations as well as their husbands’ favorite toys. Ang is collecting material for the society pages of his magazine. He mentally writes memos that he will transfer to paper in his office tomorrow to be sure not to forget anything. The editorial staff of Prestige, Singapore’s most successful society magazine, resides in relatively modest

“ We have no natural resources in Singapore, but many hard-working immigrants.” Man of glamour: Melvin Ang has been publisher of the luxury magazine Prestige for 14 years

Melvin Ang shapes the future

quarters. Most of the 68 employees work in separate cubicles, and Melvin Ang’s office is unpretentious as well. “I’m a practical person,” he explains. He has enough glamour outside the office – he works here. With a resolute grip, he takes the different issues of Prestige Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan off the shelf and spreads them out. The most conspicuous decoration here is a small altar – Buddha flanked by two waving porcelain cats for good luck. For devout Buddhists, religion is an important support in life. It gave Ang his respectful, open management style that his employees value so much. Rising to the top, in record time Melvin Ang is slender, not especially tall, yet his self-confidence is huge. “I was born in the Chinese year of the Dragon, under the sign of the lion in the Western zodiac. In short: a born leader.” That’s how he introduces himself – and laughs. He is ambitious, and therefore a typical Singaporean, he explains. “We have no natural resources. But thanks to the hardworking immigrants – my father came from China – more millionaires live here today than in Hong Kong.” After finishing university, Melvin first tried to work at his father’s tea and coffee company, but there were too many relatives who wanted to have a say. So, he began working at the Singapore offshoot of the society magazine, “Tatler”. There, he rose through the ranks in record time from an advertising employee to Marketing Chief – and stayed 10 years. “But for me, something was always missing at ‘Tatler’,” he says. “The content was too far removed from the world of the wealthy people who are our core target group.” So he decided to launch his own magazine. Ann Lee, who holds the title Associate Publisher and has been Ang’s right hand for decades, tells with a

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smile how Ang called together his most trusted colleagues before submitting his resignation: “He wanted to know from us if we would like to start a new chapter with him. Mind you, that’s without saying what it was all about.” They all followed him – and are still there. In addition to the lavish fashion spreads for men and women, stories about the richest members of Singaporean society are the core of Prestige. Asians, especially the Chinese, love to look up to successful people. Status is everything, which is why of the 15,000 issues printed, a few thousand free copies are given to highstatus readers from high society. Society VIPs as models Prestige quickly became a big success and expanded to Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Hong Kong. Burda took over the publishing company two years ago; since then, the brand is also represented in Taiwan. The external editorial offices can take on content, but do not have to. Bosses need to decide for themselves how they will be most successful. The most effective means of securing reader loyalty was Melvin Ang’s idea of exclusively using true beauties from Singapore’s society as models. The wealthy city has plenty of them – and all of them work hard to grace the cover of Prestige. Or at least the section where celebrities show their Instagram photos. Among the engaged daughters of millionaires, it’s considered chic to be photographed by Prestige while shopping for wedding gowns in Paris or honeymooning in the Maldives. For example, the hot newly engaged couple Van Ness Wu and Arissa Cheo smile from the cover of the May issue. He is a well-known singer; she is an “it” girl and comes from a top-tier family.

Melvin Ang shapes the future There are many high-end shopping malls offering luxury brands in Singapore. Status plays a major role in Asia.

Melvin Ang’s most important marketing tool, the Prestige Ball, works in a similar fashion. He celebrated the first issue of the luxury magazine 14 years ago with a spectacular ball, which he repeats every year in September. Only those who are personally invited by the editorial staff may attend. Ang’s exclusive address book contains the names of 8,000 men and women separated into categories A, B or C, depending on the size of their spending habits. But only the crème de la crème should appear at the ball, so the number of guests is limited to 500. To increase the appeal for guests even further, every year Ang and the Prestige fashion director crown the 10 best-dressed socialites as belles of the ball. The city’s most noted jewelers gladly drape the ladies in jewels free of charge. The chances that the beautiful belle’s husband will open up his wallet afterward are high. Prestige has become much more than a magazine – it is a successful media brand. That’s why in addition to the ball, Melvin Ang’s team also regularly hosts cocktail parties for luxury brands such as Bulgari or Cartier. One member of the team is responsible solely for organizing these exclusive events. The company also publishes successful customer magazines for several major shopping centers. And at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore’s largest resort, with an attached shopping mall, Melvin Ang organizes an autumn watch exhibition with the most important representatives from the local Haute Horlogerie. Ang’s team ensures that enough high-income customers will attend. A few premium readers of PIN, the Chinese-language offshoot of Prestige, will fly to Singapore just for the event. Loosely trans-

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lated from Chinese, PIN means “refined lifestyle.” Ang launched the magazine just a year ago and sees a great deal of potential in the Chinesespeaking market. Man of substance For a few years now, the inexhaustible bundle of energy known as Melvin Ang has also been publishing the men’s magazine, August Man. Here, as an adjective, “august” essentially stands for “substance.” The magazine targets well-groomed, fashionconscious men who enjoy an exclusive, luxurious lifestyle – of which there are many in Asia’s high society. One of these is Dylan Boey, Editor-inChief of Prestige – a flamboyant young personality in a royal-blue velvet sport coat. In the editorial meeting, he shows Ang three boards with pages from the next issue. For the cover he is planning a group photo of five very successful men ranging in age from mid-20s to late 50s – an oil magnate with a penchant for expensive watches, a neurosurgeon, the president of the Marina Club, an artist and a venture capitalist. An anniversary issue will come out in September that is already brimming with ads. “I had to console Laura, the original cover girl, once again,” explains Boey. Regardless of whom Prestige would select from Singapore’s high society for the cover, many would be offended that they weren’t chosen. That’s why they made an exception this time and hired a professional model. It’s already late again. Melvin Ang needs to move on, he still has important appointments this evening with the regional directors of Bulgari, Cartier and Cortina. Going to bed early is not an option. He has much too much planned for that.

Melvin Ang shapes the future

Ang decides with Editor-in-Chief Dylan Boey (r.) which members of Singaporeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s high society will grace their cover of Prestige

Ang conversing with society ladies

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Sebastian Matthes EXPLORES Uncharted Waters

News revolution The Huffington Post is the most exciting innovation in German online journalism. Editor-in-Chief Sebastian Matthes and team link blogs, social media and news on the groundbreaking news portal

nyone looking for Sebastian Matthes in his office is bound to fail. The only sign of The Huffington Post Editor-inChief’s presence is a laptop case lying open and a jacket hanging on the back of a chair. Hardly surprising, since Matthes prefers to work on the front line. You’ll find him at the news desk, looking through news reports and writing headlines with the news editor, at editorial conferences, or on the road, going to meetings and speaking at panel discussions. For more than seven months, the 36-year-old has

been in charge of the German edition of The Huffington Post, the most exciting online innovation in German journalism. He’s so busy that there’s no time left to sit in his office. Matthes considers Internet journalism “a contest of ideas and opinions.” It would be hard to describe The Huffington Post’s concept more accurately. In pre-Internet days, journalism was structured like a classroom: someone spoke up in front and many listened. US nonfiction writer and journalist Arianna Huffington understood early on that Internet users were looking for an equal voice. That’s why, in 2005, she founded The Huffington Post, her news and debate website, in the USA. On it she linked to other news sources, offered a platform to well-known columnists (e.g., Richard Dawkins, John Cusack, Alicia Keys)

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Sebastian Matthes EXPLORES Uncharted Waters

“I think that the digital transformation offers journalists unbelievable opportunities – and we should take them.”

Once 36-year-old Sebastian Matthes blogged about the digital transformation – now he’s one of those driving it

and, with an editorial team, wrote original reports and commentaries – supplemented by input from many bloggers on a large range of topics. The concept works: in 2012, “HuffPo” (as it’s informally known) became the first commercial online medium to be presented with a Pulitzer Prize.

Huffington Post staff work from 6 a.m. until late night

Reaching a gigantic audience Since October 2013, Arianna Huffington and the Tomorrow Focus AG have been working closely together on the German edition of The Huffington Post. This has involved regular visits by the founder to the German editorial staff in Munich. Before Matthes wound up at The Huffington Post, he had worked as a business reporter. After studying economics and politics, he became an early victim of the Internet virus:

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long before most of his colleagues, he had a blog and reported on startups. He has not lost his original enthusiasm: “I think that the digital transformation offers journalists unbelievable opportunities – and we should take them. We try out new formats and new forms of storytelling and let our users decide whether they like each innovation or not. This makes us part of a continuous learning and improvement process.” Dual-engine hybrid He explains the editorial concept with an image: “The Huffington Post is a hybrid sports car with two engines. On one hand, it’s an innovative news website with a global network. Some 700 professional staff reporters work there. On the other, it’s a platform on which experts in all subject areas write texts that we make available to an audience they would never have been able to reach before.” By now, more than 1,000 German bloggers use The Huffington Post. One of them is Hamburg journalist Eric Hegmann. Since the launch, he has blogged almost weekly for the site. “Many of my posts do well in social media, with hundreds of likes and shares,” says Hegmann. Even if he is not paid for his posting, he enjoys “trying out topics and how to treat them on such a far-reaching platform. And if I sell a few more books as a result, of course I’m glad.” In his experience, his commentary on dating sites and relationships catches on quite well. “When I posted about ‘mingles,’ a new form of relationship somewhere between single and in a relationship, I was interviewed by dpa (German Press Agency), and the interview was published in lots of daily newspapers a few days later. I get more and more requests for interviews related to my Huffington Post contributions.”

Voices of a new generation: the staff prefers to address younger readers on their own terms

Sebastian Matthes EXPLORES Uncharted Waters

In just a few months, the German Huffington Post was able to acquire prominent bloggers, such as Germany’s Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, tennis legend Boris Becker and manager René Obermann. Many authors are sourced by the former ZDF host Cherno Jobatey. He functions as editorial director and anchor of the German Huffington Post, provides his own posts, and, like Sebastian Matthes, acts as a public face for the website. News and blogs are on an equal footing at HuffPo. On the left side are the blogs, and in the middle is the news column with politics and business. The right-hand column is kept for softer topics: entertainment, lifestyle and advice. The concept seems to be working: just a few months after its launch, the German Huffington Post proudly reported some 9.58 million visits (according to German media monitor IVW, March 2014) – making it number 15 among all German online news offerings. Matthes hadn’t expected to land in the Top 20 so fast: “We started very successfully and are growing faster than planned.” In doing so, The Huffington Post can also build on the experience of the Tomorrow Focus AG. That the editorial staff of The Huffington Post and Focus Online are next door to each other is no accident: they support and inform each other daily, and some of The Huffington Post staff used to work for Focus Online. Danuta Szarek, for example, used the opportunity to change jobs. As news editor of The Huffington Post, she is attracted by the start-up mentality of her agile team. “Obviously, this job is energy-sapping, but it is the most amazing thing I have done in my career so far. Here I am part of a team

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that wants to experiment and take part in helping to shape content.” There is, however, a clear demarcation from Focus Online. “Our target group is different,” she explains. “We consider ourselves Focus Online’s cheeky little sister. In other words, our audience is somewhat younger, somewhat more female – and many of them are just starting their careers. And that is reflected in what we talk

count first: “I think Twitter is the most important news source for me, next to The Huffington Post – just as relevant as dpa and Reuters. We know that our users spend a lot of their time on social media. That is where we inform them, listen to them and are engaged in a constant exchange with them. We then bring debates on social media back to The Huffington Post. That is how we are helping to

A success story is being written: with 9.58 million visits as of March 2014, The Huffington Post ranked 15th among Germany’s online news offerings

about.” With a small team, The Huffington Post does not have a 24-hour news operation– they start with the early shift at 6 a.m. and, depending on the news situation, may stay at the office until late at night. Many relevant topics are found by the editors on social networks, which they follow attentively. When Matthes wakes up, he checks his Twitter ac-

shape the media revolution in Germany.” That’s why The Huffington Post also has a social media expert as a member of the news team. “In the meantime, other portals are copying our ‘social media first’ approach,” notes Matthes. “Nevertheless, we will remain the fastest and most innovative source in this area in the future as well.”

Sebastian Matthes EXPLORES Uncharted Waters

Digital natives: a start-up mentality is driving the editorial team – they are willing to experiment

Social media first: many relevant topics are found by the editors in social networks, which they follow attentively

Voice of a new generation The secret to their success in getting more exposure? Matthes thinks it is the special, unique voice of The Huffington Post. “We try to adopt a point of view for political commentary that, in my opinion, has been missing in Germany. The generation now entering the work force has not yet been sufficiently recognized.” As

Matthes sees it, traditional journalism is still dominant on the German media landscape. And, it usually reports from the perspective of those who lead the media. “We, on the other hand, ask what the political decisions mean for everyone in their daily lives, especially younger people. As it turns out, this approach also appeals to an older audience, too.”

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Kerstin Schneider embodies passion for fashioN

I dream of fashion German Elle celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2013 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and is still setting new fashion benchmarks. Fashion Director Kerstin Schneider shares responsibility for the magazineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s success. Themes for fashion spreads even come to her in dreams

“I often dream of photos and themes that I use later in fashion shoots for Elle.”

summery April morning in Berlin’s Hansa Quarter. Things are bustling today in the quiet family neighborhood. Racks of clothes are being delivered, camera tripods and photography panels dragged along, trolley bags filled with cosmetics and styling accessories opened up. In a flat-roofed bungalow that is typical for this part of the city, Kerstin Schneider, Fashion Director at German Elle, prepares the photo shoot with her team. Famous architects – including Walter Gropius, Oscar Niemeyer and Arne Jacobsen – took the international Interbau Exposition in 1957 as an opportunity to turn the southern Hansa Quarter into a showcase for classic modern architecture with their buildings. Today, these clean-lined structures made of glass, steel, concrete

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Kerstin Schneider embodies passion for fashioN

and brick make the perfect location for an “urban chic” photo spread. The stylist does hair and makeup for a tall, redheaded model with an alabaster complexion. While he works, she talks about how much she loved the Disney character Ariel as a child and that her current boyfriend shares a name with the prince in that fairy tale. Everyone laughs. Catering arrives – juices, fresh fruit, croissants and more. The food is important, because the day will be long. On shoot, Schneider is friendly and relaxed, but fully focused at the same time. Even as a child, she was working as a stylist. But instead of international models, she gave her Barbie dolls new looks. She later became a fan of the innovative dressmaking magazine Carina by Burda. Then came a deciding moment, when an issue of French

The outfit must fit perfectly for the shoot (above). Makeup (below) is selected to ideally complement the clothing.

“Vogue” fell into the ballet enthusiast’s hands, an issue that was dedicated entirely to the dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and “Swan Lake.” She thought, “This is everything that I love, all rolled up into one. It’s ballet, it’s fashion, it’s creative. I’d like to do something like that someday, too.” It came to pass. Later she was even able to work with the photographer from that ballet fashion spread, Arthur Elgort. She still has that gamechanging magazine. After completing fashion school as well as internships at a variety of glossy magazines, she came to Elle – first as an intern, then an assistant, then an editor and finally Fashion Director. In addition to a passion for fashion, Schneider considers a solid education essential for her work: “By studying at a fashion school, you can truly assess the quality of fashion. It helps me recognize the different fabrics. I know what better or poorer

As a child, Schneider (right) was already styling her Barbie dolls. It takes nine hours until the entire shoot is in the can (below).

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Dreaming of themes The images being created today in Berlin are for a fashion spread for the September 2014 issue of German Elle. It highlights outfits that are also functional in everyday life. This time, Schneider’s inspiration comes from the interior classics by designer Ettore Sottsass and his Memphis Group from the 1980s. Above all, the Italian’s daring color combinations appeal to Schneider. The model’s wardrobe today invokes this design movement through color combinations such as pastel turquoise melange with canola yellow or mixed patterns of waves and marbling. The silhouettes of the jackets and coats as well as the accessories are a wearable homage to Sottsass’ works. In her own wardrobe, Kerstin Schneider prefers a mix of classics and fashion highlights. She combines pieces from Céline with vintage and Topshop, for example. In her work at Elle, she emphasizes a diverse mixture of “fashion spreads for dreaming and wearable outfits that adapt runway trends for everyday life.” She also finds inspiration outside of the fashion world: “Curiosity and openness to every area of the arts are also important to me in my colleagues. I want them to look at the collections with open eyes and curious minds, discover new things, but also be just as interested in design, art, film, et cetera, because we can also draw inspiration for fashion spreads from them – and not just from runway shows. I often dream of photos and themes that I use later in fashion shoots for the magazine.” During the shoot, nothing is left to chance. Everyone knows what to do. The styling assistant sorts, irons and puts the outfits together according to the photos that Schneider brought

In the days before the shoot, Schneider puts together the outfits and photographs them

along. The makeup artist is devoted to the model. He smooths her hair, brings it into shape and emphasizes her eyes with eye shadow in smoky nuances. Her complexion should be matte, but still have a light, natural glow. Schneider joins the photographer to look at the sites that she selected beforehand from photographs. On location in the Hansa Quarter, she discovers new, more exciting perspectives that were not fully visible in the photos. Together they select the best visual angle and agree on the poses for the model. “I’m constantly saving photos and impressions in my own internal database so I can retrieve them as needed,” explains Schneider. Meanwhile, the model’s hair and makeup are done. Schneider has the young woman slip into the first outfit, which everyone thinks she looks fantastic in. Now it’s time to select the accessories. Although handbags, shoes, glasses and jewelry were

Kerstin Schneider embodies passion for fashioN

quality is, and I see immediately whether a piece of clothing fits well.”

Elle Kerstin Schneider has been Fashion Director at German Elle for 11 years. The women’s fashion magazine equates to one of the world’s largest and best-known media brands. Burda also publishes the home and interior design magazine Elle Decoration in a joint venture with Hearst Magazines.

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already selected for the different outfits, last-minute changes here can also make the small but crucial difference between a very good look and a perfect one. Expressing your style Apropos a perfect look: “Of course there are those days where we just want to be comfortable, but we can still look good. My team and I wear sneakers in the office, too, when we lay out accessories and clothes for a style spread all over the floor and have to crawl around. And then there are days where you think: today I’m going to take a chance. We should do that more often. I always think it’s great when I see women who make an effort. It doesn’t have to be the newest ‘it’ item, I just find it nice when people express their personal style.” The entire team is now on the move, everyone doing their bit so that the looks are perfect. The stylists

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“Urban chic” is the theme of this fashion spread, produced in Berlin’s Hansa Quarter

Kerstin Schneider embodies passion for fashioN

arrange the clothing and pin it into shape, the makeup artist outlines the model’s lips, and the photographer and his assistant use lighting to increase or reduce the shadows. Schneider patiently answers her team’s questions. She keeps an eye on everything – and even catches a reflector panel herself while giving the model posing instructions. Had she not, the panel would have hit the photographer’s assistant on the head. Locations and styles change,

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the light shifts and yet remains the same in the photos by changing the lighting. The hours pass, hair is restyled over and over; the photographer and Schneider keep carefully comparing the already created images on a large laptop screen and making a preliminary selection. After nine hours of hard work, it’s time for the last outfit. But then, Schneider has an idea: the first outfit will be photographed again, only this time at a different location. And lo and behold, this revisit makes a big difference to the final image. Once the last shot has been taken, there are hugs all around. There is applause, and kisses are distributed generously. Everyone agrees: the effort was worth it. While they all pack up their equipment in boxes and cases to get ready to leave, Schneider sorts out the pieces from international designers like Balmain and Dior. These outfits are placed in their own case, because they need to be sent on to the next editorial department right away. Finally, 12 hours after the first “hello,” everything is picked up and the team heads off to the next project. But first, she expects a short stopover at the location that all of them are yearning for – bed. Maybe here, she will start dreaming of the next photos, scenes and styles.

Kerstin Schneider embodies passion for fashioN

Schneider and the photographer continuously compare the already captured shots on a laptop and begin to make a preliminary selection

Spotlights and reflectors help ensure consistent lighting throughout the shoot

BURDA Annual Report

Fabrizio d’Angelo learns from his mistakes

“Don’t be afraid of failing!” Anyone who wants to shape the media landscape of tomorrow cannot be afraid of making mistakes, because the only way to avoid them is never to take a risk. Fabrizio D’Angelo, CEO of BurdaInternational, talks about the courage to be honest, lifelong learning and why managers should listen to Socrates

that he has a lot to say. Nothing bothers him more than “bullshit.” D’Angelo studied philosophy and likes to use plain language, but he does so charmingly – as probably only an Italian can. You are responsible for 17 countries worldwide – for Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan as well as for Poland, Turkey and France. How many kilometers do you actually travel each year? Only Lufthansa knows for sure, but I estimate that in the past six years, I’ve nearly traveled the distance to the moon and back twice. I’m only in my office in Munich once a week, and once a month in Offenburg. I probably spend the most time in the lounge at Munich airport. Half the airport knows me by now [laughs]. That means lots of nights in hotels. …

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I spend 220 nights in hotels every year. I have to tell you a story about that: I recently went to a furniture store with my girlfriend to buy a sofa. Right after coming in the door, I said: “We’ll take the couch back there!” She answered, puzzled: “But how do you know that when we haven’t tried out any yet?” I just said: “I sit on 220 sofas every year and believe me, this sofa is just the right one for us.” Of course she didn’t believe me – she wouldn’t be my girlfriend otherwise – and tried out every single sofa in the store. In the end, she came back to me and said: “You know what? You’re right. That’s the best one.” It sounds funny, but when you’ve already tried out every sofa imaginable, as I have, you can see something like that at a glance. n his windowsill stands a bronze statue of a Chinese good-luck dragon. Next to that, framed covers of French magazines and old black-andwhite photos from Italy. A Buddha figure smiles up at him from the desk. As soon as you enter Fabrizio D’Angelo’s office, you see that the CEO of BurdaInternational gets around a great deal. And when you talk to him for a while, you notice

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Burda has expanded – for example, through its acquisition of Gruner + Jahr in Poland or the collaboration with Glam Media in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Do you travel primarily to those countries now? No, I try to visit all the countries I am responsible for regularly. But not because I want to

Fabrizio d’Angelo learns from his mistakes

Like his employees, Fabrizio D’Angelo has to learn something new every day

Many people are afraid of being themselves – and of being honest.

best practices in Asia, they would call me. Now they call their colleague in Asia directly, because they know each other from our meetings. You always emphasize how important lifelong learning is. …

make all the decisions myself. That’s impossi ble. I try to find employees on location who are able to make the best decisions. I select them, coordinate them, give them tips and make sug gestions – but they have to implement those things themselves. When I visit, it’s for a health check of sorts and to explain what’s going on at headquarters in Germany and in the other countries. Naturally, I try to motivate my em ployees on site as well: “Come on people, you can do even more!” If something works well in one region, do you suggest trying it out in other regions? Normally, my employees will already know about it. For the last three years, we’ve been holding big meetings where all the Burda International managers can get to know each other and share experiences. The more we think and act as a team, the better. Previously, if someone from Poland wanted to know about

One of the biggest challenges of the digital revolution lies in the fact that we have to learn so many new things. What is HTML? How does a blog work? What do the new business models look like? And that means, as a very successful publishing execu tive, you sometimes have to admit that you don’t know something. But that isn’t so bad, because then you just learn it. We have to start from scratch with so many things. Some people have a hard time accepting that. But everyone has to do it. Does that apply to you as well?

BurdaInternational The company Fabrizio D’Angelo heads has more than 2,600 em ployees and publishes over 290 magazines in 17 markets as well as a variety of digital me dia products.

Of course! I read a lot, ask a lot of questions, talk to a lot of people, and try out many things. I’m currently helping my brother launch his start-

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up and am learning a great deal from him – about search-engine optimization, for example. You know, it’s no problem for me to launch a new magazine on the market anywhere in the world. That’s my job; I can do it in my sleep. But when we’re dealing with digital products, things look very different. We don’t know enough about that yet. We are constantly improving, but we’re still not good enough yet. And the higher up the hierarchy you are, the more difficult it is to say, “Oh, I don’t know that.” Why is that? Are managers afraid they’ll lose authority if they admit they don’t know something?

Stopover: a frequent flyer, D’Angelo is in his Munich office only once a week

Many people are afraid of being themselves – and of being honest. There is a certain idea of what leadership should be. According to that idea, leadership means having more expert knowledge. This burdens managers with the necessity of knowing more than their employees – or at least acting like they do. In my opin-

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ion, the first important decision that you have to make in your job is: am I really going to try to improve my knowledge, or am I just going to pretend? That is a fundamental, human question. I decided never to act as though I knew something better, regardless of what it cost me. Because you pay a price for being yourself. But if you want to spread the message that lifelong learning is essential, then you should admit what you don’t know. If you tell your employees: “Sorry, I really don’t know that, I have to learn it first,” they will understand it as precisely that – and be relieved that they don’t have to pretend to know something they don’t. But it isn’t enough to say, “I don’t know, either!” You also have to be prepared to learn. Of course, there’s no shame in not knowing something. You see, I studied philosophy, and even Socrates says that the first step toward wisdom is to admit your own ignorance. That’s why you have to know where the gaps in your

Fabrizio D’Angelo

Fabrizio d’Angelo learns from his mistakes

The Italian feels equally at home in Tegernsee (below) and in China (left, a souvenir). The 42-year-old studied philosophy in Pisa, trained at Milchstrasse Publishing Group in Hamburg, and then worked at Mondadori Publishing before becoming CEO of BurdaInternational in 2009.

ceed like scientists. Scientists experiment – and no scientist begins an experiment without an assumption or theory. In the real world, every theory needs to be tested as well. Our experiments happen to be the launch of a new magazine or digital product. Now, any scientist will tell you that 95 percent of all experiments fail and only 5 percent are successful. But they are the very people we have to thank for scientific progress. Even Nobel Prize winners often take years to achieve a breakthrough. … knowledge are – and then try to learn and close them as well and as quickly as possible. That’s what it’s all about. That’s why I dislike bullshit as a matter of principle, because for me philosophy has always meant seeking truth. Naturally, you’ll never find absolute truth. Not even clever philosophers like Hegel, who thought they knew a lot about truth, managed it. But you have to try. The best thing in life is to set something in motion and learn new things. Otherwise, life has no purpose.

Those people in particular, because you only get a Nobel Prize if you dare to be a pioneer in new fields. I like comparing our work to science because the empirical method is so brutally honest. If you are a real scientist or a real businessman, you establish realistic criteria for success or failure in advance. You set yourself a realistic schedule and then watch. How did it go? Did it work or not?

Does willingness to learn also mean willingness to make mistakes?

In business, however, you usually lose money when you make mistakes. Is that a problem for you, or does it come with the territory?

No one knows what the world of tomorrow will look like. If we want to shape it, we have to pro-

It’s part of our experimentation process. Let’s assume that we tested out 10 new things last

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A look in the mirror: “No one is perfect.”

year. Some of them were flops, others successes. Not everything has to succeed, but when everything fails, it means you’re not a good scientist. At the end of the year, I take stock and determine that we’ve lost some money. But the important thing is that we don’t repeat the failed experiments, just the successful ones. And usually the successes are scalable and can be exported to other countries. I’m responsible for 17 countries, and if I develop a profitable event concept for the Czech Republic, then next year we can also implement it in Russia, Poland or Ukraine. So next year’s profits will increase significantly. Have you done that? And how! For example, we organized the “Appetit Picnic” in the Czech Republic – Appetit is our food magazine there. It became the country’s biggest food festival in its first year. This year, it’s twice the size and we’re earning three times as much. Now we’re putting on the same

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festival in France and Britain, and Russia will soon follow. So the success of our experiments cannot be measured after a single year, because we made a loss then. But when you look at it over the entire period, we will make millions with these experiments. The only problem is that we don’t know beforehand which experiments will work and which won’t. For that reason, we need to be very flexible and openminded. Do you have to be courageous as well? I think “honest” would be more accurate. But sometimes it also takes courage to be honest. People who always win are extremely boring. For me, this image of the well-tanned winner with the perfect white smile is infuriating. No one and nothing is perfect. In business, a flop means that you search for the reasons behind it. If readers don’t like a magazine, you have to consider how to deal with it. Do you see it as an opportunity to better understand your readers?

But that only works if you work for a company that doesn’t fire you right away if you fail once. That’s why I work for Burda. The prevailing atmosphere here makes it possible – if you do it in an open and honest way. Naturally we have to make a profit. After all, we are a business and not a charity. But the message is: don’t worry,

“The best thing in life is to set something in motion and learn new things. Otherwise life has no purpose for me.”

Weatherproof: we need to keep looking ahead, even in stormy times

try something, set something in motion. Some people find it difficult to trust a person to that effect – until they notice that I honestly mean it and also apply it to myself. Anyway, I believe that’s the only way to lead employees these days – by acting as a true role model.

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Fabrizio d’Angelo learns from his mistakes

Or do you just sweep it under the rug and act as though it never happened? You can learn a great deal from flops. You know, as a philosophy student in particular, I always had the same worry: you know a lot in theory, but can you implement it in real life? Or are you just a dork in an ivory tower? That’s why I followed this maxim early on: don’t be afraid of failing, try something out, implement it in real life.

The Burda School of Journalism is teaching for tomorrow

In a class of their own At the Burda School of Journalism, students learn to research, write, film, blog, program and tweet â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and how to market themselves and their stories

Impressions: the mood wall gives the graduating class inspiration for their still-secret magazine project

im Geyer looks for a story about a grandmother with an iPad, while Mareike Hasenbeck switches thematically back and forth between quick sex and slowbrewed beer. All in all, it’s a fairly normal morning at the Burda School of Journalism (BSJ) in Offenburg, at least in this phase: the 25 students in the class of 2012-2014 are working on their final project. Within seven weeks, they must develop and design a magazine including a website, social media strategy and image film. The title and theme are still a closely guarded secret. After all, the magazine should surprise readers with an unusual concept – as did its predecessors, Share, Treat, and Hollyhome. Right now, Hasenbeck is writing a story about infidelity in the Internet age. The project is due in two days; several conferences are still sched-

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uled before then in the lofty, openspace office at Hubert-Burda-Platz 1. A brainstorming session for the video intended to advertise the magazine is coming up. The student quickly checks beforehand whether there is any feedback to her blog. New Facebook friends? Reactions to her latest tweet? E-mails? And indeed: there is a request from Vienna in the mailbox. They would like to invite her to give a presentation at their local craft-beer festival. What sounds like a private pleasure is in fact a lot of work. Almost every day, 25-year-old Hasenbeck writes, films or tweets for her blog, “Feiner Hopfen” (English: fine hops), about craft beer. But the blog is also a fundamental component of her training. “The idea is to let the students develop a media brand on their own and turn themselves into their own Edi-

Leeway for experimentation Mareike Hasenbeck and the other students get most of the skills they need during the 18-week basic training at the beginning of the program. In one of the first units, Holger Schmidt – a business journalist known as the “Netzökonom” (English: Internet economist) – describes the importance of the Internet for the media world and how journalists use it for their work. In addition to the traditional journalistic forms of expression, social media, blogs, data journalism, search engine optimization and smartphone journalism are listed on the program. Students have a great deal of leeway to experiment with infographics, video-editing programs and other tools in a digital toolbox that’s constantly changing. Experimentation includes times when things go differently than expected: to test the best ways of gaining attention on Facebook, the journalism students recently promised to plant a flower for every “like.” They had to discontinue the campaign very quickly – and find a way to get hold of 700 flower plants. “Digitally active newspaper journalists are in demand,” says Maximilian Gaub, production advisor for the online final magazine project, about the new digital content in the Burda training program. Gaub

The Burda School of Journalism is teaching for tomorrow

tors-in-Chief and publishers,” says Nikolaus von der Decken, who has been Director of the Burda School of Journalism since fall 2012. It was his idea to turn all Burda students into publishers of their own digital media brands. Hasenbeck, who is completing the practical part of her traineeship at Focus, has hit a nerve with her craft beer blog: her page has gotten more than 60,000 hits and “Feiner Hopfen” has 700 Facebook fans. But Hasenbeck has yet to earn money from her ad-free site. “The blog primarily gets me into the routine of writing,” she says. “And it is a digital playground where I can experiment.”

Wearable advertising: Tim Geyer even advertises his blog, “Punkpoprap,” on his jacket (above). Below: videoconference with Tim Geyer (left), Sarah Edenhofner (second from left) and fellow students.

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is a graduate of the school himself. During his time 10 years ago, training for online journalism took only one week. Since then, the content of the four-month basic training program has grown massively. In addition, the curriculum is no longer divided up by media channel. It’s simply structured didactically from easy to difficult. Nevertheless, the traditional forms of journalistic work are not obsolete. Quite the opposite: unique content is key, so it is more important than ever that journalists go out into the world. Many Burda students have been active on Twitter for some time. Sarah

The year in review: student and craft-beer blogger Mareike Hasenbeck (above) meticulously notes in her beer journal (below) how she likes different varieties

The BSJ The training program at the Burda School of Journalism in Offenburg takes two years, with students spending 18 months in various Burda editorial offices. They should be versatile and universally deployable afterward. A new selection process enables the best talents to win.

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Edenhofner, for example, used it to report live on the America’s Cup for her sailing, surfing and wakeboarding blog, “Style am Wind” (English: style on the wind). Her regular readers were not the only ones who liked it: Team Oracle, who went on to win the world’s most famous sailing regatta, shared her tweets. Visual thinking Students of the Burda School of Journalism learn not only how to write stories, but also how to get readers to want to read them. School director von der Decken regularly invites Editors-in-Chief from Burda editorial offices to conferences so that students can practice pitching ideas to them. Von der Decken speaks of “presentation skills” and believes that snappy headlines, trailers and photo captions have the same value in the training program as the text of the story. “We need a next generation that understands journalism as a whole.” In his opinion, editors of the future cannot just write and operate digital channels. They have to think visually as well – which is why students have to present an image idea for every topic. They have to recognize market needs and develop topics that fit specific target groups. What makes those groups tick? Students learn that from their blogs, among other things. “User behavior gives me a fairly precise idea which headlines and stories work and which ones don’t,” says Tim Geyer, who did his traineeship at Playboy and writes the music blog “Punkpoprap.” The 27-year-old is learning what matters for the success of a website not only at the BSJ, but also during an overseas posting. Geyer spent three months at the Burda office in New York. A challenging time in which he wrote a report on cannabis legalization and learned a lot about journalism in the US. “I was able to talk to the editors of the ‘New York Times’ about the best way to implement content online,” he notes.

The Burda School of Journalism is teaching for tomorrow

Authorization to film: filming is a solid component of the students’ training (above). Lecturer Maximilian Gaub (left) wants to broaden their horizons.

The entire publishing group benefits from the expertise gained by Geyer and his fellow students during their training. In their main editorial offices, many of the students are valued contacts when it comes to digital strategies and forms of expression. “The current generation of students has a huge advantage,” says von der Decken about his pupils. “Their digital knowledge is a unique characteristic in many editorial offices. That’s why, starting in 2014, we will be introducing a new subject, Basic Programming Knowledge for Journalists.”

The way of things: every graduating class brings out a new magazine – such as last year’s Share magazine

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Kjeld Peters loves technology

The algorithm of love Only fate knows whether two people are compatible â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and the computers at Elitepartner. Kjeld Peters, the Technical Director for the online dating service, uses high tech to help over four million singles in his database find happiness for life

jeld Peters is: a man. He is looking for: a woman. This is what he enters in the fields that appear on the Elitepartner. de site. “I’ve done this test thousands of times,” says Peters, grinning. The next page loads. He bends forward over his iPad. Frown lines appear. “What is important for you in a partnership?” Three or four answers are required out of 12 possibilities. Tolerance? Love? Faithfulness? Children? Sex? Well.

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Let’s clear up a couple of things. Normally Peters doesn’t pay attention to the answers in this test, but rather whether any error messages appear. Aside from that, the dark-blond, tall, athletic 33-year-old is not looking for a wife. He is happily married and has a two-year-old son. As Technical Director, Kjeld Peters has been optimizing the Elitepartner website – one of the largest and most successful online dating services in the German-speaking world – for six and a half years. When he started, Burda had just taken over the Hamburg-based company and it still smelled like a start-up. Since then, the number of employees has nearly tripled, to more than 100. Revenues are growing in the double-digit percentage range every year. The office in Hamburg’s casual Schanzenviertel neighborhood quickly became too small. Now Elitepartner resides in the upscale Hafencity area. In all of these years, millions of men and women seeking partners have eagerly checked the right boxes on the website and laid bare their dreams and passions. Programs from Peters and his 22-person team perform the actual matchmaking. Who is compatible? Who is even more compatible? Peters’ system spits out a list of suggestions. Over four million singles trust his algorithm of love. Now he checks three boxes. “Approach conflicts openly. Maintain space. And: mutual trust, openness and honesty.” On to leisure time and interests. A rewarding question, since this two-meter-tall man plays basketball – of course. The questions about sports, music and favorite seasons lighten up the test and appear in every member’s profile. In the end, singles should become paying customers, sending messages through Elitepartner – and these topics provide easy conversation-starters.

Peters translates the management board’s goals into directions for the programmers (above)

For decades, psychologists have been researching the secrets of choosing a partner. The results: two people should be similar – and yet different. Even if their personality profiles fit together like two puzzle pieces, it does not guarantee lifelong happiness – but it increases the likelihood. Whether or not a person believes in the “perfect partner,” personality plays a defining role. Kjeld Peters does not believe, for example, in love at first sight. “Does not apply,” he checks. He and his wife attended the same school for years without sparks flying. While he fills out the test, the software is calculating his personality points in the background. For example, how great his need for closeness is. Or resistance to stress, measured with the statement: “I often feel restless and tense in my free time.” Does not apply to Peters at all: “Quite the opposite. I lie down in bed and go to sleep.” A practical trait, since Peters’ business phone also rings on the weekend. He likes it that way. He commutes to work for an hour each day on the

train and subway. He uses this time to answer e-mails on his iPad. Work-life balance? “The term is outdated.” His wife sees it a bit differently, but: “Challenges strengthen relationships. That definitely applies to me.” Box checked, on to the next page. Now it’s about values, motives and goals in life. Peters sees himself as success and competition-oriented, organized and structured. Sounds right for an IT manager. Then he realizes he omitted something: at the beginning of the questionnaire, he forgot to check that he likes to work with computers. He, of all people – the technology freak. How he would have loved to have had a Commodore 64 like his friends had in their room in Flensburg! But his father was against it, even though he himself was a programmer. The 10-year-old Kjeld ended up getting a discarded PC. Programming fascinates him to this day and he likes to play on the computer, but he was never one of those shy nerds as per the cliché. Otherwise, he would not be able to do his job, because Peters sits on the manage-

ment board of Elitepartner. He converts strategic goals into clear orders for his team: “I am a translator.” The test is completed. Now it gets interesting, because the algorithm is beginning to work. “Our ‘Coca-Cola formula,’” says Peters, alluding to the secrecy of the algorithm. Around 100 lines of code fill the screen. The terms “m1” and “m2” keep appearing; they represent two people and their personality points. The values for closeness, self-sufficiency and dominance should have a certain distance between them; “m1” and “m2” should be different. With communication skills, ability to empathize, handling conflict and processing stress, they should lie close together. Up to 120 matching points are theoretically possible. It’s fate’s formula for people

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Kjeld Peters loves technology

Completely focused on love: even the conference rooms are named after deities of love (below)

Like a program director, Peters needs to analyze the “ratings,” millions of clicks, comments and messages. Big data in the service of true love.

seeking a partner – and for Elitepartner as well. The same thing applies to the dating service from Hamburg as for the beverage producer from Atlanta: change the formula, and it’s no longer Coca-Cola. That’s why since Peters joined the company, he has only tweaked the details of the formula. Otherwise the suggestion list would be turned upside down overnight. A person who was a dream partner yesterday would only be a mildly interesting candidate today. Getting people to stick with it – that is the biggest challenge for Peters and his big data specialists. Some interested people don’t complete the test. They don’t click through the suggestion list or they hesitate with subscribing. Peters has every activity on the page evaluated to help as many

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users as possible over these hurdles – to “convert” them, as the industry term goes. Every day this system spits out these conversion rates, comparable to viewing figures in the TV industry. And like a program director, Peters needs to analyze the “ratings” – millions of clicks, comments, and messages. Big data in the service of true love. He hunts for causes in the data stream: why do users quit? Why do they stop writing contact messages? What do they actually expect from our service? Do they expect a scientifically determined perfect match, meaning a suitable suggestion for a partner? Or the perfect pool, meaning the largest and best selection of elite singles? Likely the latter, Peters has found through surveys. “We have the peo-

ple with the right intentions, not just those looking for a date next weekend.” After all, everyone swimming around in the perfect pool invested 20 minutes in the test. The algorithm of love is no guarantee for success – but the most important foundation. Peters has been programming toward the future for some time now – making mobile apps even more functional, analyzing even better what singles are looking for. So who is he most compatible with? It would need to be someone who seeks closeness, can handle a dominant partner, believes in growth in a relationship and can communicate well. Someone who handles conflict well and is stress resistant. In first place with 97 matching points: a student, 1.63 meters tall,

Love search

government worker with a bachelor’s degree. Likes chill-out music. Very attractive. In real life, Peters would have to contact her now. Instead (to the detriment of his conversion rate), he exits. His wife will be pleased. The two of them used the algorithm of love on themselves for fun once. Only 85 matching points. But Peters believes that things will develop nicely.

Kjeld Peters loves technology

Kjeld Peters and his employees determine what singles really want. For example, 69 percent of men are seeking an attractive partner. In contrast, only 53 percent of all women want an attractive husband. But 53 percent of women would like to have a professionally successful partner. Conversely, that is only true for 33 percent of men.

Virtual meets real world: “Like” stamps for quick comments (above), and couples who got to know each other thanks to Elitepartner (left)

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Alexandra Schiel connects people

The worldwide network From New York to Beijing: DLD is where the global digital elite comes together. Alexandra Schiel and the rest of the DLD team are constantly looking for smart peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s minds and the latest Internet trends for the innovation conference

hen you first see the IAC Building, you think an alien space ship must have landed in America’s biggest city. Star architect Frank Gehry’s strangely twisted, semi-transparent, glassfronted building is eye-catching, even alongside the many other famous skyscrapers of Manhattan. Appropriately enough, this futuristic high-rise is home to the Internet company of legendary US media manager Barry Diller, with the offices of the video portal Vimeo, the knowledge community Ask.com and other well-known web companies. It’s a miniature Silicon Valley in the middle of New York City. Nevertheless, for the American visitors from the digital industry last April, the scene inside the high-tech building was even more unusual than

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the building’s exterior. Standing on a small stage were four men from Tegernsee, Germany, wearing lederhosen and playing Bavarian folk music on guitar, tuba, harmonica and double bass. It was the first day of the DLD digital conference. While at first glance it looked as if the band from Bavaria had turned up at the wrong party by mistake, it was in fact all part of a plan. “After all, our motto is ‘Connect the Unexpected!’” explains Alexandra Schiel, Senior Project Manager at DLD Media. That’s why the first DLD in New York featured Bavarian musicians, because surprises go well with the Burda conference, whose watchwords are “Digital,” “Life” and “Design.” At DLD, Lady Gaga might make a surprise appearance, or best-sell-

Scene of the first DLD Conference in New York: the IAC Building

ing author Paulo Coelho might show up to discuss storytelling with Napster and Facebook financier Sean Parker. Since the first meeting of the digital elite, in Munich in November 2005, it has developed into Europe’s leading digital conference – with offshoots in Tel Aviv, Rio de Janeiro, London, Beijing and other cities, and the spin-off DLDwomen, which features women’s perspectives on technological developments. DLD regularly brings together the who’s who of the Internet, from Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, to talk about the future. Insider perspective “The event in New York was a trial run for us,” says Schiel, who has worked for Burda for nine years now, when asked about the first DLD in the US metropolis. It was a very successful one, because the late-April event attracted more than 1,000 visitors and 100 speakers to the IAC building in Manhattan. They included Danish artist Olafur Eliasson, EU Commissioner Viviane Reding, art director Stefan Sagmeister and AOL founder Steve Case, who now runs the investment firm Revolution. “Of course, we were consciously playing up the image that we come from Bavaria and Munich. Some of us

actually wanted to wear dirndls to the conference in New York, but it was really too cold for that,” Schiel says with a smile. With the rest of the team around DLD founder Steffi Czerny, she looks after the planning, organization and execution of the innovation conference. To get start-up founders, investors, Internet stars and creative masterminds enthusiastic about the Burda digital conference, the 32-year-old makes frequent visits to Silicon Valley and other high-tech locations. “It’s what we call ‘fishing for DLD,’” she says. On her trips, the business graduate not only meets many exciting people, but also gets to know – from the inside – the companies the whole world is talking about. And in doing so, she has discovered that many of the clichés people associate with hip Internet start-ups are indeed only clichés. Last fall, for example, she visited the instant-messaging service WhatsApp

Alexandra Schiel connects people

Two Germans in New York: DLD founder Steffi Czerny (left) with Alexandra Schiel

DLD The first DLD took place in Munich in 2005. Since then, DLD has become the leading European digital and innovation conference, with offshoots in such places as Tel Aviv, Beijing and, most recently, New York City.

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in California – and was very surprised by how dreary their offices looked. “Just two hours before, we were around the corner at Dropbox. The difference was a real culture shock.” The offices of the cloud-storage service provider Dropbox looked like the lounge of a boutique hotel; at WhatsApp the 30 or 40 employees sat in a cheerless open office with old-fashioned strip curtains, beige desks and beige-brown partitions. A few months later, Facebook paid $19 billion for the start-up, which wants to replace SMS. Alexandra Schiel didn’t have difficulty signing up well-known speakers, such as WhatsApp founder Jan Koum, for DLD. “I enjoy approaching people,” she says with a beaming smile. More than 20,000 addresses of established major players and newcomers from the digital economy, politics and culture are stored in the DLD team computer. According to Managing Director Steffi Czerny, there is much more going on than just networking. “The networking concept is much too superficial for me,” she explains. “To be able to actively connect people, you have to be interested in them. You have to have a feeling for people and know what they are concerned about, what drives them.” This attitude is another reason why DLD is considered a very special conference. “It’s really about the people,” says Schiel. After giving their own speeches, many of the speakers join the audience to listen to the other presenters, and

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with a little luck, attendees may get a chance to talk to one of the stars as they stand in the line at the schnitzel truck or during the Bavarian Night at the beer garden at New York’s Standard Hotel. Even in the age of Skype, Twitter, Facebook and Google hangouts, there’s no substitute for personal encounters. It was at DLD that Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer noticed Nick d’Aloisio, then 17 years old, from London, whose start-up she later bought for $30 million.

New York (above) still sets the pace in the media world – the ideal location for a digital conference. During the event, Alexandra Schiel (below) and her colleagues sometimes work 18-hour days.

More than networking The importance of the human aspect is also evident in the handling of prominent speakers, whom Alexandra Schiel used to look after when she started at DLD. When famous venture capitalist Ben Horowitz, one of the first to back Twitter, comes to the conference in Munich, he will find waiting for him in his hotel room a pair of original barbecue gloves – because the DLD team knows that Horowitz loves to barbecue. And if Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook, or Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has to rush off to the World Economic Forum in Davos right after DLD, Schiel and her team will organize a helicopter if necessary. One of Schiel’s colleagues looked after Marissa Mayer at a DLD conference, and the current Yahoo head, who was then still working for Google, was so pleased by how she was treated that she hired him to be her office manager shortly afterwards. Anyone who thinks that successful networking means exchanging as

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Alexandra Schiel connects people

Steffi Czerny with DLD Chairman Yossi Vardi (above). From Tegernsee to Manhattan: musicians at Bavaria Night (left). Below: Stefan Winners (3rd from right), Board Member Digital, discussing business models of the future with Etsy CEO Chad Dickerson (far left) and David Nussbaum of F+W Media (2nd from right), among others.

many business cards as possible doesn’t have a clue about what is really involved. “You have to create lasting relationships,” Schiel explains. Sometimes that means a lot of work. Shortly before and during the conference, Schiel and her colleagues sometimes have to work 18-hour days, in order to get the speakers they absolutely want and to make sure everything runs smoothly. “I haven’t really celebrated Christmas for the last nine years, because that is our busiest period,” says Schiel, laughing about the hectic days before the main DLD conference, which takes place in Munich every January. That kind of stress can only be managed if you have the right qualities: “Alexandra is full of passion, curiosity, persistence, team spirit and ambition,” is how Steffi Czerny praises her longtime employee. Trend indicator for Burda Schiel and her colleagues not only track the latest trends on the Internet and social media, but also regularly visit important technology conferences – such as TED in the US, the Web Summit in Dublin, LeWeb in Paris and the Disrupt Europe in Berlin – where they are always on the lookout for speakers with unusual ideas – and the next big thing. While there, the DLD people make contacts that can be useful for the whole Burda Group. When colleagues from other divisions want to know, for example, how to best approach a

BURDA Annual Report

In constant communication: at the conference, Alexandra Schiel hardly has time to admire the New York skyline

Alexandra Schiel connects people

Timing is everything: the clock (above) reminds participants in discussions to be succinct. Left: the DLD team in New York.

â&#x20AC;&#x153; We are the trend indicators for Burda â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and sometimes the door-openers as well"

Communications headquarters: the discussions are streamed live via Internet

BURDA Annual Report

Alexandra Schiel connects people

Creative masterminds: a video wall shows the greats who have already spoken at the conference

particular start-up in Silicon Valley, the DLD team can often help. Burda CEO Paul-Bernhard Kallen regularly speaks at the conference, and the whole Executive Board even travels to off-site events such as DLD New York City to learn about the latest digital developments on the spot. The innovation platform has long since become a strong brand for Burda. “We are the trend indicators for Burda – and sometimes the dooropeners as well,” Schiel says. To make even better use of this knowledge for the company, the media company has recently started a DLD Burda. In November 2013, at the first such conference, more than 550 Burda employees from 17 countries came to Munich to get up to speed on the digital transformation. Through her work, Alexandra Schiel has constantly met the people who

are making this transformation happen. One especially influential person she still wants to meet and invite to DLD is Apple chief designer Jonathan Ive. Best of all would be to have him together with the man he considers his inspiration, German designer Dieter Rams: “Those two creative masterminds together on the podium – that would be amazing.”

Goody bags for visitors

BURDA Annual Report

Diana Knodel develops new projects

A change of conviction Diana Knodel works as a Product Manager at Xing, the social network for professional contacts. She would like to get more women interested in programming â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and has launched Âseveral initiatives to achieve that goal

N 68

otorious as it may be, it works: cat content. “Meow.” A dozen young women cheer at the sound, laughing and staring with fascination at their monitors, which show a close-up shot of a cat meowing. The first app they’ve created themselves, and it was child’s play thanks to the MIT App Inventor, a toolbox system that can be used without pro-

BURDA Annual Report

gramming knowledge. A type of puzzle that leads to success in just a few minutes – and the first step toward a lofty goal: getting more women interested in computer science. “Often, women in particular have a false image of programming,” says Diana Knodel. And she wants to change that, because it has to change. That’s why Knodel, who is a Product Manager at Xing, the social network for professional contacts, works on cat content in her spare time – to help women and girls realize that IT isn’t boring, but rather creative teamwork that’s also fun. More than 20 women have come to learn programming this Saturday at the app camp for women – and a few want to “conquer their technophobia,” as one participant puts it. The event was organized by the Hamburg Geekettes, a network for women in the tech and start-up scene, and App Camps, a series from the Hamburg Open Tech School. Diana Knodel co-founded both initiatives – because she wants to get things moving. “I want more people to love tech,” she states about her motivation in her profile on the website about.me. At first, however, the 32-year-old was not fully convinced herself. Back when she began studying media information technology, focusing on psychology, because she found the communication opportunities online interesting, because her interests in math and art indicated she’d like it, and because her mother thought that the alternative, social pedagogy, would bore her ambitious daughter. “The subject itself had difficulty convincing me,” says Knodel looking back. What inspired her was like-minded people – men and women who remain friends to this day, and with whom she

Diana Knodel develops new projects

Diana Knodel’s team is responsible for Xing’s programming interfaces. The colorful cards on the schedule mark the next process steps.

plowed through exercises and problems, often until late at night. And yet Knodel felt a lack of acceptance for a long time, at least in those places the Stuttgart native liked to spend time: at music festivals, in less tech-savvy circles. “At the beginning, I was uncomfortable saying that I studied computer science. Instead, I talked about what I was doing with media.” Back then, women in computer science were considered unfeminine, eccentric nerds. Clichés, of course, but rather widespread ones. “The best compliment was: ‘You don’t look at all like a computer geek,’” recalls Knodel. Passion for programming She laughs about it now. Much has changed. “Now when you say you work in IT, it’s quite sexy. Like a woman who is into soccer,” says Tina Egolf, co-founder of the Hamburg Geekettes. The group that started as a “small side project” now has more than 600 members – many more than planned. That makes it easier for Knodel, because more people get involved and more sponsors sign up. She can’t even imagine a life without her many side projects

anymore, without her part-time entrepreneurship: “I learn an incredible amount and get to know interesting women – and both of these help me get ahead in my job.” The next project is already set, the Hamburg Hackathon. Organized by the Geekettes, sponsored by her employer, Xing. Even her husband, who is actually a political scientist, started programming after being infected by his wife’s passion. Even while on maternity leave, Knodel didn’t take a break, instead developing SpeedSpiration, a social platform for questions. “A great learning project for me,” she says. And one of the few projects that she has given up. “We were a small team of two people and worked on it on the side. At some point, we had to decide whether or not we really wanted to invest more here.” Thanks to this decision, she suddenly had more time – and arrived where

Xing Diana Knodel is one of more than 500 employees at Xing. The social network for professional contacts was founded in Hamburg in 2003 and currently has more than 14 million members.

BURDA Annual Report

optimize the product.” Her current area of expertise is APIs – application programming interfaces. An API is a software-to-software interface that allows applications to interact with each other. “This is how we enable external providers to develop other great products with Xing,” she explains. For example, Lebenslauf.com allows users to create a Diana Knodel (right) explains to a young colleague at Geekette camp how to program apps for smartphones résumé as a PDF or Web page using their she currently is: a Product Manager at Xing and Xing profile with just a few clicks of the mouse. a role model for women and girls who are interThe Xing apps for iOS and Android are also ested in computer science. Even as an employbased on this principle: “Without API, we ee, she behaves like an independent entreprewouldn’t have any mobile apps!” neur. She is constantly looking for new chalDiana Knodel and her team continue to develop lenges, developing her own initiatives, likes to these interfaces. The six men and two women make decisions, is open to the ideas of others sit in a bright, friendly open-space office with and has the courage to say no sometimes. “Dichest-high shelves holding books and gadgets. ana is an unbelievably focused person. Without On the walls hang photos and sayings, and taher enthusiasm and discipline, many of our ofbles with pink, green and yellow cards marking ferings wouldn’t even be possible. And that makes it a pleasure to work with her,” says her Geekette ally, Tina Egolf. And perhaps the secret lies therein: Knodel pursues what interests her in her professional life. “I really like to make plans. I have dreams that I want to see come true. That’s why I’m happy when I can get things moving.” These are visions that inspire her – ideas of what the future could be like. “And you always have to be good,” says the 32-year-old. Especially as a woman. And particularly in this industry, where many things change so fast: “For good people, programming is more than just a craft. Good people think for themselves, contribute their own ideas and help

“I really like to make plans. I have dreams I want to see come true. That’s why I’m happy when I can get things moving.”

BURDA Annual Report

Diana Knodel develops new projects

the individual process steps. In the middle stands Marvin, a life-sized robot with compound “fly” eyes, built from circuit boards, keyboard fragments and smartphones. “He is our team mascot,” Knodel explains. And although Marvin is clearly not a cat, he performs a function that is similar to the cat content’s function – making technology more human and approachable. The only thing Marvin can’t do is meow. Product Manager Knodel shares the open-space office with her seven colleagues

BURDA Annual Report

Holger Albrecht shows his dedication

Support for the community For many Burda employees, their commitment doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stop when work does. Holger Albrecht of IT Support, for example, teaches children living in difficult circumstances how to use computers

e could be just a normal student intern, standing in front of Building 29, rocking back and forth in his running shoes. He sticks his hands in the pockets of his jeans, looks down at the ground and then aimlessly scans the Burda campus. It’s lunchtime at Arabella park in Munich, and 14-year-old Stefan Peters (not his real name) is waiting to go to the canteen for lunch with his mentor, who still has a few words to say to a colleague. For Stefan, a teenager from Munich’s Hasenbergl district, every step he takes here must almost feel like he’s walking on the moon. “For youngsters like him, we really come from a totally different world,” says Holger Albrecht. Albrecht, 51 years old, is Stefan’s first contact during the internship. He has worked in IT at Burda since 1994. In 2007, he started volunteering with Project “Lichtblick” (Ray of Hope). This initiative, focused on Hasen bergl, is devoted to the socially marginalized. The organization of the Catholic Youth Agency supports 130 children, teens and young adults, including Stefan. Generally, their families are dealing with not just one problem, but at least three: poverty,

BURDA Annual Report

lack of education and socially problematic behavior. Eighty percent of the parents are unskilled, and 40 percent are illiterate. “We look after the people who have fallen through the social safety net,” says Dörthe Friess, Training Director at Lichtblick. “These are not college dropouts, but people who were born and have grown up as social outsiders.” Help for real life Hasenbergl-North, with its 14,000 inhabitants, is on the outskirts of Munich. The district grew out of a World War II prisoner-of-war camp that was used to shelter refugees af-

ter the war. In the 1960s, low-income housing was erected here. Fourteen percent of the population of Hasenbergl-North receives unemployment benefits (called “Hartz IV”). (In Munich as a whole, it’s just 6 percent.) The economy of the Bavarian capital may be hot and have created a force field that reaches as far as Ingolstadt, Augsburg and the foothills of the Alps, but in Hasenbergl, life is tough. It is a strange situation, a stable vacuum. In the afternoon, barbecues can be seen smoking on the grassed areas between the apartment blocks; men in tracksuits sit on park benches and stare into the void.

said by a 9th-grade student remains stuck in her mind: “I am much more afraid of working than I am of being unemployed.” Friendlier than in school This is where student intern Stefan comes from. “Good,” is his answer when he is asked how he likes Burda. Stefan is in 8th grade and hopes to get his high-school diploma. The week spent at the publishing company, says trainer Friess, is important for him particularly because it lets him see that kind and friendly people work there. And in fact Stefan has

Holger Albrecht shows his dedication

Small groups of young people roam the streets, American hip-hop music rings out from a cell phone. Compared with Detroit or sections of Berlin, Hasenbergl is a nice, well caredfor neighborhood. But the pastel colors of the building facades cannot hide the fact that its inhabitants’ problems are serious: the families supported by Lichtblick can barely manage their daily lives without assistance. Many family members have never had a regular job, and tend to be overweight, have diabetes or suffer from mental illness, even when young. “Our kids have no models of wage-earners. The person we find a training placement for is usually the only one in the family who gets up in the morning,” says Friess. A sentence

For the children, the PC courses are an important experience

BURDA Annual Report

“ The gratitude you get is something different than when you are paid to help.”

BURDA Annual Report

praise: “The people here are friendlier than in school. They have already learned that it’s pointless to fight. This is my best internship so far.” Holger Albrecht pays for Stefan’s lunch in the canteen and gives him some collegial advice. As team leader in the Support Center, Albrecht looks after IT at Burda. His office is on the second floor of Building 29. Standing on his desk are three screens: a Mac computer on the left, the ticket system in the middle displays his current tasks, and the e-mail program stands open on the right. Albrecht and his four colleagues handle between 40 and 80 requests a day. When a printer gets jammed somewhere, a new mailbox has to be set up or a smartphone needs syncing, the mechanical engineer has the solution. Often re-

motely, as he takes over control of the defective computer and lets his mouse wander over the setting menus as if controlled by a ghost. “I like to help in the background,” says Albrecht. “My motto is: ‘Do good and keep quiet about it.’ I don't want to be admired, I want to help.” Win-win-win situation He describes his own contribution to Lichtblick as “modest,” but the word is better applied to him personally. Since 2007, Albrecht and his colleague Marcus Janietz have supported the program. They give two to four courses a year, during which they train children or adults to use computers. Each course consists of five one-hour or 90-minute units. Per year, that's 30 hours in Hasenbergl,

Holger Albrecht shows his dedication

Holger Albrecht teaches the children everyday skills: how to write an invitation, how to use a browser or Facebook

plus travel time. The courses are very basic: it can take hours until all participants can move a mouse and open Word. The course goals are very down-to-earth: write an invitation or an application, use a browser or Facebook. “Our target group are people who have a lot of trouble taking advantage of opportunities for learning,” says trainer Dörthe Friess, “but they all go to Mr. Albrecht and Mr. Janietz, because they can put their new skills to use immediately.” One time, the positive learning experience apparently gave a group of Tamils the confidence to begin German lessons. “The courses are fun for me,” says Albrecht, “and the grati-

tude you get is something quite different than when you are paid to help.” As their employer, Burda supports Albrecht’s and Janietz’s participation. Their activities in Hasenbergl are facilitated because the trustbased work schedule allows flexi bility. “I’m thankful for the leeway,” says Albrecht, “because after 6 p.m. I’d never get a youngster to learn anything.” Christoph Diebenbusch, Director Human Resources at Hubert Burda Media, considers the commitment of Holger Albrecht and numerous other employees of the company exemplary. “They not only perform well on the job but often volunteer in all kinds of

different areas for the general good and social cohesion. We’d like to honor this tremendous and important commitment outside the workplace.” It’s a win-win-win situation: Albrecht is glad the courses achieve something. The media company Burda benefits from employees who take part in the life of society and not just observe it. And Stefan? He has gained confidence and made new plans: after high school, he wants to train as an IT systems technician. “I like computers,” he says. Holger Albrecht nods in satisfaction, lays his napkin down on the tray and goes with Stefan – back to work.

BURDA Annual Report

KATHARINA ZWANZIG IN CHARGE

You can count on her For Katharina Zwanzig, every day is payday. As Burda’s Corporate Treasury Director, she is responsible for liquidity and thus for the company’s ability to face the future. With out her support, many projects would go nowhere. We pay a visit to Burda’s Treasurer

lthough he may not have the slightest interest in finance, Karl Lagerfeld has made it to the Treasury Department, at least indirectly. Three of his largeformat black-and-white photographs decorate the Munich office of Katharina Zwanzig, the firm’s Treasurer. The fashion czar might be said to be looking over the shoulder of the financial expert as she works. But in terms of attitudes and ideals, there are worlds between them. “I throw money out the window, because then it comes back in through the door,” Lagerfeld once casually remarked. Zwanzig has a somewhat more complex relationship with money. For the last four years, the 39-year-old has been in charge of the Treasury Department at Burda – the financial heart of the company. Put simply, the woman from Bad Homburg, with her staff of three, is there to make sure that the company (and its 200 subsidiaries) stays solvent. “At the push of a button, we can see all 600 worldwide accounts on our screen and know exactly what payments have to be made and when,” says Zwanzig. One of her team’s tasks is to ensure that all salaries are paid promptly and that any proposed projects can be financed with lowcost loans. Pretty big responsibility, isn’t it? Zwanzig thinks the question over and then nods in agreement. “Yes, it is. Errors are not allowed, because there is too much at stake. Fortunately, you

BURDA Annual Report

On the Treasury team, Zwanzig is mainly responsible for relations with banks, which means frequent visits to Frankfurt, Germany’s financial capital – just a few kilometers from her home office in Bad Homburg

get used to working with big numbers.” Dealing with amounts in the tens and hundreds of millions has been Zwanzig’s day job for years. Before developing the Treasury Department at Hubert Burda Media, she worked as a client advisor at a major bank. She sees her career path as a fortunate accident. After 10th grade, Zwanzig decided she had been taught enough theory, and launched herself into an apprenticeship. “Banking was quite a popular choice in those days,” she says. This trainee stint led her to discover that working with numbers could be fun. During the financial market crisis, in 2009, she switched sides. It was a new challenge for her and an important gain for Burda – until then without a treasurer. As her first official act, the former banker conducted a financial inventory of the whole company. Who had borrowed how much from whom? What could be optimized? During this process, the Board Member for Finance came to

trust her know-how and give her leeway. Despite, or maybe because of, the enormous responsibility, trust is vital in this job. “Ultimately, we are on the line for loans in the high threedigit-million range,” Zwanzig says. Naked figures When money counts at the company, the Treasury Department probably has a role to play. That’s the case for editors’ salaries, investments in the hotel rating portal Holidaycheck or VAT payments for the Cyberport technology webstore. Each member of the Treasury Team has a special area. The Director is mainly responsible for relations with the banks: “I make it clear to the banks that we are a partner worthy of their trust.” To prove it, Zwanzig shows the banks company earnings and projections: “The strongest argument is the naked figures.” The banks have to be able to rely on them. “That’s the main thing. And with us, they know they can.” Which projects get funded is decided

Zwanzig’s fondness for numbers is revealed in her signature. Here, her initials: “K20” (“Zwanzig” being German for “twenty”).

The Treasurer regularly visits all Burda subsidiaries

BURDA Annual Report

KATHARINA ZWANZIG IN CHARGE

The day begins with reading financial market updates, which is often followed by meetings

Treasury What the treasurer is to a sport or hobby club, the treasury is to a global company. The Corporate Treasury looks after all financial issues. Its responsibilities include cash, liquidity and risk management.

BURDA Annual Report

The financial markets are important for Burda, even though the company is not listed on the stock exchange

by the Executive Board. Zwanzig is there to propose a financing strategy. “Once a year we have a thorough review of how we want our financing to look,” she explains. On that basis, she then negotiates loans with the banks and makes decisions on currency trading. What Zwanzig likes about Burda is that the focus is not on short-term profit maximization, but rather longterm strategies. “As a family-led company, Hubert Burda Media tries to be as independent as possible, even from banks,” she explains. As in all Group areas, any lending institutions the Treasurer works with must match the Burda philosophy. Direct personal contact is important for Zwanzig. As a result, she travels a lot. She regularly visits the subsidiaries, negotiates with banks and checks in often with the Executive Board. She commutes between her offices in Offenburg and Munich and her home office in Bad Homburg. But wherever she is sitting in front of her

laptop, her day always begins in the same way: reading daily bank reports. What is the state of the financial markets? What has happened on the currency markets overnight? When trading currencies, Zwanzig will pick up her phone when she sees an attractive rate, call one of the banks and quickly order a couple of million dollars. Nothing to it! Only in India is it a bit more expensive, because Indian rupees cannot simply be moved from one place to another. “Indians need a permit and a stamp to transfer money,” Zwanzig explains. Since BurdaInternational is currently actively involved in 17 markets, this job is never boring. To balance this tremendous responsibility – and the even more tremendous numbers – she runs several times a week. Occasionally, she’ll enter a half-marathon. The time for her most recent effort: two hours and eight minutes. Among hobby runners, the magic number for completing those 21 kilometers is just two hours.

BURDA Annual Report

KATHARINA ZWANZIG IN CHARGE

Zwanzig and her team make sure Hubert Burda Media and its 200 subsidiaries remain solvent

Trust and responsibility Zwanzig appears even-tempered. Perhaps that’s the result of her good work-life balance, despite the constant traveling. Instead of spending hours stuck in the Friday rush hour, she will drive from Offenburg or Munich to Bad Homburg on Thursdays and spend Fridays working in her home office. “That a company can be so flexible is by no means something you can take for granted,” comments Zwanzig, after two decades of business experience. She manages her department with the same combination of responsibility and confidence with which she conducts her own job. It’s a quality her team members value. “The team relationship is good, and the communication paths are short,” says Robert Blechinger, the team member responsible for liquidity planning. Even after work, Zwanzig maintains her passion for prices and markets. If she watches the news, she immediately considers the potential consequences for the company. Since her marriage, she displays her affinity for numbers with her surname, which is also German for “twenty”: e-mails are signed “Katharina 20” and her business initials read “K20.” As the digital transformation of Burda continues, she already knows how she could adapt to the change: “Perhaps I should make it ‘K2.0,’” she laughs.

abcde fghijk lmnop qrstuv wxyz

The Burda alphabet

A Asia

is one of the key growth markets for BurdaInternational. The country subsidiaries in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Thailand publish numerous magazines in the luxury segment. These include the Prestige and August Man brands.

Bambi

is Germany’s most important media prize and has been awarded to individuals for outstanding achievements for more than 65 years. The Bambi jury, which consists of Burda Editorsin-Chief and experts from the entertainment, music and film industries, honors prizewinners in a variety of categories. Winners in 2013 included Bill and Melinda Gates, Robbie Williams, Miley Cyrus, and Helene Fischer. BCN

is Burda’s central, internationally scalable advertising sales organization and connects brand worlds from commercial enterprises with the theme and brand worlds of Burda and external clients. BCN uses innovative organization to precisely align itself with market needs. Its expert teams cover three central interfaces: companies that advertise, media agencies and media offerings. This creates the right cross-media and cross-technology communication solutions based on demand.

BURDA Annual Report

Bonago

BurdaDruck

combines innovative solutions for motivation – in the form of coupons, prizes and incentives – with well-founded consulting on incentivizing customers, sales partners and employees.

is one of Europe’s largest printing companies, with production locations in Offenburg, Nuremberg, Vieux-Thann and New Delhi. BurdaDruck sets itself apart with personal consulting, excellent print quality, precise order processing and ontime delivery.

Bunte

is the strongest publication in the people segment, with 540,297 copies sold (IVW I/2014). Exclusive stories, the best contacts with German and international stars, and high-quality productions have made it required weekly reading for decades for anyone interested in the world of the stars. With its presence in print, online, mobile apps and IP TV formats, Bunte is the largest people medium in Europe. Every year, Bunte recognizes rising talents in film and fashion with the New Faces Awards.

BurdaIntermedia

bundles key components of Burda’s crossmedia activities and takes a proactive approach to growth markets beyond the traditional magazine business. BurdaIntermedia manages a portfolio of 120 digital offerings, including Bunte.de, MeinSchoenerGarten.de and DasKochrezept.de, as well as the accompanying merchandising, mobile, social media and e-commerce offerings. Full-video brands such as Focus TV and Bongusto as well as the Musicstarter music label also belong to BurdaIntermedia.

BurdaCreative

advises marketing decision-makers on long-term brand and customer communication with unique content and media. As a content marketing expert, BC develops these into concepts for media and campaigns for these decision-makers and implements them. BurdaCreative has locations in Munich, Hamburg and Berlin, and is building a growing agency network together with Seven (UK), Alert (Switzerland), Newmen (Russia) and Germany’s Wunder Media Production, which Burda acquired in early 2014. BurdaDirect

is the expert for cross-media performance in customer management and e-commerce services. BurdaDirect develops profitable e-commerce solutions, cross-media dialog marketing and CRM, as well as targeted online marketing measures.

BurdaInternational

publishes around 300 magazines as well as many digital media products and is active in 17 countries worldwide. BurdaInternational is a leader in Central and Eastern Europe, and has built up a comprehensive portfolio in Asia with a focus on the luxury segment. More than 2,600 people work for BurdaInternational. BurdaLife

is the largest of the three domestic publishing units at Hubert Burda Media, with more than 15 million readers (MA I/2014) and 50 periodicals. In 2013, BurdaLife sold around 200 million copies of its magazines (source: MZV). BurdaLife publishes magazines in both the general as well as special interest areas and holds large market shares in the garden (60%) and food (46%) categories (IVW 2013).

z y is Germany’s oldest film magazine. The lifestyle magazine is produced by film lovers for film lovers. Every month, Cinema presents every film playing in theaters in Germany or appearing on DVD/Blu-ray, as well as the latest games, with extensive discussion. The editorial staff visits actors and filmmakers behind the scenes, reporting and interviewing them. Together with TV Spielfilm, Cinema awards Germany’s largest audience film prize, the Jupiter Awards.

reaches more than 8 million women with its magazines Bunte, Freundin, Instyle, Elle, Burda Style and Donna. It is Germany’s biggest media provider for fashion and entertainment. BurdaStyle has been publishing Harper’s Bazaar in Germany since August 2013 in a joint venture with US media company Hearst.

is the top advisor for digital products. The media house’s portfolio includes magazines such as Chip, Chip Foto-Video and Chip Test & Kauf. In addition, the company develops apps, mobile offerings, specials and DVDs. According to AGOF internet facts 201401, Chip Online reaches 14.96 million unique users per month. Chip also operates one of Europe’s largest technology test centers.

currently boasts more than 36 Burda titles, including successful editions of Elle and Instyle. With around 340 employees, Burda is one of the largest media houses in the country and the market leader in exclusive women’s titles.

Das Haus

s r j i g

is Europe’s top homes and living magazine, with 1,608,050 copies sold (IVW I/2014). Das Haus is a modern how-to manual on the topics of building, living and lifestyle improvement. It is published 10 times a year and sold almost exclusively by subscription.

was founded in the name of the Focus reporter killed in 2003 in the Iraq War. The charitable foundation builds schools for needy children in Africa to help them have a better future.

Christian Liebig Foundation

Czech Republic

Career and family

Chip

supports Burda colleagues effectively across locations on issues of IT services and support. The technology experts are also the contact for networks, SAP and event technology. BurdaSolutions manages the procurement, installation and disposal of hardware.

BurdaStyle

BurdaSolutions

can be easily aligned with support from Burda. The goal is a smooth return to the working world after parental leave, and individualized solutions as well as childcare offerings, such as the Burda Bande, make it happen.

is one of Europe’s leading suppliers of technology and lifestyle products, with around 2 million customers. The company pursues a pioneering multichannel concept – operating an online store as well as 13 brick-andmortar locations currently – making it one of the largest and most successful retailers in the German-speaking network.

Cyberport

is one of Germany’s top online shops for electronics equipment, with a selection of over 150,000 products. In April 2014, the comparison portal Testsieger.de named Computeruniverse.net the best store to purchase a notebook from.

Computeruniverse

is the umbrella under which the Group bundles successful B2C companies that offer users orientation in the digital world. These include Chip, Cyberport and Computeruniverse.

concentrates on diverse services for individual Burda profit centers and comprises HR, internal and external accounting, procurement, and property management. BurdaServices is a competent and efficient service provider that is a longterm partner for customers.

BurdaTech

BURDA Annual Report

BurdaServices

is the biggest creative magazine worldwide and, at the same time, an independent fashion brand. It is published in 17 languages and more than 100 countries, offering a complete collection every month for sewing and inspiring creativity in fashion, style and decor. At Burdastyle.de, interested readers can view DIY video clips, download the latest sewing patterns and share with the global community.

reaches a total of 13.5 million readers – predominantly men (MA 2014/I). The alliance forged in 2010 with Focus Magazin Verlag, Verlagsgruppe Milchstrasse and Playboy Deutschland Publishing has locations in Munich, Hamburg and Berlin. BurdaNews considers itself an integrated media house that creates journalistic content across media formats and groups new revenue models around them. BurdaNews bundles the following brands: Focus, Focus-Money, Focus-Gesundheit, Focus-Diabetes, Fit for Fun, Free Man’s World, TV Spielfilm plus, TV Schlau, Cinema and Playboy.

Cinema

Burda Style

BurdaNews

DasKochrezept

Elitepartner

is an online food portal with over 87,000 recipes. The user-generated content is supplemented by recipes from Burda print magazines and pay-TV channel Bongusto. Since November 2013, a magazine of the same name collects the most popular recipes and presents them professionally.

is the online dating service for educated, cultured singles looking for a long-term relationship. Elitepartner is the first online dating service to be awarded the TÜV seal. The Elitepartner magazine is one of the biggest advice portals on the subject of singles and relationships.

DLD

Elle

is Burda’s international conference and innovation platform and presents Europe’s leading digital conference DLD and women’s conference DLDwomen as well as international network events in Palo Alto, Tel Aviv, New York and Beijing.

is one of the biggest and best-known media brands in the world. Elle sets trends in fashion, beauty, culture, travel and lifestyle. For 25 years, the editorial team at German Elle has been seducing readers with elegant and avant-garde fashion and beauty productions with international models and renowned photographers. In addition to German Elle, Burda publishes the homes and interior-design magazine Elle Decoration, as part of a joint venture with Hearst Magazines.

Donna

inspires self-confident women over 40 with a comprehensive mix of fashion, beauty, lifestyle, psychology, partnership, health, culture and travel. In early 2014 Donna grew up and made the transition from an extension of Freundin to an independent brand with its own logo.

Edelight

supports people in making purchasing decisions as a social commerce portal. The company uses the experiences from its endcustomer portal, Edelight.de, to provide other businesses with innovative e-commerce solutions. At the core of these activities are the visual search Stylefinder and the premium partner network Tracdelight.com.

BURDA Annual Report

Employee development

is essential for the successful advancement of employees within the company in a professional world influenced by change. Burda offers a variety of management and specialized-knowledge programs, as well as continuing-education opportunities, in the areas of expert knowledge, methodology and personal development. Environment and sustainability

play an important role because business activity and social responsibility are intertwined at Burda. Our policy is “sustainable development.” For Burda, this means development that meets the needs of the current generation without the risk of endangering future generations – this includes the use of modern technologies in production, for example.

F Felix Burda Foundation

is devoted to the prevention of colon cancer. It was launched in 2001 by Dr. Christa Maar and Prof. Dr. Hubert Burda in the name of their son who died of colon cancer. Its projects include March as Colon Cancer Awareness Month as well as the Felix Burda Award. Finanzen100

provides Germany’s most comprehensive analysis of stock market and economic information. The portal presents a clear overview of all market prices, news, forums, blogs and insider data from over 12,500 hand-picked sources worldwide. Thanks to the intuitive usage and userfriendly design of the iPhone and Android apps, Finanzen100 leads the mobile market. Fit for Fun

is Germany’s top fitness and lifestyle brand. The magazine provides entertaining and well-researched reporting about important and interesting topics in the areas of exercise, nutrition, lifestyle, health and beauty. In addition, Fit for Fun actively supports its readers with DVDs, e-books, seminars, travel and suitable licensed products in retail – for example, bikes, sports equipment or even muesli – for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Focus

reaches around 5 million readers and sells more than 500,000 copies per week. The magazine provides background information and opinions on current news as well as advising its readers on solid courses for action. Focus is future-facing and offers constructive criticism – similar to the Focus Online Internet portal that counts as one of the top three broad-coverage news offerings in Germany as part of Tomorrow Focus AG. In addition to the news magazine, the Focus family includes the successful line extensions Focus-Diabetes, Focus-Gesundheit and Focus-Money. Focus TV produces TV formats such as Grip – Das Motor magazin (RTL II) and Eins gegen Eins (Sat.1).

z is Germany’s biggest audience award and has been bestowed since 1995 in remembrance of Berlin entertainer Helga “Henne” Hahnemann, who died in 1991. Super Illu magazine joins MDR and rbb to recognize the most popular stars of the year in the categories of TV moderation, acting, music, sports, politics, charity and lifetime achievement. After 19 years in Berlin, the 2014 Goldene Henne will be held in Leipzig for the first time to celebrate the award’s 20th anniversary as well as the 25th anniversary of the peaceful revolution.

y x w

is the umbrella organization for almost all of publisher Prof. Dr. Hubert Burda’s charitable activities. It was founded in 1999 and supports projects in science, education, art and the humanities. These include the Petrarca Prize and the Felix Burda Foundation.

Guter Rat

is the best-selling business and consumeradvice magazine in Germany, providing orientation and decision-making assistance for personal budget management: from financial investments, insurance and products to health and nutrition.

India

v u t s r q o

Hubert Burda Foundation

Goldene Henne

is the number-one leisure and entertainment magazine, with 801,055 copies sold (IVW 1/2014), leading the market in circulation and quality in the weekly entertainment magazines segment for women. For 44 years, this entertainment original has delighted around 2.8 million readers every week. People experience it through a variety of formats including reader trips, puzzle apps, monothematic line extensions, online presence and social media.

operates the largest online German-language hotel rating portal, with over 10 m illion reports and around 150,000 visitors each day. Due to growing international demand, the vacation platform is now available in 10 languages.

Freizeit Revue

Holidaycheck

is a pioneer for vertical online content and has been associated with Burda since 2008. In partnership with BurdaInternational, the company is launching Glam Media Russia in 2014.

Glam Media

is the adventure magazine for men. It stands for a freedom-loving lifestyle and gives guidance for escaping from the everyday working world. Award-winning journalists report on extraordinary journeys, experiencing nature and the best way to find your bearings once you’re there.

Free Man’s World

is a zeitgeist barometer, offering surprising perspectives on fashion and style as well as extraordinary experiences in beauty, lifestyle and culture. Harper’s Bazaar speaks to cosmopolitan women who live in unconventional luxury and women who retain the best characteristics of youth: curiosity, tolerance, willingness to learn, love of beauty, and dynamic energy in body and soul. Burda has been publishing the German edition of the international fashion brand magazine since August 2013 in a joint venture with Hearst Magazines International.

is the up-to-date, illustrated info magazine for women who actively modernize and take control of their lives. It has a circulation of 287,715 in the weekly women’s magazine segment (IVW I/2014). With its high user value and emotional appeal, it accompanies its readers through their lives.

Harper’s Bazaar

is an important location for Burda in the printing field as well as for BurdaInternational. In addition to the printing facility established in New Delhi in 2010, several luxury titles such as Millionaire Asia and Asia Spa have been published here since the acquisition of EMM India in June 2013.

Frau im Trend

is a reliable companion for young women in any situation. The twice-monthly magazine supports, entertains and reflects real life. It offers reading enjoyment, a source of inspiration and advice. Freundin shows what makes life better and easier: fashion, beauty, good food and a home to feel comfortable in.

is home to three Burda publishing units that bring out a variety of publications such as the gourmet brand Saveurs, mystery magazine Le Nouveau Detective, country magazine Esprit d’ici, Burda Style and other titles.

Freundin

BURDA Annual Report

France

Instyle

Lisa

Mein schönes Land

embodies the original concept of all star fashion magazines and is the market leader among the monthly premium titles for women. For around 1.3 million women, Instyle is the monthly shopping list and gives valuable inspiration and detailed service. Since 2010, Instyle Men has offered a masculine equivalent of the style magazine.

is Germany’s popular women’s magazine and uses strong interaction and reader involvement to create closeness, topicality and a high degree of editorial credibility. The Lisa brand family is very successful, with line extensions in the areas of gardening, cooking and baking, and living and decorating, in addition to numerous licensed editions in Europe and Asia.

sits comfortably in second place in the hard-fought country segment, with 354,296 copies sold (IVW I/2014). Mein schönes Land has successfully established a growing brand family with line extensions such as Meine gute Landküche, Mein schöner Landgarten and Mein schönes Landhaus.

Jameda

is Germany’s largest doctor-recommen dation website. More than 3.5 million patients use Jameda every month to search for the right doctor. Around 250,000 doctors throughout Germany are listed in the database.

Kazakhstan

is an important market for BurdaInternational. The Burda-Alatau Press company is a major magazine provider in the country. It has more than 90 employees publishing over 70 titles, including the Kazakh edition of Lisa, automotive magazine Avtomir and timepiece magazine Revolution.

Lidyana.com

is one of Turkey’s leading online shopping websites. BurdaInternational is its biggest shareholder, with approximately 24 percent. The platform was recognized in 2012 by the prestigious US magazine “Wired” as one of Europe’s 100 hottest start-ups.

BURDA Annual Report

Lust auf Genuss

is the magazine for the gourmet community and turns cooking into an exceptional experience. Readers who like to experiment and lifestyle-oriented gourmets find inspiration here in innovative and extremely high-quality visuals. Lust auf Genuss has premium placement at cash registers in food retail stores.

Meine Familie & ich

is Europe’s biggest food and gourmet magazine, an indispensable companion and advisor for family managers. The numberone magazine in the food segment, with a circulation of 372,836 copies sold (IVW I/2014), reaches 0.99 million readers (MA I/2014) and is uniquely located in stores – Meine Familie & ich is sold directly at the register in food retail stores. Meteovista

has developed since 2001 into the leading B2B and B2C provider of meteorological data and services in the Netherlands and Europe. Meteovista’s website offers every imaginable type of information and forecasts about the weather.

Media Market Insights

is Burda’s central market-research unit and advises the profit centers on all research questions related to editorial offerings, sales questions, advertising appeal and marketing, as well as questions about media use and trends. Mein schöner Garten

reaches 2.22 million readers (MA I/2014), making it Europe’s top garden magazine. For over 40 years, it has stood for editorial expertise in the market. Its broad-coverage online presence unites a large community with e-commerce and social media channels.

Netmoms

is Europe’s first parenting portal, with websites in Germany, Poland and Spain. It offers high-quality information, fast sharing, ease of use and appealing product tests. As such, Netmoms addresses the key needs of women and mothers who are active online.

z y is Germany’s neighboring country and has become even more important for Burda after the acquisition of the G + J portfolio in 2013. Burda is among the top three magazine publishers in market for readers and advertising. Among the 49 titles published here are the successful global brands Elle, Instyle and Glamour.

specializes in the creation, production and marketing of media events: Bambi, the charity event Tribute to Bambi and the Bunte New Faces Award are among its excellent stagings. The brands of collaborative partners are integrated in an emotional and mediaeffective way using custom, cross-media communication approaches.

Showroom.pl

is an innovative e-commerce project from BurdaInternational – and its successful online fashion shop has made it a poster child for the Polish fashion industry. In a short period of time, Showroom.pl has become the biggest Internet platform for up-andcoming labels.

t s r q p o n m l k j

is one of Germany’s leading publicly traded Internet groups. The company has approximately 750 employees and is active in the travel, publishing and subscription segments.

Tomorrow Focus AG

is the premium lifestyle magazine for men. “Everything that men enjoy” is the core message. Playboy takes a position on the most important contemporary issues without neglecting entertainment. Every month the editorial staff orchestrates a world that interests men with erotic photography, honest reporting and interviews, combined with topics from everyday lifestyles.

is a platform for opinion articles and blogs as well as an online community. It encompasses a mixture of exclusive content and guest editorials on politics, business, entertainment, lifestyle and technology.

Training

forms a key pillar in our efforts to fulfill the need for qualified employees from within our own ranks as well: Burda’s trainee program or a course of study at the Burda School of Journalism offers entrylevel career opportunities for next-generation employees. Talented young people also have the opportunity to complete apprenticeships or integrated degree programs at Burda.

Playboy

The Huffington Post

is presented annually by Hubert Burda and a jury to recognize European literature. The Petrarca Prize was presented to contemporary poets and translators between 1975 and 1995, and was resumed in 2010.

has been very significant for Burda ever since Burda Style became the first Western magazine published in the Soviet Union, back in 1987. Now, Burda is the broadest-coverage publisher, with 400 employees and international brands, such as Playboy and Revolution.

Petrarca Prize

Russia

represents an important market for Burda, with 35 titles (including Harper’s Bazaar) and more than 40 online offerings. After acquiring Sanoma Hearst, Burda is now one of the country’s biggest magazine publishers.

helps people perfectly organize their own document storage. The innovative online service stores personal and business documents like a personal assistant and automatically creates logical folder structures.

Romania

is the most widely read newsstand magazine in the former East German states, reaching more readers there than – for example – “Der Spiegel”, Focus and “Stern” combined (MA 2014/I). The modern home-andfamily magazine reports on the East Germany of today and tomorrow without forgetting the past.

Organize.me

Super Illu

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is the modern, up-to-date people magazine with star stories and exclusive interviews, trends and styles from fashion and beauty, living and food, as well as advice articles on health, legal questions and partnership.

StarnetOne

Poland

Neue Woche

Tribute to Bambi Foundation

Ukraine

is an initiative by Bunte magazine with the goal of providing needy children and adolescents with concrete, long-term help – regardless of nationality, social status or religion – and bringing lasting improvement to their lives. The foundation supports projects in Germany that receive little or no government assistance.

has been an active market for Burda since 1997. Today, the company is the largest magazine publisher there, with 300 employees. It leads the market in the women, parenting, automotive and food segments, among others.

Turkey

is home to the Dogan-Burda Group, one of the country’s leading magazine providers, in which Burda holds 48.61 percent of the shares. The portfolio includes 70 magazine titles as well as numerous online and mobile o fferings.

The USA

is where Burda collaborates with F+W Media to publish Burda Style magazine. With its community of half a million active sewing enthusiasts, it is the center of a brand world of courses, videos, e-commerce and online services.

TV Spielfilm plus

brings together the TV and media magazines TV Spielfilm and TV Today. Back in 1990, TV Spielfilm launched the segment of programming guides that appear every 14 days, and it’s also a digital pioneer today. TV Spielfilm’s program information offerings both online and on mobile devices are by far the most commonly used (see “AGOF internet facts,” “AGOF mobile facts”). Competent, critical and independent program reviews make TV Spielfilm plus Germany’s most popular media brand in the segment with crossmedia format.

The UK

is the market where Burda publishes leading consumer magazines, including Your Home, Wedding, Wedding Flowers, LandLove and Essential Kitchen.

BURDA Annual Report

Valentins

X Xing

is the social network for professional contacts. More than 14 million members use the Internet platform worldwide for business, job and career, with 7 million of those in German-speaking regions. Xing AG has been publicly traded since 2006 and has been listed on the TecDAX since September 2011.

is the likable young online flower-and-gift delivery service. As a direct retailer with excellent value for money, Valentins is one of the leading and best-known online florists in Germany and Austria, with years of experience and a constantly growing, innovative range of products.

Wohnen & Garten

delivers inspiration for sophisticated living in the home and garden. With 261,115 copies sold (IV W I/2014), the magazine is the market leader in total sales for monthly homes magazines. It uses emotional and opulent imagery to portray home in a comfortable, feelgood atmosphere.

Zooplus

is the reliable partner for purchasing pet food and accessories online. Its exclusive selection, with over 8,000 products for dogs, cats, etc., makes the company the market leader in Germany. Zooplus ships to over 23 countries. Zoover

is the Netherlands’ largest hotel- and travel-rating portal, offering online information on hotels, sightseeing and camping sites. Zoover is active in 25 countries.

o n e h u n d r e d t w o t h r e e f o u r f i v e s i x s e v e n e i g h t n i n e t e n e l e v e n t w e l v e t h i r t e e n f o u r t e e n f i f t e e n s i x t e e n t h o u s a n d s e v e n t e e n e i g h t e e n n i n e t e e n t w e n t y t w e n t y o n e t h o u s a n d t w e n t y t w o t e n t w e n t y t h r e e t w e n t y f o u r t w e n t y f i v e t w e n t y s i x t w e n t y s e v e n t w e n t y e i g h t t h o u s a n d t e n h u n d r e d t h i r t y t h i r t y o n e t h i r t y t w o t h i r t y t h r e e t h i r t y f o u r t h i r t y f i v e t h i r t y s i x f i f t e e n t h i r t y s e v e n t h i r t y e i g h t t h i r t y n i n e t h o u s a n d n i n e f o u r t e e n o n e h u n d r e d t w o s e v e n e i g h t n i n e t e n e l e v e n t w e l v e o n e t h o u s a n d f o u r s i x t w e n t y s e v e n f o r t y o n

Financial Statements

2013 Hubert B 足 urda Media Holding Kommanditgesellschaft

BURDA Annual Report

2009

2010

2011

Operating performance

2,221

2,323

Consolidated sales

1,587

1,721

comprising Digital

2012

2013

2,804

3,101

3,249

million €

2,176

2,456

2,617

million €

487

587

937

1,159

1,401

million €

669

658

646

630

million €

Foreign Publishing

301

331

385

419

378

million €

Printing

123

128

189

224

204

million €

1,084

1,136

1,313

1,546

1,551

million €

million € million €

Domestic Publishing

Other Balance sheet total Depreciation of fixed assets Personnel expenses

362

371

410

438

499

Number of employees at year’s end

7,118

7,637

8,248

9,241

10,017

Financial Statements 2013

Five-year overview

BURDA Annual Report

+6.6 %

External sales growth for fiscal year 2013 compared with fiscal year 2012

Group Management Report Burda in Fiscal Year 2013 – Overview

Hubert Burda Media (hereafter also referred to as “Burda”) is an internationally operating media company with brands and products that are oriented to the needs of consumers. With about 440 printed and digital media products, Hubert Burda Media is either striving for or already holding a leading market position in various markets. Major sources of Group revenue are advertising, sales via individual sales and subscriptions, commissions, trade, and services for business customers. Burda considers itself an “enterprise for entrepreneurs” and is organized with a profit center structure. At the end of the past fiscal year, the consolidation group included a total of 234 independently operating companies, 149 of which were in Germany and 85 abroad. At the end of the fiscal year, 10,017 individuals were employed in the Group. Hubert Burda Media is divided into four operational divisions: Digital, Domestic Publishing, Foreign Publishing and Printing. In fiscal year 2013, Burda’s external sales reached €2.62 billion, representing a 6.6 percent growth in sales over the prior year. Burda was able to maintain the growth momentum of the past four years while continuing to finance this growth from its own resources. Whereas large investments were made in 2012, including, first and foremost, the acquisition of a majority stake in XING AG, the year 2013 was characterized by the setting of long-term goals in all divisions. These included several acquisitions and new shareholdings in foreign media companies; measures to stabilize and increase revenue, especially in the Group’s own e-commerce companies; portfolio and structural

BURDA Annual Report

adjustments in the magazine business; and the development of new businesses fields in gravure printing. New products in the market included 12 magazines for the German market, 44 magazines in foreign markets and a number of digital products such as the technology-based Huffington Post from a majority shareholding investment by TOMORROW FOCUS AG. Among other places, the portfolio was expanded at the majority holding XING AG, which acquired the social recruiting platform kununu and integrated it into the company in 2013.

International

Germany

Whereas the first half of 2013 was characterized by uncertainty in various areas – the US budget dispute, the weakening trend in emerging economies and the continuing debt crisis in the Eurozone, to name a few – in the second half of 2013, the global economic situation improved. According to estimates by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the global economy grew by 3.0 percent in 2013, and 3.7 percent growth is expected in 2014. Mature economies showed a surplus and are continuing to follow an upward trend, led by the US. Emerging countries such as China and India are engines of economic growth supporting this trend (2013: 4.7 percent growth; 2014: 5.1 percent. Source: IMF, World Economic Outlook, January 2014). However, most Central and Eastern European economies find themselves in a fragile growth phase. This applies particularly to the countries Russia and Ukraine. The Eurozone has calmed down after two years of recession. However – as is seen from a warning from the IMF with regard to the low inflation and increasing risk of deflation – this recovery is still fragile and burdened with significant uncertainty, as it is based solely on measures and announcements of the European Central Bank. Thus far, the national governments of the Eurozone countries have hardly made any use of the maneuvering room that the European Central Bank created for them.

The German economy turned out to be stable on average in 2013 and is in a good position compared with the crisis countries in the Eurozone. Although it could not continue the strong growth of the two previous years, it showed moderate growth, with a plus in the price-adjusted gross domestic product (GDP) of 0.4 percent. The most important growth engine in 2013 was the German population’s willingness to spend. Adjusted for price, private consumer spending rose by 0.9 percent. In 2013, the number of persons employed reached 41.8 million, a new high for the seventh year in a row (source: German Federal Bureau of Statistics).

BURDA Annual Report

Financial Statements 2013

Overall economic situation

In 2013, 31.7 percent of the German population were smartphone users. For the age group 14 to 29 years, the number is a full 67 percent.

The media industry

The global media industry remains in a fundamental state of change. Digitalization and permanent technological innovations are having a structural effect on all areas of the economy and are changing the media landscape throughout the world. Decisive factors include the increasing access to the Internet and the almost explosive growth of smart devices: in 2013, 39.0 percent of the world’s population had access to the Internet (source: International Telecommunication Union). With about 1.5 billion smartphones and tablets in use, mobile devices are expected to exceed the number of stationary PCs already by the first half of 2014 (source: Enders Analysis). In Germany, 31.7 percent of the population used a smartphone in 2013. Among 14- to 29-year-olds, the figure was as high as 67.0 percent (source: best for planning [b4p] 2013). It is expected that by 2017, 65.0 million people in Germany – more than 80.0 percent of the population – will be using the mobile Internet (source: PwC German Entertainment and Media Outlook 2013). The mobile Internet and thus the completely individualized use of media content is the most dominant trend for media companies throughout the world. Another significant development is the consolidation of editorial or curated content, commerce and advertising, resulting in the increasing dissolution of traditional competitive constellations. Thanks to digitalization, 84.0 percent of telecommunication and media companies in Germany now see a sales potential outside their core business. Meanwhile, technology companies in particular are increasingly pushing into the traditional business of the media industry (source: KPMG). One can assume that traditional media companies and large digital and technology companies will continue to converge on an increasing basis in the coming years. The main drivers of this trend are the large US digital companies, such as Google, Facebook, eBay, Amazon and Apple, whose activities and enormous financial strength dominate the market. Facebook’s takeover of the messenger service WhatsApp at the beginning of 2014 demonstrates this trend in an impressive way.

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Advertising market The global advertising market proved to be stable in 2013. Experts are forecasting that growth will rise from 3.6 percent in 2013 to 5.3 percent in 2014 (source: ZenithOptimedia Advertising Expenditure Forecasts). Opportunities for advertising expenditure in the future will be in the international arena, particularly in the emerging markets. For mature markets, ZenithOptimedia is forecasting annual growth of only 3.0 percent. By contrast, advertising expenditures in emerging countries – including Russia, India and China – will grow by 9.0 percent on average, unless political crises such as the current one in Ukraine significantly affect the positive economic trend. Growth in these countries is fundamentally favored by a comparatively low average age, a rising rate of productivity, and investments in the educational system, infrastructure, and new technologies. These emerging markets currently account for 35.0 percent of global advertising investments. According to forecasts, however, between 2013 and 2016, they will grow to 61.0 percent (source: ZenithOptimedia). Mobile advertising is expected to be the main engine of future growth. With a 2.7 percent share of the advertising market in 2013, it was admittedly still comparatively low (source: ZenithOptimedia/Statista 2014). According to concurring forecasts, however, this picture will change in the coming years. Since media consumers are increasingly shifting to mobile devices, advertising will also adjust. Revenues from online advertising on mobile end devices are expected to rise by 27.0 percent per year, to a solid $27 billion by 2017 – corresponding to a 15.0 percent share of total online advertising revenue ($185 billion; source: PwC Outlook). However, advertising delivered on mobile devices still needs significant further development; standardized and media-appropriate advertising formats and corresponding measuring tools are needed above all.

+41.7 % Magazine market

E-commerce

Magazines took up a 7.9 percent share of the global advertising market in 2013. Thus, the global magazine business appears stable. And in the coming years, despite the increasing shift of media budgets toward the Internet and mobile devices, it will not be possible to replace advertising in magazines (forecast market share in 2016: 6.3 percent, corresponding to a decline of 1.6 percent; ZenithOptimedia 2014/Statista 2014). If one looks at the magazine market (professional journals and popular magazines) in both print and digital formats (apps, e-papers), this market will even recover to a moderate extent on a global level. Accordingly, popular magazines will grow slightly by 2017, to $83.3 billion (2012: about $82 billion; source: PwC Outlook). According to the 2013 Nielsen gross advertising market analysis, the German advertising market – distributed over all advertising media – recovered and increased to €22.9 billion in Germany, a 4.2 percent increase over the prior year. However, the magazine market shows barely any chances for growth in the traditional sources of revenue (advertising and sales). In 2013, popular magazines finished with gross advertising revenue of €2.7 billion (not counting media advertising), a decline of 1.0%. In 2013, 1,542 popular magazines appeared regularly in Germany (source: Association of German Magazine Publishers, “VDZ”). In the wholesale business, in the case of popular magazines, gross sales revenue at copy prices was €2.24 billion in 2013 (2012: €2.35 billion).

The Internet as a sales channel for products and services is becoming more significant on a global level as well. In 2013, €39.1 billion was turned over in online transactions of goods (according to BVH, the German E-Commerce and Distance Selling Trade Association). This amounts to record growth of 41.7 percent over 2012. The mail-order sales total benefited from this, similarly increasing in 2013 by over 20 percent. According to BVH, online trade has become a matter of course for the German consumer; in the meantime, e-commerce helps to meet demand. In particular, the strong development of mobile devices in the past year has had the effect that more and more consumers are “always on” and use their mobile devices to make purchases anytime and anywhere. The mobile Internet is currently the fastest-growing commerce channel. Sales generated through smartphones and tablets have thus increased to €4.9 billion. According to the GlobalWebIndex, the most popular products purchased in February 2013, for example, were trips, followed by books, fashion, music, films, and electronic dataprocessing hardware (source: GlobalWebIndex, February 2013/ World Newsmedia Network 2013).

Increasing prosperity in emerging markets Business in emerging markets will be increasingly important for the future financial success of Hubert Burda Media. Prosperity in these regions is growing with remarkable speed. The number of billionaires in Africa and Asia will more than double between 2012 and 2022, according to current estimates (source: Knight Frank). By 2030, two-thirds of the global middle class will reside in Asia (source: EY). Opportunities to expand the business of Hubert Burda Media into new markets are presented not only by

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Financial Statements 2013

German consumers turned over €39.1 billion from online transactions of goods in 2013 (Bundesverband Versandhandel BVH). This represents a record growth of 41.7 percent compared with 2012.

53.5 % In 2013, the Digital Division generated €1,410.0 million in sales, and thus 53.3 percent of total corporate sales (2012: €1,159.5 million, or 47.2 percent).

Sales development, net assets and financial situation the existing portfolio, but also by the positive development of these growth regions. The increasing prosperity in the emerging markets correlates with the increasing rate of literacy worldwide, which is now 84.0 percent, compared with 76.0 percent 20 years ago (source: UNESCO). For example, 90 percent of all school-age children in developing regions now attend at least elementary school (source: United Nations).

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BURDA Annual Report

The prior year’s positive trend in the sales of the Hubert Burda Media Group continued in this past fiscal year. Again in 2013, this positive trend in sales was driven by the Digital Division. The market for the products of the Domestic Publishing Division continued to decline. However, sales revenues in Foreign Publishing and in the Printing Division were also below the figures of the prior year. This was primarily attributable to the declines in the wholesale and partwork business, as well as reduced utilization – in the Printing Division – due to declining orders from customers of small-scale printing jobs. In accordance with expectations, consolidated external sales increased by 6.6 percent, to €2,616.9 million (2012: €2,456.0 million). Operating performance (aggregate unconsolidated sales revenues) increased by 4.8 percent, to €3,248.8 million (2012: €3,101.2 million). The consolidated balance sheet total increased slightly by €5.0 million, to €1,551.3 million (2012: €1,546.3 million). While fixed assets were close to the levels of the prior fiscal year, inventory increased by €28.4 million, to €169.1 million, and receivables rose by €29.5 million, to €370.0 million. As in the prior year, the increase in inventory and receivables from goods and services was essentially attributable to expansion of business activity in the area of e-commerce. According to the separate fixed-asset schedule, additions to fixed assets totaled €148.1 million (2012: €308.0 million); total investments affecting cash flow were €132.5 million. A significant part of this investment total was attributable to the acquisition of companies and the expansion of the consolidation group. Group liabilities decreased by €39.2 million, to €661.7 million (2012: €700.9 million). While most other liabilities remained at the levels of the previous year, bank loans were reduced from €349.7 million (2012) to €306.4 million (2013). This development is attributable, in particular, to the increased repayment of draws on revolving credit lines, which occurred parallel to the usual scheduled installment payments. At €153.2 million, net debt (bank

The consolidated sales of the divisions developed as follows:

in million€

2012 in percent

in million€

2013 in percent

Change in percent

Digital

1,159.5

47.2

1,401.0

53.5

+20.8

Domestic Publishing

645.5

26.3

629.9

24.1

-2.4

Foreign Publishing

419.3

17.1

37 7.9

14.4

-9.9

Printing

223.8

9.1

204.1

7.8

-8.8

7.9

0.3

4.0

0.2

-49.4

2,456.0

100.0

2,616.9

100.0

+6.6

Other Sales revenues

loans minus liquid assets, minus other securities) is close to the level of the prior year (2012: €152.7 million). Medium- and long-term capital, consisting of equity, mediumand long-term accruals, and medium- and long-term liabilities, decreased by €52.6 million during the current reporting year, to €844.3 million (2012: €896.9 million). This was primarily attributable to the previously mentioned repayment of credit lines that had been used. In particular, the medium-term revolving credit lines, which have been approved in the meantime, continue unchanged and can be used at any time if necessary. At a result of the positive business trend and also because of the change in the consolidation group, equity increased by €27.9 million to €425.9 million. With the balance sheet total only slightly higher, this increase in equity raised the equity ratio to 27.5 percent (2012: 25.7 percent). Medium- and long-term capital almost completely cover the fixed assets of the Burda Group (2012: 104.9 percent). The Group has developed in line with expectations and, as in earlier years, demonstrates sound financial conditions. The financing structure offers adequate flexibility for further positive development.

Burda brings together the corporation’s strategic online operations in the Digital Division. Companies include e-commerce and marketing platforms, direct marketing, customer management, recommendation and dating portals, as well as shareholdings in social media. In addition, digital activities include a joint venture investment business and more than 30 direct and indirect investments in radio and television broadcasters. In 2013, the Digital Division generated €1,401.0 million in sales, and thus 53.5 percent of total corporate sales (2012: €1,159.5 million, or 47.2 percent). The expansion of successful participating investments, which was targeted in the previous year, has been implemented and is now also reflected in the trend of sales revenues, which fulfilled expectations. The Digital Division currently runs Hubert Burda Media’s strategic Internet operations within six subunits:

BurdaTech BurdaTech consolidates activities in the area of consumer electronics and uses the Chip Group and the consumer electronics companies Cyberport and computeruniverse to cover the entire supply chain, from consultation to transaction. BurdaTech includes the Chip Group as well as participating interests in the e-commerce companies Cyberport GmbH and computeruniverse GmbH. Cyberport GmbH, which operates throughout Europe, focuses on the German-speaking market. At www.cyperport.de it offers more than 40,000 technology and lifestyle products. By linking the online shop with real-world sales affiliates, Cyperport has become a multichannel company. In 2013, Cyberport opened new outlets in Cologne, Stuttgart and Essen, thereby raising the number of sales affiliates in Germany and Austria to 12. Following an earlier, sharply upward trend, growth in sales slowed down significantly in 2013 under enormous competitive pressure, ultimately showing only a slight increase. The second commercial enterprise also operating in

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Europe is computeruniverse GmbH. Its online shop at www. computeruniverse.net includes more than 150,000 hardware, software, entertainment, and household electronics items. Media across the digital world are the core business of Chip. Its portfolio includes magazines like Chip, Chip Foto-Video, Chip Test & Kauf and Power Play, which are sold not only through traditional sales channels, but also through digital platforms such as the company’s own online kiosk and the Chip Tablet Edition. The second important part of the brand is the Chip Online portal, with its download platform and sales consultation for computers, cell phones and home entertainment. It is one of the top five German Internet offerings, with 14.12 million unique users (AGOF internet facts 2013-II; 2012: 14.8 million unique users). The portal is also far ahead in mobile use, with almost 1.8 million unique users (AGOF mobile facts 2013-II). In addition, Chip operates its own technology test center, with more than 1,500 product tests per year.

TOMORROW FOCUS AG urda is the principal shareholder of TOMORROW FOCUS AG, B one of the leading publicly traded Internet corporations in Germany. The group is active in three segments: travel, publishing and subscriptions. On January 1, 2013, TOMORROW FOCUS AG took over all shares of the operator of Netmoms.de, a portal for parents and women. In June 2013, TOMORROW FOCUS AG increased its shareholdings in HolidayCheck AG, an operator of hotel evaluation and travel booking portals, by acquiring 100 percent of the shares. The startup date was 10 October 2013 for www.huffingtonpost.de, the German-language edition of the Huffington Post, which was founded in the US in 2005. This portal for news and debates is produced under a license from TOMORROW FOCUS Content & Services GmbH, a 100 percent subsidiary of TOMORROW FOCUS AG. The goal is to reach the break-even point in the third year of operation and to become one of the five largest providers of news in Germany within five

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years at the latest. In October 2013, TOMORROW FOCUS AG sold all shares of the digital and creative agency TOMORROW FOCUS Technologies GmbH, effective as of December 2, 2013. This sale is part of “Company Strategy 2018,” which was adopted at the beginning of 2013 and which provides for a clear focus on online-based business models for end consumers in the core areas of travel, advertising and subscriptions.

BurdaDirect urdaDirect is a business-to-business provider in Burda’s digital B business. BurdaDirect is active in the areas of e-commerce, mobile commerce, dialog marketing, customer relationship management (CRM), direct marketing, sales and technology, and considers itself a full-service provider for the online and offline business models of its customers. BurdaDirect’s business is built on three pillars. The first pillar comprises subscription services on the subjects of dialog marketing and publishing services. Among other things, the entire subscription business of the Burda publishing companies is administered here. The second pillar comprises IT and e-commerce solutions for online commerce, online marketing, mobile marketing and CRM. The third pillar is performance marketing, which includes crossmedia dialog marketing campaigns, among other things. The core business of BurdaDirect is supplemented by other business activities in six separate legal entities. These are the online florist business Valentins, the tour operator daydreams, the B2B incentive service provider BONAGO, the insurance comparison portal INO24, and provider of advertising inserts PaketPLUS. The portfolio is completed by online retailer Silkes Weinkeller GmbH, in which BurdaDirect has been an investor since October 2013.

zooplus AG Measured by sales revenues and overall performance, the exchange-listed zooplus AG is the leading online retailer for pet supplies in Europe. According to preliminary figures, the overall performance of the company grew by 26.9 percent in 2013, from €335.6 million in the prior year to €426.0 million, thereby significantly exceeding the goal for the year of €400 million. Sales revenues were about €407.0 million (2012: €319.2 million). The company zooplus sells a selection of over 8,000 products for pets. So far, this successful business model has already been introduced in 23 countries in Europe. In Germany, zooplus is the most popular online shop, even more popular than providers such as Amazon. This was the finding of a customer satisfaction study conducted in early 2014 by E-Commerce Center Cologne together with the logistics provider Hermes.

XING AG urda has held a controlling interest in XING, Germany’s largest B business community, since 2012. According to preliminary figures, the corporate revenues of the publicly traded XING AG rose by 15.5 percent in 2013, to €83.3 million. This Internet platform for business, jobs and career is used by a total of about 7.0 million members in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (2012: 6.1 million members), and by 14.1 million members worldwide (2012: 12.9 million members). More than 800,000 of these people are paying users of the premium product. With kununu, an employer rating platform that has belonged to the corporate group since January 2013, XING is strengthening its position in the “social recruiting” area even further. kununu is the largest European job rating portal, with over 500,000 ratings and 140,000 rated companies. The 100 percent subsidiary XING Events GmbH (previously Amiando) offers conference and

seminar organizers an event management software program for online event registration and ticketing.

Ventures and conferences The five above-mentioned fields of activity of the Digital Division are closely supported by the organization that holds the reknowned DLD events and also by strategic management of participating interests. In 2013, DLD Media expanded its network again and, in addition to the premier DLD conference in Munich and Tel Aviv, organized “Global Events” in Palo Alto and New York. “DLD Cities” also took place in London and Rio de Janeiro. In the corporate venture investment business, Burda’s goal is to support companies in implementing their growth strategy, in order to increase the value of these companies in a sustainable manner. In this regard, the year 2013 was characterized by divestments of shareholdings, such as the sale of a minority holding in Avenso AG.

Strategy After years of notable, rapid growth, 2013 was the year in which Burda Digital stabilized. The primary focus was on increasing the margins of existing shareholdings and companies. The goal was to organize the corporate group for sustainably profitable growth in the coming years. In addition, for the first time, members of the group took advantage of synergies resulting from increased collaboration among the companies and common market opportunities. Smaller-scale acquisitions were also undertaken, such as that of Silkes Weinkeller, an e-commerce company for wine sales.

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Around seven million members in the D-A-CH region use XING for business, job and career (2012: 6.1 million members). Worldwide, the portal has 14.1 million members (2012: 12.9 million).

Forecast

Risks for this division

For 2014, it is expected that there will be notable market growth and significant growth in the sales and earnings of companies and investments in all digital areas. The consumer Internet, and therefore also the companies in this corporate group, will grow more significant as a channel for advertising and transactions. There will also be great opportunities in the linkage of content and commerce. This applies, in particular, to the 足BurdaTech Group and XING. The focus is on organic growth of existing shareholdings. In addition, the Digital Division will look more intensively for attractive later-stage digital companies. The intention is to further increase the profitability of the Digital Division by taking over digital companies with a great potential for growth.

The dominant position of large US digital companies is very likely to pose a risk for the digital business activities. Hubert 足Burda Media will counteract these tendencies by carefully selecting new digital business models and by integrating them into our existing digital business. For the digital business, the fast pace of change in these business models poses an inherently high risk. Under some circumstances a business model existing today might not be able to permanently hold its ground in the market tomorrow. Companies that conduct business over the Internet are subject to a high risk that prices could drop as the result of global price transparency. For that reason, sales markets will be continually monitored and short-term responses will be initiated.

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In the Domestic Publishing Division of Hubert Burda Media, publishing activities are determined by three publishing groups with a clear focus on target groups. A total of 91 magazines are periodically published in the three units, BurdaLife, BurdaStyle and B urdaNews (2012: 83). Additional companies active in this business division are the central marketer BCN, the content marketing provider BurdaCreative, BurdaIntermedia, and the central research unit, Media Market Insights. Burda manages magazine sales in Germany through an existing joint venture with FUNKE MEDIENGRUPPE, called the Moderner Zeitschriften Vertrieb (MZV).

The trend in traditional sources of revenue Again in 2013, the publishing industry in Germany was characterized by a decline in the two core markets of advertising and sales. Competition in the advertising market has further intensified. Gross advertising revenue of all consumer magazines in the entire advertising market, including media advertising, declined by 0.9 percent, and the share of the advertising market declined by 0.5 percentage points, to 13.3 percent (source: Nielsen). In 2013, the Domestic Publishing Division generated €629.9 million in revenue, and thus 24.1 percent of total corporate revenue (2012: €645.5 million or 26.3 percent). The goal of stabilizing revenue in the traditional publishing business was largely achieved. In this regard, the division was able to develop new areas of revenue that were very successful. This process of change will be continued in 2014.

BurdaLife BurdaLife has the largest circulation of the three media groups that operate on a national level. Since January 2014, it has included Medien Park Verlage and Verlagsgruppe Berlin. The brands of B urdaLife focus on the everyday needs of consumers and, in terms of circulation, have market-leading positions in the areas of food and living (source: MA 2013 II). BurdaLife publishes around 50 periodicals in Germany with a circulation exceeding 15.51 million customers (source: MA 2014 I; 2012 figures: 16.18 million, source: MA 2013 I). In 2013, the individual divisions of the publishing unit sold a total of 198 million copies of their magazines (2012: 207 million; source: MZV). The portfolio includes weekly entertainment and women’s magazines such as Freizeit Revue, Super Illu and Lisa, as well as special-interest magazines in the areas of food (Meine Familie & ich, Lust auf Genuss, among others), lifestyle (Wohnen & Garten, Lisa Wohnen & Dekorieren, among others), gardening (Mein schöner Garten, among others), country (Mein schönes Land, among others), advice (Guter Rat) and puzzles. With the expansion of its brand families, cross-media cooperative arrangements and new developments, BurdaLife is constantly creating new media products that are tested in the market and periodically published with financial success.

BurdaStyle BurdaStyle offers a portfolio of exclusive media brands and is, with its 8.17 million readers (2012: 7.14 million; source: MA 2013 I), the largest media provider in Germany in the areas of fashion and entertainment (compare MA 2014 I). With Bunte, Burda Style, Elle, Instyle, Freundin and Donna, the group has brands that influence consumer behavior of female readers. In August 2013, the group expanded its portfolio with Harper’s Bazaar, in a joint venture with US media company Hearst. On the other hand, Cover, a

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Domestic Publishing

+0.6 % BCN increased its market share in 2013 from 16.7 to 17.3 percent.

women’s magazine introduced in August 2012, was withdrawn from the market after its March 2014 issue. Following its motto, “One Story, Any Screen,” BurdaStyle also displays journalistic content in a platform-neutral manner. The online presence of Bunte was further developed for this purpose in December 2013, for example. Content is also offered in a manner custom-tailored for mobile end devices. Bunte’s brand environment is completed by live events such as the New Faces Award and the Festival Night during the Berlinale (Berlin International Film Festival).

BurdaNews urdaNews is a leading provider of printed and digital media B offerings that are primarily oriented to male target groups. It considers itself an integrated media company because of its multimedia preparation of journalistic content. The magazines regularly reach 13.5 million readers (MA 2014 I; figures for 2012: 14.35 million, MA 2013 I). In 2013, mobile and digital offerings were enhanced, in particular, and new income streams were opened up. The most recent extensions of lines were successfully established: Focus-Gesundheit, with up to 70,000 copies sold per issue, and Focus-Diabetes, with about 50,000 copies sold. Under new editorship since the end of 2012, the news magazine Focus has been given a more modern look and has made a name for itself with journalistic revelations that have brought international attention. The number of copies sold was 510,000, and circulation was increased by 2 percent, to 4.38 million readers (see MA 2014 I). The digital version of Focus is established on all common mobile platforms and is being continually refined, like the app for TV Spielfilm, which has been supplemented with social media elements, a link to multi-media libraries, and a paid-content offering. (By the end of 2013, the app had

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been downloaded more than 13 million times. In regard to visits to the mobile offerings, there were 147.9 million visits in December 2013, compared with 112.3 million in December 2012; source: Google Analytics.)

BCN BCN is the central marketer of Hubert Burda Media. In 2013, BCN increased its market share from 16.7 to 17.3 percent (source: Nielsen Media Research). BCN also expanded its sales network internationally (to the US, Great Britain, France, Austria/ Switzerland, with representatives in a total of 17 countries). The BCN portfolio includes magazines of FUNKE MEDIENGRUPPE, SKY Germany, the Indian Hindustan Times, the Epoch Times, the Chinese lifestyle magazine Shang, titles of the Danish publisher Malling Publications, and the French corporate group Lagardère. An important factor in BCN’s growth strategy is its media- and client-neutral structure, which is oriented to the requirements of the market.

BurdaCreative After the realignment in 2012, 2013 was a year of growth for content marketing provider BurdaCreative. In February 2014, BurdaCreative acquired the digital content agency wunder media production GmbH, and will operate and expand it in a manner that complements BurdaCreative. Operating in the central business field of content marketing, BurdaCreative designs and operates customers’ own media channels and develops them further on all media platforms that are relevant for the interaction between brands and consumers.

Sales

urdaIntermedia is a cross-divisional unit that, since 2012, has B brought together essential parts of the cross-media activities of the Domestic Publishing Division that are outside of the traditional magazine business. These include websites such as Bunte.de and DasKochrezept.de, which were completely revised in 2013; mobile offerings; TV formats; production and marketing of events such as Bambi and New Faces Award; merchandising products of the publishing brands; and ticketing for live events.

With a 22.0 percent share of the market in terms of sales, the company MZV, the joint venture with FUNKE MEDIENGRUPPE, remains number one in marketing of German magazines, as it has been in previous years, and number two in the German press distribution market (source: Presse Fachverlag). Also in Sales, Burda is looking for new ways to reach the consumer. In this connection, the retail food business (supermarkets, large forms of retail trade, and discounters) is becoming more important; according to the 2013 structural analysis of the retail industry, its share of gross press revenue was about 48 percent.

Media research In 2013, Media Market Insights (MMI), the central market research unit of Hubert Burda Media, pressed ahead with basic cooperation projects for the German publishing environment. Under the motto “Know how Germany lives,” the four media companies Hubert Burda Media, Axel Springer, Bauer Media Group and Gruner + Jahr presented their first-ever joint market media study, “best for planning” in September 2013. The study supersedes the previous German market media studies, Burda’s “Typology of Wishes” and Axel Springer’s and Bauer Media Group’s “Consumer Analysis.” In addition, MMI had an essential share of the further development of AIM and its shift model, which shows the correlation between advertising investments and advertising success for individual media types and impact indicators, thereby ensuring transparency in strategic media planning. Eleven publishers, 23 media agencies, and 21 companies that advertise are participating in AIM.

Strategy Domestic Publishing launched the growth program GROW! for the period 2013 to 2015. This program builds on two programs of prior years, which had the purpose of changing structures and processes in a sustainable manner and which resulted in concentration on profitable products, expansion of cooperative arrangements at the industry level and expansion of the range of products. In GROW! every producing profit center must develop growth strategies based on its core competencies in order to broaden its portfolio and sources of revenue.

Forecast Despite the structural and economic challenges, the Domestic Publishing Division is optimistic about the future and is pursuing its growth ambitions. Because of the high quality of its journalism and the strength and credibility of its brands, Domestic Publishing is firmly anchored in the environment of 54 million

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BurdaIntermedia

Burda and its partners published a total of 293 titles outside of Germany (2012: 240). Central and Eastern Europe remains the most important region with 228 titles (2012: 196).

Foreign Publishing

readers throughout Germany (source: MA 2013 II). The goal is to build on this proximity to people over all platforms and to develop new sources of revenue in direct interaction with consumers, through innovation, as well as organic and external growth. For 2014, it is assumed that sales revenues will move to the level of the prior year. The number of titles and digital products offered by the division will be expanded in 2014 and should moderately increase. Acquistions initiated in the first quarter of 2014 (wunder media production GmbH and a majority holding in Blue Ocean Entertainment AG) will sustainably support this trend.

Risks for this division The ever growing use of journalistic offerings on the Internet and the oversupply of advertising space will very likely result in lower revenue in traditional print media. This risk is countered by the development of new revenue streams that are outside of the traditional advertising and marketing business and that are oriented to the needs of consumers. The activities of the Domestic Publishing Division are brought together in the centrally managed GROW! project.

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Hubert Burda Media concentrates its foreign publishing activities in the Foreign Publishing Division, under the operational leadership of BurdaInternational. Important markets are Central and Eastern Europe, Turkey, Asia and Western Europe. BurdaInternational operates in a total of 17 countries. In 2013, Burda and its partner publishers published a total of 293 titles outside of Germany (2012: 240). Central and Eastern Europe has remained the most important region, as in the prior year, with 228 titles (2012: 196). In 2013, external sales of the Foreign Publishing Division totaled €377.9 million (2012: €419.3 million), and thus were below expectations. The decline was primarily the result of the weaker wholesale and partwork business in Russia and negative currencyexchange-rate trends.

Trend In Eastern Europe (Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan), the primary focus is on the retail market, with a large portfolio of magazines in these segments: women (fashion, youth, fashion & style, parents), people, food, living, family advice, gardening, men (lifestyle, cars, computers), interactive magazines (readers write for readers), and crossword puzzles. In Central and Western Europe (Czech Republic, Romania, Poland, France, Great Britain), in addition to a similarly very strong portfolio of our own brands, numerous international titles such as Elle, Glamour, Instyle, Marie Claire and Harper’s Bazaar are published under licensing agreements. In 2013, our market position in Poland was further strengthened by acquisitions. With the acquisition of the Polish companies of the Gruner + Jahr Group, Burda further expanded its leading position in the magazine market there, not only in regard to readership, but also in regard to the advertising market.

Strategy At BurdaInternational, the signs continue to point toward growth and transformation. In addition to organic growth in the existing markets, the expansion of magazine brands into multi-platform products (online, mobile, print) is continuing, along with development of additional revenue sources such as events, tours and book publications. We are also continuing to expand e-commerce products that are closely linked with our brands, such as online shops under our own brand names. Diversification of our offerings is also progressing. In markets with a portfolio that is primarily oriented toward the mainstream audience, sophisticated customer segments are increasingly

being addressed with high-quality products. One example of this is the expansion of the segment of high-quality interior decoration titles through the purchase of the business operations of the specialty publishing company Salon-Press and the integration of the home furnishing magazine H.O.M.E. Particularly in Poland, the now-completed process of consolidating the newly acquired entities offers potential for additional increases in efficiency. The collaboration among the individual national issues of cross-border brands, in respect to editorial content, design, and marketing measures, is also being intensified. For individual digital brands from the German Burda port folio, there are opportunities for internationalization, which can be based on existing structures at BurdaInternational.

Forecast For 2014, BurdaInternational expects stable sales returns in the great majority of cases, when calculated in the respective country’s currency. However, because of the continuing weakness of important currencies (particularly the ruble and the hryvnia), there will be declining sales revenues when calculated in euro. Although most of the markets throughout Europe are mature, and the wholesale and partwork business is stagnating in Russia, BurdaInternational expects that there will be continued organic growth in the existing and recently acquired media brands. In Romania, following the purchase of the Sanoma-Hearst companies, BurdaInternational aims to achieve market leadership in the advertising and marketing business. The emerging markets in South America and East Asia also offer opportunities for growth in the area of magazines and digital media products. The company will continue to invest in the luxury segment and in digital activities, so a slight increase in the number of titles or investments can be expected in these areas.

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In Turkey, Hubert Burda Media and the Dogan Media Group jointly manage the largest Turkish magazine group Dogan-Burda, which is distinguished by a broadly diversified portfolio of titles. In the Asian markets (Thailand, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and India), the focus is on the luxury segment, with brands such as Prestige. The advertising business in this area is being expanded by carefully targeted brand events. The luxury segment has also played an important role in India since the acquisition of the publishing company Exposure Media Marketing Private Ltd. in June 2013. Since then, Burda has been publishing five regularly appearing advertising titles there. In addition, BurdaInternational is further expanding digital activities in all markets. For example, since 2013 it has had a minority shareholding in a Turkish company that operates the e-commerce portal Lidyana in Turkey. Lidyana.com went online in February 2012 and has developed into one of the largest shopping portals in Turkey, with a focus on fashion accessories and jewelry. In addition, since 2012, BurdaInternational has been invested in the Polish company Showroom Sp. z o.o., which operates an e-commerce portal under the same name, for designer brands for the youth market.

Vieux-Thann Offenburg

Nuremberg

New Delhi BurdaDruck main sites

Printing

Risks for this division Continuing political instability (currently in Ukraine, Thailand and Turkey) and volatile economic and financial markets (especially in Russia) could have noticeable impacts on the sales and earnings trend in the international publishing business. In addition, an intensifying debt crisis in individual European countries or a collapse of the financial markets could endanger the positive trend in the economy. The result could be declining revenues for advertising customers and therefore lower advertising income for the publishing companies. Local legislative initiatives, such as a prohibition of advertising for certain consumer items, could have significant impacts on the advertising market. The disposable income of readers and customers could also be affected by such developments, which in turn could result in declining external sales in the print and digital businesses.

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BurdaDruck specializes in the production of high-quality magazines, catalogs and advertising material in high-volume gravure printing, and in all services necessary for this. In addition to the Hubert Burda Media publishing houses, customers include independent publishers and customers from a variety of sectors. Since 2012, marketing, production planning and order processing have been pooled in B+B Media Services GmbH, Offenburg, a joint venture of BurdaDruck and Karl Rauch Verlag GmbH & Co. KG. Outside of Europe, BurdaDruck is present in New Delhi, India. In 2013, BurdaDruck acquired the shares of the former joint venture partner, the Hindustan Times. The Indian printing company is consequently a 100 percent subsidiary of Burda Druck GmbH, Offenburg. Since then, it has operated under the name BurdaDruck India. The BurdaDruck Group is one of the largest printing companies in Europe, with a company site and two plants in Offenburg, a company site in Nuremberg, and a company site in Vieux-Thann, France. In 2013, its external sales amounted to €204.1 million (2012: €223.8 million). The decline was steeper than expected. The company operates in an industry that has been characterized for years by declines and overcapacity. Although the market has been regularly losing printing capacity – B urda as well decommissioned a rotary printing press in Nuremberg in 2013 – at the same time, the demand has been declining in at least the same scope. As a result, the intense, cutthroat competition over prices has continued unabated. In addition, large, reel-fed offset printing machines are increasingly penetrating what used to be the domain of gravure. When assessing the European competition, distinctions should no longer be made between gravure printing and large reel-fed offset; instead, large reel-fed printing should be considered as a whole.

Corresponding to the trend throughout Europe, printed tonnage is declining at BurdaDruck as well. It declined from 387,000 tons in 2012 to 361,000 tons in 2013. Utilization declined by 6.7 percent and was consequently worse than assumed even in 2012. This was attributable to the decline in circulation and volume, not only in the magazine segment, but also in the catalog business for traditional mail-order businesses. The bankruptcy of important customers from a variety of sectors and the resulting discontinuation of print products contributed to a decline in utilization. Although overall costs were reduced again in 2013, the corresponding savings were far from sufficient to compensate for the decline on the revenue side. The trend in energy costs also negatively impacted the overall result. Since the company’s German operations are encumbered by the EEG tax amounting to €52.77 per megawatt-hour, they have a competitive disadvantage in respect to competitors in neighboring European countries. In 2013, BurdaDruck India developed in a gratifying manner in regard to productivity, sales and financial results. The acquisition of orders in India is progressively improving. In addition, there were initially successes in the acquisition of orders for production of school textbooks for the African continent.

Strategy urdaDruck will continue to manage costs in a consistent manB ner in all segments that can be influenced, and will take all possible, sensible measures to strengthen its ability to compete. At the end of 2014, at the Nuremberg site, we will begin efforts to improve the vertical range of production by setting up saddlestitching equipment. In the meantime, all sites now have a flexible working-time model that allows the company to adjust

quickly to customer requirements, which are changing with ever shorter notices. In 2014, B+B Media Services GmbH will become a broker for Printing Division services, in order to allow quicker and more efficient accommodation of customer wishes. The trend in the emerging markets will have a positive impact on the Printing Division. One result of the continually increasing rate of literacy is expected to be a continually growing demand for educational material and for media overall. Burda is accommodating this development. For example, in 2013, BurdaDruck printed its 50 millionth textbook for countries in developing regions. It can be expected that the business field “Education Market International” will continue to expand.

Forecast The tough, cutthroat competition over prices in the European printing market will continue. It must be assumed that demand in the European printing market will continue to decline on the order of 4.0 percent per year. For the corporation’s German operations, the EEG tax, which will increase again in 2014, means an additional burden and further exacerbation of the already huge competitive disadvantage in respect to printing companies in neighboring European countries. Price increases are looming for raw materials, too. However, in view of the tough competition throughout Europe, it will not be possible to pass on the higher costs through printing prices. For BurdaDruck, this means there will be a further moderate decline in utilization and a marked decline in sales revenue – the latter primarily attributable to the changed invoicing at B+B Media Services GmbH.

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Details

The number of employees has grown in 2013 to 10,017 (2012: 9,241). The two most important sites are Munich with 2,209 employees and Offenburg with 1,769.

Human Resources

Risks for this division It must be assumed, with a high degree of probability, that circulation and volume will continue to decline in the area of magazines and the traditional catalog business for mail-order businesses. Opportunities could arise in the e-commerce area, where it can be seen that Internet mail-order businesses are trying to generate further growth by approaching target groups with printed advertising material. B+B Media Services will step up its activities in this segment. The relevant national and inter national printing markets will therefore be intensively observed and dealt with. There is also a risk in the changing creditworthiness of key customers. We are responding to the related risks of losses on receivables with systematic creditworthiness assessments and the use of a policy insuring against bad debts and, as appropri ate, also with an agreement on advance payments, as well as very close monitoring of unpaid items. Rising costs, especially for raw materials and energy, will most likely have a negative impact on Printing Division results because these costs can only be passed on to customers to a limited extent. The Printing Division is responding to these risks with consistent cost management and continual process optimization.

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With its large number of different companies and business models, Hubert Burda Media is a very attractive employer. Burda uses modern human resource management tools in order to get qualified new employees, to train young employees at the beginning of their careers, and to continually nurture and further develop existing personnel. With these tools, Burda would like to attract highly qualified interested parties in all business fields, national and international – especially software developers and programmers, who are necessary for the expansion of digital activities. In 2013, the Recruiting Center of Human Resources therefore reorganized itself with the goal of finding qualified future employees even faster and more efficiently.

Employee structure In 2013, the number of employees increased to 10,017 (2012: 9,241). This impressive growth is primarily attributable to the inclusion of the new Polish companies (+224 employees) and the change in the consolidation method of BurdaDruck India (+133 employees). The Group’s companies are represented at more than 20 sites in Germany, the most important of which are Munich with 2,209 employees, Offenburg with 1,769 employees and Hamburg with 948 employees. Outside of Germany, the largest country sites are in Russia, Poland, the Czech Republic and Ukraine. The average age of employees in the Group is 39. Women constitute 52.3 percent of employees and 41.3 percent of all managers.

Systematic employee development

urda offers many diverse entry opportunities for junior employB ees. In 2013, the trainee programs that had been carried out for many years were revised and oriented to current requirements. Six “graduate trainees” are going through the 18-month program for junior employees, the “Burda Graduate Program – Master Trainees for Media Excellence.” This program is intended to prepare them for their later duties as managers by deploying them in all four business divisions. Nine trainees participate in the “Burda Advanced Program – Bachelor Trainees for Media Success”. During this 12-month trainee program for young talent, participants are trained as specialists in their principal area. The goal this year is to acquire all 15 trainees as full-time employees. In the fall of 2013, 23 new journalists began their dual training at the Burda School of Journalism. Over the course of 24 months, the students will learn, on a theoretical and practical level, how to develop cross-technology content for different brands and target groups on their own, and also how to implement the content both textually and visually. From the group that finished in 2013, 18 trainees (86 percent) were hired. Above and beyond that, Burda at this time offers a wide variety of training programs throughout Germany for 49 apprentices in 13 occupational categories. In addition, Burda links scientific and practical occupational training through dual-study programs in Ravensburg and Mannheim. In 2013, five junior employees began a dual-study program at B urda in the majors econonics, media design, and information technology. From the class of 2013, two dualstudies graduates were hired. In 2013, Burda made it possible for about 600 interns to get practical experience in an international media company.

urda implemented four different professional and management B programs in 2013 in order to promote junior employees, prepare future managers for their new roles, and support experienced managers in their jobs. The Basic Development Program is geared toward promoting the social, personal and methodological skills of junior employees (2013: 23 participants). The Basic Management Program (BMP) is designed for junior employees, in order to prepare them for later management tasks (2013: 27 participants). The Senior Management Program (SMP) was oriented toward selected management, to boost their individual leadership and management skills (2013: 22 employees). In the Leadership Program for Journalists, management and junior employees from editorial staffs learned the basic principles of modern leadership skills (2013: 15 employees). Continuing-education programs are continually refined and are custom-tailored to meet the needs of the companies and employees even better. For example, technical skills and management training programs were revised and restructured at the beginning of 2014. They are going to be set up under the titles, “GO! – Start up yourself,” “LEAD! – Leading teams” and “EMPOWER! – Leading leaders.” In the past year, Burda’s continuing-education offerings for internal use included 260 different seminars, presentations, and training programs. A total of 2,869 participants took advantage of the offerings. In addition, there were 96 external continuingeducation activities with a total of 116 participants from Burda.

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Training

Leadership tools In 2013, performance reviews were introduced throughout Germany. The Burda Competence Model was developed and drafted in 2013. This orientation framework describes interpersonal skills that are crucial for the success of an organization. The goal is to identify, develop and create a permanent bond with talented individuals, based on these skills. In 2014, this model, together with the performance reviews, will first be implemented in all units of the Digital Division. The plan is to extend the use to other divisions over the course of the year.

Compatibility of career and family urda aims to integrate parents back into work life quickly and B smoothly following the individually arranged parental leave, and offers individual, flexible solutions to achieve this. The nonprofit Hertie Foundation has already awarded Burda the “Family and Career” Certificate a number of times for its Munich and Offenburg sites. The recertification process has already been successfully concluded for 2014. The day care facility B urda Bande was established in Munich back in 1997; at the end of 2013, 56 children were receiving day care there. The day care center Burda Bambini opened in Offenburg in November 2011. At the end of 2013, 11 small children and seven kindergarteners received care there. For employees who personally tend to family members who require care, Burda offers individual, flexible working-time solutions, beyond what is required under the law.

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Health and occupational safety management “Live healthily, work more easily” – this motto summarizes Burda’s health measures. The topics addressed in events and campaigns of 2013 ranged from colon cancer prevention, to ergonomics at the workplace, to individual measures on the subject of health and stress. In addition, in cooperation with insurance companies, Burda organized educational events on topics such as “Healthy Snacking” and “Hydrate to Get Fit” at various Burda sites. At Burda, the subject of occupational safety is a component of the environmental protection and safety management system. Occupational safety measures range from designation of safety officers and first responders in the various units, to regular inspection rounds with the company physician. In addition, there are plans to establish Group-wide health management, which will include not only currently existing activities, but also further necessary measures.

Work and life in balance Burda also offers various types of sports and activities that bring together employees with common interests in their free time. Yoga during the noon lunch break, karate in the video studio, Pilates and Zumba are just a few of the many types of sports that are offered at the various sites. In 2013, employees and their families ran together on the track at the large sports festival “Burda runs!” In addition, there were activities such as “Burda kicks!” and the “Burda Ski Cup.”

-1,307

tons: the annual CO2 emissions decreased by 1,307 tons (19,721 tons to 18,414 tons) at the Offenburg headquarters.

Outlook The above-mentioned tools of modern human resources management will be refined and expanded in the future. In 2014, the focus is on carrying out the recruiting process in a professional manner and raising the quality of the pool of job applicants. The plan is to reach highly qualified employees, who are needed for the development of the company, faster and more efficiently. Another area of focus is the development and qualification of managers, so that they will be able to function even more successfully as “entrepreneurs in the enterprise.”

Acting in an entrepreneurial manner requires a sense of social responsibility. Especially in the producing units, Burda therefore strives for sustainable development that meets the needs of the current generation without endangering the opportunities of future generations. In production, the latest technology is therefore used to make economic growth consistent with preservation of a healthy environment.

Energy management and climate protection At the Offenburg site, BurdaDruck voluntarily participates in the Community Eco-Management and Audit Scheme, also known as the “eco-audit.” This is a community system for environmental management and environmental audits of business enterprises. As a central element of this involvement, Burda publishes an environmental declaration every three years and a brief updated version every year. This provides all interested parties with information about production activities, related environmentally relevant topics, and action that has been taken to protect the environment efficiently and sustainably. Because of its participation in the climate initiative of the German Printing and Media Industries Federation, BurdaDruck can use the professionally respected, Federation-developed CO2 calculator to calculate the carbon footprint of printing orders for its customers. This determination is based on the amount of paper used and on site-specific emissions. BurdaDruck succeeded in significantly reducing total CO2 emissions at these printing sites: At the Hauptstraße site in Offenburg, CO2 emissions were reduced by 1,307 tons, from 19,721 to 18,414 tons. In the Gutenbergstraße site, also in Offenburg, CO2 emissions increased slightly, from 3,495 tons to 3,667 tons (+172 tons). At the Nuremberg site, emissions declined by 1,605 tons, from 17,614 to 16,009 tons.

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Environment and sustainability

Corporate social responsibility

Sustainable paper production Along with price, quality and availability, the environmental quality of the raw materials is important for the acceptance of print products. BurdaDruck strives for complete transparency of the paper production process, starting with the extraction of raw materials for paper in the forest. Production chain certificates are intended to inform the customer of the fact that the raw materials used come from forests that are managed in an exemplary manner. The certification systems relevant to the printing industry at present are those of the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and the PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification). BurdaDruck’s gravure printing operations in Offenburg, Vieux-Thann and Nuremberg have both certificates, allowing them to confirm to customers that only certified raw materials have been used, and to add the respective logos to products made from certified paper.

urda is particularly involved in areas ranging from art, literature B and education to research, science and health. Burda also uses its media expertise for good causes. For example, in major events such as the awarding of the Bambi prize, aid organizations and particular individuals receive attention for their social involvement.

Hubert Burda Foundation The Hubert Burda Foundation, which was founded in 1999, receives significant support from the Group corporations. Promotional activities in the areas of science, education, art and the humanities include, among others, the Felix Burda Foundation, the European Translator Prize and the Petrarca Prize.

Felix Burda Foundation The Felix Burda Foundation, an institution also primarily supported by Group affiliates, has been involved in prevention of colon cancer since 2001. To reach its goal of “No Colon Cancer in Germany,” the foundation relies on broadly based communication – from advertising in social media to political lobbying. By the end of 2012, about five million people in Germany had taken advantage of the legally required screening colonoscopy, thereby improving their chances against colon cancer. In about 291,000 of these procedures, advanced adenomas, which would have become cancerous in a few years, were detected and removed (Source: Lutz Altenhofen, Chafik El Mahi, Arne Weber, Jens Kretschmann, Maik Heringer, Fritz Lichtner, Abschluss bericht 2012 und Rückblick auf 10 Jahre Früherkennungs-Kolo skopie in Deutschland [2012 Final Report and Review of 10 Years of Screening Colonoscopies in Germany] presented at the 30 Oct. 2013 meeting of the Screening Colonoscopy Advisory Board, Berlin). After colonoscopy screening became a legally

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mandated health insurance benefit in 2002, the Felix Burda Foundation accomplished another goal in 2013, as the Law on the Further Development of the Early Detection of Cancer and Quality Assurance through Clinical Cancer Registries went into effect in April 2013. This creates the legal basis for introducing a nationwide invitation procedure in which all insured persons of 50 years old and above receive a personal letter inviting them to participate in a colon cancer screening.

Tribute to Bambi Foundation The Tribute to Bambi Foundation supports organizations that help impoverished children in Germany. About 70 organizations have been assisted since the campaign was initiated by the magazine Bunte in 2001. For example, in 2013, organizations that received assistance included Verein Kids Hamburg e.V., which makes mentally handicapped girls strong so that they can protect themselves from sexual assaults, and Kinder-AugenKrebs-Stiftung, which campaigns for early detection of eye cancer in children.

Christian Liebig Foundation Focus Magazin Verlag GmbH has been involved with ChristianLiebig-Stiftung e.V. since 2003. In the past 10 years, thousands of children in Malawi and Mozambique have been given the opportunity for a better future through the construction of schools and orphanages and the awarding of dozens of scholarships. In all projects, the foundation worked independently as well as in cooperation with large charitable organizations.

Hubert Burda Media has many different opportunities; the most significant are described below. For Burda, opportunities for growth primarily come from the rapidly growing importance of the consumer Internet as a channel for advertising and transactions. In the case of magazines in the Domestic Publishing Division, the expansion of magazine brands to other product areas – such as commerce, events and merchandising – is opening up additional opportunities for revenue. Although the traditional markets for magazine sales and advertising show few opportunities for growth in Germany, Burda might be able to profit from an expected consolidation of the magazine market, which tends to be crowded. In the marketing of magazines, the company can profit from the positive evidence of the effectiveness of the AIM data tool. There are additional opportunities in the growth market of “content marketing,” in which the Group is already well positioned through BurdaCreative. Outside of Germany, Burda can develop good opportunities for growth that have resulted from the increasing prosperity in former third-world and in emerging countries, as the need for printed and digital media products, and also the need for printed products in general, will rise. The continuing digitalization throughout the world, along with the increasing level of prosperity and education, creates opportunities for digital business models and for opening new markets with media products. Last but not least, it can be expected that quite a few large companies will enter the market of “emerging markets,” or expand their involvement there, which will result in new opportunities in the media business and also in the printing of advertising materials, for example. As it already has up until now, Burda will take sensible advantage of the opportunities that arise, in order to continue the financial development of the Group.

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Report on opportunities

Risk report

As previously noted above in part, Hubert Burda Media’s business divisions are subject to risks that are inseparable from entrepreneurial activities. However, even though the risk situation is basically unchanged, risks will not have any significant impact on the development of the Group.

Risk management Hubert Burda Media responds to the various business risks with an efficient and effective risk management system, which follows the principles and the framework of the internationally recognized risk management standard ISO 31000. The procedure for assessing and evaluating risks, which has been in existence for many years, was further refined in the past fiscal year as well. As part of a risk workshop with the company management, potential risks are systematically identified and evaluated, following a uniform risk catalog. The risk catalog includes compliance risk categories along with strategic, operational and financial risks. The respective responsible individuals take appropriate action based on this information. The risk management process is efficiently supported by standard software. Centralized and local monitoring functions, as well as an independent internal audit, monitor the effectiveness of risk management in order to ensure that risks are detected early on, correctly assessed and continually monitored.

Investment risks Risks arising from significant investments, projects and acquisitions are identified through reviews of investments and are authorized by in-house monitoring of approvals. Large-scale one-time investments are applied for and approved within the framework of an expenditure approval guideline. Risks that arise in connection with tangible, productive assets or financial

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investments could lead to lower valuations, which would negatively impact earnings in accordance with the size of the investment. Risks related to shareholdings mainly come from risks ranging from a significantly worsened situation of the relevant company to bankruptcy. These are monitored by appropriate investment monitoring. We assess the significance of these risks for the Group as minor when considered individually and altogether.

Financial and liquidity risks Exchange rate and interest rate risks as well as other financial risks are closely monitored, effectively managed and partially reduced through hedging transactions. A treasury guideline defines the scope of options for taking on exchange rate and interest rate risks, and centralizes the necessary hedging activities. Interest and currency hedging transactions are only entered if they can minimize risks related to changes in corresponding underlying transactions. Currency exchange risks are regularly analyzed on the basis of Group-wide reports on currencies that are significant for Burda. Basically, hedging units – including ones that are relevant for balancing of accounts – are formed between underlying trans actions (purchase and sales transactions, which are very likely to be in foreign currency) and hedging transactions in the form of forward currency contracts. Hedging based on micro and portfolio hedges is undertaken in order to offset future cash flow fluctuations that are caused by changes in currency exchange rates. In the case of hedging, at the current time only forward exchange transactions or foreign currency option transactions are undertaken. If hedging transactions are still open on the balance sheet date, the effectiveness of the hedging units is investigated by means of the cumulative dollar offset method. Outside of existing hedging relationships, significant exchange rate risks

IT and data protection risks In order to avoid or reduce IT risks, Hurbert Burda Media makes use of backup computers, data backup systems, and virus and access protection, among other things. Specific emergency tests additionally reduce potential risks. The Internet presence of companies needs to be constantly available; in this area, data losses or attacks by hackers pose high risks to revenue and reputation in some cases, depending on the business model and degree of dependency on IT systems. In this regard, the trend to be noted is that these attacks are being carried out in a substantially more targeted way. In the past fiscal year, Hubert Burda Media has taken this issue even more strongly into account with

the introduction of risk-oriented information security management. The protection of information and IT systems is continuously monitored and improved, based on recognized standards. Compliance with data protection laws is extremely important for the business activities of Hubert Burda Media. Protection of data is therefore intensively monitored by independent, highly skilled data security specialists.

Risks arising from legal procedures Legal risks arising from existing contracts or current proceedings are covered, as needed, by the establishment of provisions (loss reserves). Court decisions in the area of press law as well as amendments of the law initiated on the European level are analyzed for the purpose of identifying the resulting risks and limitations to business activities in time, and reacting accordingly. Supplementing the Press Cothousandde, the main compliance requirements under press law are stated in the Guidelines for the Editorial Work of Hubert Burda Media in Germany. As the protection of brands and the protection of intellectual property rights are very important to Hubert B urda Media, all relevant developments in this field are closely monitored and analyzed.

Risk management in respect to financial reporting The requirements for monitoring the accounting and financial reporting in an appropriate and reliable manner remain strict. The internal monitoring and risk management system ensures that all requirements are met. It is designed to ensure, with a satisfactory degree of certainty, that financial reporting is reliable and that the preparation of the consolidated financial statements are in conformance with relevant laws and standards. During preparation of the consolidated financial statements, the

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are currently seen in the case of the ruble. At present time, we assess as rather low the risk of potential devaluations of the net working capital denominated in foreign currency because of exchange rate changes. If it is financially sensible, bank loans will also be taken out in foreign currency for the purpose of establishing natural hedging relationships. Interest rate risks are also centrally monitored on a continuous basis and, where it makes sense, are protected by micro-hedges. The goal of this kind of hedging is to avoid potential negative cash flow fluctuations due to variable-interest bank loans. Since the arranged interest rate swaps reflect the underlying transactions in all parameters relevant to the valuation, hedging units were formed that are 100 percent effective. The effectiveness is reviewed using the critical term-match method, taking into account the creditworthiness of the hedge partner. In the case of variable-interest bank loans that are not covered by any hedging transactions, we are currently assuming that there is no significant interest rate risk. With the aid of adequately high credit lines and a consistently positive cash flow, Hubert Burda Media is always provided with sufficient liquidity.

Events after the balance sheet date

completeness of the financial reporting, the principle of functional division, and adherence to the four-eyes principle ensure that all transactions are recorded promptly and in due time in order to ensure on-schedule completion of the accounts. Intragroup transactions are fully recognized, balanced and eliminated. Issues related to agreements that have been reached, that have effects on accounting and that are subject to disclosure are identified and correctly represented in the statements. The use of an intragroup Shared Service Center is essential in this process. The Shared Service Center prepares the statutory statements of most of the consolidated German affiliates and is responsible for the central implementation of the consolidation work and the preparation of the consolidated statements. Consistent accounting is assured through Group-wide regulations and processes, suitable analysis of the incoming data, and the use of SAP software applications.

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After the balance sheet date, no events have occurred that substantially impact the assets, financial position or profit situation.

The rising gross domestic product (forecast for 2014: + 1.6 percent; German Council of Economic Experts, Annual Assessment for 2013/14), the continued willingness of Germans to spend and the high rate of employment create good conditions for Burda’s business within Germany. Although the euro crisis has faded in the public perception, allowing the Germans’ trust in the currency to be strengthened, it has not been eliminated by any means. Nevertheless, general consumer confidence in Germany is likely to be fundamentally positive for Burda’s sales markets – both in the printing and digital areas. The consumer Internet will become more important as a channel for transactions and advertising in 2014 and beyond and, based on the sales transacted through the Internet, will grow by an estimated 15.0 percent per year. The Digital Division will make use of this growth and will thus achieve the greatest growth among the business divisions of the Group again in 2014. In some business fields, however, the company is in direct competition with the dominant American technology and e-commerce companies, which can operate in Europe under better competitive conditions than European companies themselves. In Germany, sales revenue from popular magazines is expected to decline slightly in 2014. The advertising market of popular magazines will likely also decline to a moderate extent. It is expected, however, that the Domestic Publishing Division will be able to maintain its market position this year as well. The Domestic Publishing Division has strong brands that are relevant for consumers and has good possibilities for developing additional sources of revenue. In relevant foreign markets where Burda operates (especially Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and Romania), the local currencies and therefore the exchange rates in respect to the euro have increasingly come under pressure. This will have negative impacts on the sales trend, even though our market position can be strengthened overall. In addition, there could be further political instability and unforeseeable restrictions imposed by political decision-makers. Such restrictions could also apply to media

providers in marketing and in magazine sales. The increasing prosperity and increasing literacy, particularly in Asia, basically suggest a growing need for media. All in all, this creates good preconditions for Burda to get a foothold in the Asian markets with additional media products. In the area of gravure, growth is possible only in foreign markets, where the need for educational media is strongly increasing due to a rising level of education, among other things. In Europe, the need for high-volume print products will continue to decline. The competition for advertising money among the national media providers markedly intensified in 2013 and, at the same time, the supply of advertising space continued to rise. The competition set off by globally operating technology and e-commerce companies has also noticeably increased. The efficient structures of Hubert Burda Media, the consistently encouraged diversification and related balancing of risks are creating the prerequisites for Burda to continue asserting itself, even under intensified conditions – provided that economic growth in Germany and in a few foreign markets moves within the expected framework. For 2014, moderately increasing Group revenue is therefore expected. Over the medium and long terms, after a successfully concluded transformation phase, Burda has good chances for stable growth and a long-term positive trend in its media business.

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Financial Statements 2013

Outlook

Consolidated Balance Sheet as of 31 December 2013 Hubert B Â urda Media Holding Kommanditgesellschaft

Assets (6) Fixed assets Intangible assets

Concessions, industrial property rights, and similar rights and assets, and licenses in such rights and assets Goodwill Prepayments Tangible assets

Land, similar rights and buildings, including buildings on leasehold land Technical equipment and machinery Other equipment, factory and office equipment

855,017

846,875,451.47

427,637

421,194,813.46

133,830

138,878,401.55

292,279

281,374,332.86

1,528

942,079.05

253,030

235,953,6 9 6 . 2 8

163,083

153,582,403.37

43,631

38,754,048.70 42,518,266.52

1,133

1,098,97 7.69

174,350

189,726,941.73

Participating interests

144,467

161,382,355.34

Shares in affiliated companies

25,075

22,740,760.27

721

583,899.08

Financial assets

Loans to companies in which the company has a participating interest Securities

3,861

3,817,710.47

226

1,202,216.57

Current assets

678,206

692,307,608.58

Inventories

140,751

169,113,697.30

Other loans

Raw materials and operating supplies

26,897

25,797,798.23

Work in progress

13,319

10,837,071.52

Finished goods and merchandise

99,440

131,436,175.53

1,095

1,042,652.02

340,480

369,995,314.29

251,639

269,314,664.96

Prepayments Receivables and other assets

Trade receivables Receivables from companies in which the company has a participating interest

29,855

28,154,579.64

Other assets

58,986

72,526,069.69

Other securities

32,641

7,312,261.39

164,334

145,886,335.60

13,066

12,150,771.44

1,546,289

1,551,333,831.49

Cash on hand, German Central Bank balances and other bank balances and checks (8) Prepaid expenses and deferred charges Total assets The numbers in parentheses refer to information in the notes.

124

2013 â&#x201A;Ź

45,183

Prepayments and construction in progress

(7)

2012 kâ&#x201A;Ź

BURDA Annual Report

2013 â&#x201A;Ź

(9)

Equity

397,976

425,865,907.21

Accruals

360,994

371,339,155.00

174,583

176,560,436.60

Pension accruals (1 0)

Tax accruals

(11) (12)

33,165

36,109,674.10

Other accruals

153,246

158,669,044.30

Payables

700,851

661,675,125.21

349,658

306,393,186.32

Bank loans and overdrafts Customer advances Trade payables

6,486

10,150,603.66

252,742

247,233,382.07

Payables to companies in which the company has a participating interest

9,234

9,135,183.87

Other liabilities

82,731

88,762,769.29

(8)

Deferred income

68,814

75,628,889.44

(13)

Deferred tax liabilities

17,654

16,824,754.63

1,546,289

1,551,333,831.49

Total equity and liabilities

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Financial Statements 2013

2012 kâ&#x201A;Ź

Equity and liabilities

Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements for the Fiscal Year 2013 (1) General remarks The consolidated financial statements as of 31 December 2013 were prepared in accordance with the regulations of the German Law on Corporate Disclosure (“Publizitätsgesetz”).

(2) Consolidation group Of the fully consolidated companies, 56 reported shares held by third parties (2012: 50). There were 25 companies with low business volumes and/or no business activities. These were not consolidated as they were of minor importance for conveying a true and fair view of the net assets, financial position and results of operation (2012: 21). The consolidated companies are listed in an appendix to the notes in accordance with Sec. 313 (2) HGB (German Commercial Code). ROSEA Grundstücks-Vermietungs gesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt BURDA Medien Park KG, Düssel dorf, as well as ROSEA Grundstücks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt BURDA Offenburg KG, Düsseldorf, were consolidated in accordance with Sec. 290 (2) no. 4 HGB.

(3) Principles of consolidation As a rule, the annual financial statements of the consolidated companies were prepared as of 31 December 2013. In the case of four companies, interim statements were prepared as of 31 December 2013, for the purpose of inclusion in the Group consolidated statements. The inclusion of affiliated companies was based on their financial statements as of 31 December 2013. For acquisitions up until the end of fiscal year 2009, consolidation of investments for the fully and proportionately consolidated subsidiaries was carried out according to the book value method in accordance with Sec. 301 (1) no. 1 HGB, old version. Under this method, the book values of the investments were offset with

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the pro rata equity subject to consolidation at the date of the acquisition of shares or initial inclusion in the consolidated statements. The revaluation method in accordance with Sec. 301 (1) HGB, new version, applies for acquisitions since the beginning of fiscal year 2010. In this method, the stated value of the shares in the relevant subsidiary held by the parent company is offset against the equity of the subsidiary that is apportionable to these shares, and that corresponds to the market value of the assets, liabilities, accruals and special items that must be included in the consolidated financial statements. Accruals are valued in accordance with Sec. 253 (1) clauses 2 and 3 as well as (2) HGB, and deferred taxes are valued in accordance with Sec. 274 (2) HGB. Offsetting is carried out on the basis of the value stated at the time the company concerned became a subsidiary. Any goodwill arising from the consolidation of investments up until the end of fiscal year 2009 was capitalized and offset proportionately against equity. This treatment of goodwill was retained and also continued to apply in the fiscal years following 31 December 2009. In fiscal year 2013, €21,664k of this existing goodwill was newly offset (2012: €22,711k). Goodwill from acquisitions since 1 January 2010 is depreciated in the income statement over the course of the anticipated useful life. For acquisitions up until the end of the fiscal year 2009, inclusion of affiliated companies in the consolidated statements followed the capital share method in accordance with Sec. 312 (1) clause 1 no. 2 HGB, old version, whereby consolidation of equity was carried out as of the date of acquisition. Past goodwill was carried forward and an amount equal to €1,196k was offset against equity in fiscal year 2013 (2012: €3,902k). Starting in fiscal year 2010, investments in affiliated companies have been disclosed at book value in the consolidated financial statements. The book value and any difference between the book value and the share of equity are calculated as of the date the company became an affiliated company. Any difference arising from the consolidation of investments is calculated, carried

Number of consolidated companies:

Domestic Foreign Total

31 Dec 2012

31 Dec 2013

146

149

219

234

fully consolidated

forward, written off and dissolved in accordance with Sec. 312 (2) HGB, new version. The disclosed goodwill resulting from previous years and shown under the balance sheet item of the same name was previously transferred to the investment book value of the corresponding affiliated company in 2010. At the reporting date, the difference between the book value and the share of equity in the affiliated companies amounted to €17,479k; the goodwill included therein amounted to €16,686k. The goodwill from the consolidation of investments generally has a useful life of up to 15 years. Periods of useful life over five years result from the business model of the company concerned. In the case of a business model similar to a subscription business, Hubert Burda Media continues to rely on figures that are based on experience with the development or duration of comparable customer bases in the publishing business, and that are also expected in the future. The same applies to sales-oriented business models, because in this case, too, the company has experience (for example, with comparable product life cycles) that justifies a correspondingly long period of useful life. The straight-line method of depreciation is used. Any difference arising from the consolidation of investments on the liabilities side is disclosed as a separate item after equity and is dissolved in accordance with Sec. 309 (2) HGB. As of the balance sheet date, there was no difference on the liabilities side. Loans and other receivables, accruals, and liabilities among the companies included in the consolidated statements have been omitted, along with deferred items. Sales revenues, expenses and earnings among companies included in the consolidated statements were offset against each other.

186

205

consolidated pro rata

affiliated companies

(4) Currency conversion Accounts receivable and other assets, bank balances, and accounts payable denominated in non-euro foreign currencies were converted into euro at the exchange rate applicable at the time of transaction or the higher or lower currency exchange rate as of the balance sheet date. Items with a remaining term of up to one year were generally valued at the exchange rate applicable as of the balance sheet date. Conversion of the equity position of consolidated companies outside the European Currency Union was carried out using historical exchange rates; remaining balance sheet items were converted at the average spot exchange rate on the balance sheet date, and profit and loss account items at the annual average exchange rates. Resulting conversion differences were offset against equity, not affecting net income.

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Financial Statements 2013

thereof

(5) Accounting and valuation principles The accounting and valuation principles that applied last year remained unchanged. Assets and liabilities were valued in compliance with the prudence principle and in accordance with the methods applied for the parent company. Intangible assets acquired were valued at acquisition cost and were depreciated according to the straight-line method over the course of their anticipated useful life. Unscheduled depreciation was undertaken to the extent necessary. Offsetting or amortization of goodwill was based on an anticipated useful life of up to 15 years, depending upon the business model of the company in question. Internally generated intangible assets were not capitalized. Tangible assets were recognized at acquisition or production cost, less scheduled depreciation and, if required, unscheduled depreciation. In addition to individual costs, production costs also include appropriate portions of material and production overhead. As a rule, moveable depreciable assets were written off over their useful life according to the straight-line method; alternatively, in the case of fixed assets added prior to 1 January 2010, moveable depreciable assets were written off according to the declining-balance method for tax reasons. In these old cases, the method used is changed to the straight-line method as soon as this results in higher annual depreciation.

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Independently usable assets subject to depreciation were fully written off in their year of acquisition and treated as disposals in the consolidated development of fixed assets insofar as their respective acquisition or production costs were not above €410.00 (low-value assets). If the acquisition or production costs exceeded €410.00, the respective assets were capitalized and written off as scheduled over the course of their useful life. Financial assets were recognized at original cost or the lower fair value in the event of an impairment that was expected to be permanent. Interest-bearing loans were recognized at face value. Low-interest loans and non-interest-bearing loans were discounted according to their remaining time to maturity. Raw materials, operating supplies and merchandise were recorded at the average acquisition cost. If the replacement cost and/or market price was lower at the reporting date, that figure was used in the valuation. Finished goods and services and work in process were capitalized at cost or the lower fair value at the reporting date. In addition to individual material and production costs, production costs include appropriate portions of material and production overhead, as well as depreciation insofar as it is applicable to production. All separately identifiable risks were taken into consideration in the valuation of accounts receivable and other assets. An appropriate general provision was formed to cover general credit risks. Corporate tax credits pursuant to Sec. 37 (5) KStG (German Corporate Tax law) shown under other assets were valued at cash value.

The interest rate of 4.9 percent per year applied during the fiscal year corresponds to the market interest rate for an assumed remaining term to maturity of 15 years, averaged over the last seven fiscal years, as calculated and published by the German Federal Bank. In cases of a remaining term significantly shorter or longer than 15 years, the actual remaining terms and the cor responding interest rates calculated and published by the German Federal Bank were applied. Because the majority of the pension obligations are based on regulations for new employees entering the group from September 1994 on, and because the still-active employees entitled to the pension fund have been with the company for a long time as of the balance sheet date, fluctuations at individual plants and sites were not considered in this calculation due to their immateriality. An average annual fluctuation of 3.0 percent per year in the first 10 years of employment was assumed with regard to accruals for anniversary bonuses and for death-related benefits. Starting

Increases in remunerations and pensions

Assumed remaining term to maturity

Interest rate

Fluctuation

in % p. a .

in years

in % p. a .

Pensions

1.8

up to 28

up to 4.97

Part-time employment preceding retirement

1.8

3.50

Anniversaries

n/a

4.90

up to 3.0

Death-related benefits

1.8

4.90

up to 3.0

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Other securities were valued at acquisition cost and/or lower market prices at balance sheet date. Liquid assets were recorded at face value. A revaluation up to the carrying amount of the assets was recorded if an unscheduled depreciation was carried out on assets or if current assets were recognized at a lower of cost or market value and the reasons for the depreciation have become partially or completely irrelevant in the meantime. This does not apply to any unscheduled write-down of goodwill carried out in previous years. Accruals for pensions, part-time employment preceding retirement, anniversaries or death-related benefits are inventoried as of 31 October of the fiscal year. These accruals were determined on the basis of actuarial computations using biometric probability (2005 G Heubeck mortality tables) in accordance with the projected unit credit method, taking into consideration the following general assumptions valid as of 31 October 2013:

at the 11th year of employment, the fluctuation at an individual site was not considered in this calculation due to its immateriality. As part of the German Accounting Law Modernization Act (BilMoG), in force since 29 May 2009, the valuation of current pensions or pension entitlements has changed. The difference resulting from the changed valuation of current pensions or pension entitlements is allocated over a period of 15 years. The amount not yet allocated according to Sec. 67 (2) EGHGB accounts for €32,515k as of the reporting date. Pension plan reinsurance values which would have otherwise been disclosed under other assets were offset against the pension obligations in the amount of €2,815k, for which the insurance policies were taken out. These values correspond to the market value and the amortized cost of the offset assets as well as the repayment amount of the offset liabilities. The reinsurance values have been confirmed by the respective insurance companies. They have been valued at the amount as derived by the insurance company from the capital coverage calculated in accordance with the normal course of business for the end of the insurance period or, at minimum, as derived from the guaranteed repurchase value. To guarantee the obligations arising from the accruals of parttime employment preceding retirement, the employers have provided bank guarantees on behalf of the beneficiaries. The tax accruals and other accruals considered include all identifiable obligations and risks at the reporting date on the basis of

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a reasonable commercial assessment. The liabilities were recorded at their anticipated repayment amount. Future price and cost increases were considered insofar as sufficiently objective indications of their occurrence were available. Accruals with a remaining term of more than one year are discounted by the average market rate prevailing over the past seven fiscal years as calculated and published by the German Federal Bank. Liabilities were recorded at their repayment amount. Insofar as hedging is carried out in order to secure currency exchange rates, the hedging rates are generally applied to the valuation of the respective receivables and payables. An accrual for contingent losses is created for any potential excess losses from currency hedging transactions. Insofar as transactions were valued as units, they were capitalized by applying the net hedge presentation method.

(6) Fixed assets The development of the individual items of the consolidated fixed assets is shown in a separate fixed-asset schedule. The goodwill reported is primarily the result of the initial consolidation of investments. Unscheduled depreciation on tangible and intangible assets amounted to €8,791k in the fiscal year (2012: €11,344k).

(9) Equity

€429k (2012: €675k) in trade receivables, €278k (2012: €166k) in receivables due from companies in which the company has a participating interest and €5,937k (2012: €6,594k) in other assets have a remaining term of more than one year. All other accounts receivable and other assets are due within a year. Subject to separate disclosure, receivables due from companies in which the company has a participating interest would have to be disclosed as trade receivables in the amount of €20,717k and as other assets in the amount of €7,438k. Other assets include corporate tax credits pursuant to Sec. 37 (5) KStG amounting to €4,740k. Other assets also include input tax-refund claims in the amount of €3,587k, which legally accrue only after the reporting date.

Equity comprises the capital and reserve accounts of the general partner and the limited partners, the exchange rate difference resulting from currency conversion, the goodwill offset against equity, the reserves of subsidiaries, Group net profit, and thirdparty interests in consolidated subsidiaries.

(10) Tax accruals Accruals for taxation primarily include amounts to be paid in 2014, and also include amounts related to risks identified in tax audits.

(11) Other accruals (8) Prepaid expenses and deferred charges The prepaid expenses and deferred charges shown on the consolidated balance sheet on the assets side contain a discount as defined in Sec. 250 (3) HGB in the amount of €83k (2012: €97k). The balance sheet item on the liabilities side primarily comprises deferred income from subscriptions and online memberships.

Other accruals primarily comprise amounts for outstanding supplier invoices, holiday entitlements, other personnel expenses, returns, discounts and rebates, litigation risks, and losses from pending transactions.

BURDA Annual Report

131

Financial Statements 2013

(7) Receivables and other assets

(12) Payables Remaining terms to maturity

Bank loans and overdrafts Customer advances Trade payables Payables to companies in which the Group has a participating interest Other liabilities Taxes Social security obligations Other liabilities

€34,174k of bank loans and overdrafts are secured by security rights over real property, €14,862k by transfer of ownership of machines, and €13,930k by assignment of accounts receivable and by transfer of ownership of inventories. Subject to separate disclosure, all payables due to companies in which the company has a participating interest would have to be disclosed as other liabilities. In the previous fiscal year, other liabilities related to taxes amounted to €33,964k, and other liabilities resulting from social security obligations amounted to €2,848k.

(13) Deferred tax liabilities The deferred tax liabilities arising in connection with Sec. 274 HGB primarily result from lower tax-based values of fixed tangible assets. These were offset against deferred tax assets, most of which result from differences in tax-based values of pension accruals. In addition, deferred tax assets include losses carried forward, which will likely be used within the next five years. The deferred tax assets remaining after the offset have not been capitalized in accordance with the option under Sec. 274 (1) clause 2 HGB. Therefore, the recorded deferred taxes result entirely from the application of Sec. 306 HGB. The amount on the balance sheet is based on the differences between the elimination of intercompany profits, the consolidation of debts, and the capitalization of hidden reserves within the context of consolidation of equity. The tax rates for the respective Group units were applied for the valuation; these rates ranged from 10.0 percent to 34.1 percent.

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BURDA Annual Report

under 1 year

1 to 5 years

over 5 years

Total

k€

82,817

199,718

23,858

306,393

10,150

10,151

247,223

247,233

9,135

84,433

4,330

88,763

38,892

2,742

42,799

4,330

47,129

433,758

204,059

23,858

661,675

(14) Hedging units The group has concluded interest rate swaps using matching maturities to hedge against future interest rate fluctuations arising from variable-interest bank loans. Hedging units are formed between the amounts due to banks as underlying transactions, and the hedging transactions in the form of interest rate swaps. Hedging based on micro-hedges is undertaken in order to offset future cash flow fluctuations due to variable interest rates. These interest rate swaps show a nominal value of €70,576k and a negative fair value of €3,919k. The nominal value of the underlying transactions is €101,576k, resulting in a hedging scope of 69.5 percent. The net present value is used in order to determine the fair values of the interest rate swaps. This method calculates the present values of the future payments up until the end of the contract, taking as a basis the forward rates that were calculated on the basis of the yield curve. The effectiveness of hedging activities with regard to the risk of changing interest rates was measured prospectively using the critical term-match method and taking into consideration the financial standing of the hedge partner, as all parameters relevant to valuation match. The evaluation unit is thus 100 percent effective. The interest rate swaps show the nominal values and maturities as of the balance sheet date: Nominal value in k €

Euribor

Remaining term to maturity

50,000

6 months

9 Aug 2016

6,100

6 months

29 Mar 2018

6,000

6 months

9 Mar 2016

5,000

3 months

30 Dec 2014

2,028

3 months

31 Mar 2019

1,448

6 months

30 Sept 2014

At the balance sheet date, the Group companies had contingent liabilities from guarantee agreements in the amount of €3,392k. As of the balance sheet date, there were no indications for a possible claim, as there is a sufficiently high probability that the underlying obligations will be fulfilled by the companies concerned.

(16) Other financial obligations To secure business operations, the Group companies enter medium- and long-term rental contracts. Significant other financial obligations resulting from these and other contracts existed at the following amounts and due dates at the balance sheet date: k€

a) Limited in time

278,984

Due in 2014

57,941

Due between 2015 and 2018

171,997

Due after 2018

49,046

b) Unlimited in time (amount per year) Nominal value in k €

Currency

Due dates

5,200

USD

due in 2014

4,799

At the balance sheet date, there were liabilities from initiated investment projects in property, plants and equipment in the amount of €2,056k, as well as from miscellaneous other financial obligations amounting to €24,861k resulting from contracted payments which were not yet due as of the balance sheet date.

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Financial Statements 2013

(15) Contingent liabilities In addition, the Group is also subject to currency risks within the framework of its business activity. Hedging units are formed between underlying transactions (purchase and sales transactions, which are very likely to be in foreign currency) and hedging transactions in the form of forward currency contracts. Hedging based on portfolio hedges is undertaken in order to offset future cash flow fluctuations that are caused by changes in currency exchange rates. These forward exchange transactions show a nominal value of €5,200k and a negative fair value of €79k. The nominal value of the underlying transactions is €7,263k, resulting in a hedging scope of 71.6 percent. The fair values of the forward exchange transactions were calculated on the basis of present value and option price models. The Group assesses the probability of occurrence of future underlying transactions as very high, because for the most part these are predictable foreign currency transactions. Furthermore, the hedging volume is distinctly below the scope of the hedged foreign currency transactions. The effectiveness of the hedging in regard to currency exchange risk is investigated prospectively and retrospectively using the cumulative dollar offset method. The forward exchange transactions show the following characteristics:

(17) Sales revenues k€

1. Classification by division

2,616,864

Domestic Publishing

629,850

Foreign Publishing

37 7,908

Digital

1,400,971

Printing

204,105

Other

4,030

2. Classification by region

2,616,864

Domestic sales

1,689,895

Foreign sales

926,969

(18) Wages and salaries, social security, and expenses related to retirement benefits and support k€ 498,972

(19) Income from participating interests k€ 8,766

(20) Total audit fee k€

Total

1,515

Annual audit services

1,149

Other certification services

Tax advisory services

Other services

134

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BURDA Annual Report

(21) Employees

Industrial employees

1,011

Salaried employees

8,828 9,839

Comprising Male employees

4,654

Female employees

5,185

379 of these employees were at proportionately consolidated companies

Number at year’s end

Number of employees

10,017

380 of these employees were at proportionately consolidated companies

(22) Other information The Munich-based companies zooplus AG and TOMORROW FOCUS AG and the Hamburg-based company XING AG are exchange-listed subsidiaries that are included in the consolidated financial statement. In March 2013, December 2013 and February 2014, respectively, the Management and Supervisory Boards of these made their declarations of compliance with the German Corporate Governance Code pursuant to Sec. 161 AktG (German Stock Corporation Act) permanently available to shareholders on the Investor Relations pages of their respective websites, www.zooplus.de, www.tomorrow-focus.de and www.xing.de. Offenburg, 21 March 2014 The Management Board Dr. Paul-Bernhard Kallen (Chairman) Holger Eckstein Philipp Welte Stefan Winners

BURDA Annual Report

135

Financial Statements 2013

Average number during the year

Development of Fixed Assets of the Group

Intangible assets

Acquisition/ production costs Status 1 Jan 2013

Additions from changes in consolidation group

Additions

Disposals from changes in consolidation group

Disposals

€

1,057,441,253.71

60,296,175.70

24,572,379.19

29,447,283.47

3,856,387.48

310,195,986.89

13,713,525.92

23,456,802.70

5,767,040.54

3,841,438.75

745,717,124.00

46,539,070.91

0.00

23,680,242.93

0.00

1,528,142.82

43,578.87

1,115,576.49

0.00

14,948.73

767,373,463.21

10,241,429.85

19,005,767.69

1,087,861.11

42,063,027.35

324,185,516.71

3,207,041.86

512,955.33

0.00

25,380,960.92

295,873,969.61

5,426,969.03

2,495,903.57

0.00

9,553,690.86

146,181,148.72

1,538,360.96

15,443,169.63

1,087,861.11

6,806,604.58

1,132,828.17

69,058.00

553,739.16

0.00

321,770.99

215,336,457.38

7,151,369.46

26,855,479.62

8,948,003.33

10,198,733.97

161,837,348.76

1,915,700.94

20,516,048.45

0.00

3,430,696.40

44,235,149.38

5,235,668.52

5,248,727.29

8,948,003.33

6,647,677.77

Concessions, industrial property rights and similar rights and assets, and licenses in such rights and assets Goodwill Prepayments Tangible assets

Land, similar rights and buildings, including buildings on leasehold land Technical equipment and machinery Other equipment, factory and office equipment Prepayments and construction in progress Financial assets

Participating interests Shares in affiliated companies Loans to companies in which the company has a participating interest

851,534.85

0.00

61,911.58

0.00

8,186,787.29

0.00

92,487.43

225,637.10

0.00

1,028,792.30

0.00

27,872.37

2,040,151,174.30

77,688,975.01

70,433,626.50

39,483,147.91

56,118,148.80

Securities Other loans Totals

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BURDA Annual Report

Currency translation effects

Depreciation (accumulated)

Book value 31 Dec 2013

Book value 31 Dec 2012

Depreciation for the fiscal year

€

2,417,606.93

-1,275,355.50

688,953,575.62

421,194,813.46

427,636,800.52

67,525,022.50

1,732,699.15

-1,222,291.88

199,389,841.94

138,878,401.55

133,829,400.48

27,459,304.25

2,409,733.04

-47,618.48

489,563,733.68

281,374,332.86

292,279,257.22

40,065,718.25

-1,724,825.26

-5,445.14

0.00

942,079.05

1,528,142.82

0.00

-7,873.89

-3,901,001.42

513,607,200.70

235,953,696.28

253,030,448.51

36,953,098.07

0.00

-1,649,013.63

147,293,135.98

153,582,403.37

163,083,442.95

8,280,570.08

34,426.71

-570,962.02

254,952,567.34

38,754,048.70

43,631,166.77

11,011,275.73

284,978.88

-1,673,428.60

111,361,497.38

42,518,266.52

45,183,010.62

17,661,252.26

-327,279.48

-7,597.17

0.00

1,098,97 7.69

1,132,828.17

0.00

-2,409,733.04

-358,859.06

37,701,035.33

189,726,941.73

174,349,595.80

2,461,964.87

-500,012.69

0.00

18,956,033.72

161,382,355.34

144,467,318.03

588,000.00

-1,909,720.35

-353,467.54

14,119,915.93

22,740,760.27

25,074,358.11

1,656,052.34

0.00

329,547.35

583,899.08

720,948.60

198,962.10

0.00

-1.49

4,276,587.90

3,817,710.47

3,861,333.96

0.00

-5,390.03

18,950.43

1,202,216.57

225,637.10

18,950.43

0.00

-5,535,215.98

1,240,261,811.65

846,875,451.47

855,016,844.83

106,940,085.44

BURDA Annual Report

137

Financial Statements 2013

Transfers

Shareholdings pursuant to Sec. 313 (2) HGB of Hubert Burda Media Holding Kommanditgesellschaft as of 31 December 2013

Shares in %

a) Fully consolidated companies

Hubert Burda Media Holding Kommanditgesellschaft, Offenburg Hubert Burda Media Holding Geschäftsführungs-GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Abonnenten Service Center GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Aenne Burda Verwaltungsgesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, Offenburg

100.00

Altradia GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

amiando UK Ltd., Birmingham/Great Britain

100.00 1)

Amica Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich

100.00

Amica Verlag Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Munich

100.00

BDV Beteiligungen GmbH & Co. KG, Munich

90.91

bestwetten.de GmbH, Baden-Baden

100.00

bitiba GmbH, Munich

100.00 2)

BL Engineering Solutions Private Limited, New Delhi/India Blumendepot GmbH, Mörfelden-Walldorf BONAGO Incentive Marketing Group GmbH, Offenburg

51.00 100.00 75.10

Brand Media Solutions GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Bunte Entertainment Verlag GmbH, Munich

100.00

Burda (Thailand) Co., Ltd., Bangkok/Thailand

64.30

Burda Broadcast Media Baden-Württemberg GmbH & Co. KG, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Broadcast Media Geschäftsführungs-GmbH, Munich

100.00

Burda Broadcast Media GmbH & Co. KG, Munich

100.00

Burda Broadcast Verwaltungs GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Ciscom GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda CN Polska Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland

100.00

Burda Communications Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland

100.00

Burda Community Network GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Community Network International GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Community Network International Italia S.r.l. i.L., Milan/Italy

100.00

Burda Creative Group GmbH, Munich

100.00

Burda Digital Commerce GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Digital GmbH, Munich

100.00

Burda Digital Systems GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Digital Ventures GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Direct France SAS, Schiltigheim/France

100.00

Burda Direct GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Direct Interactive GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Direkt Services GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Druck GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

BURDA DRUCK FRANCE SAS, Vieux-Thann/France

100.00

BURDA DRUCK INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, New Delhi/India

100.00

Burda Druck Nürnberg GmbH & Co. KG, Nuremberg

100.00

Burda Druck Nürnberg Verwaltungs GmbH, Nuremberg

100.00

Burda Food Partners GmbH, Munich

100.00

Burda France SAS, Paris/France

100.00

Burda Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Glam AG, Basel/Switzerland

100.00

138

BURDA Annual Report

Shares in %

Burda Grundstücksgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Grundstücksverwaltungsgesellschaft Objekt München mbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Holdings (Thailand) Co. Ltd., Bangkok/Thailand

100.00

Burda Immobilien GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Information Services GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Intermedia Publishing GmbH, Munich

100.00

Burda Internetdienstleistungsgesellschaft mbH, Munich

100.00

Burda International GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Magazine Holding GmbH, Munich

100.00

Burda Media Entertainment GmbH, Munich

100.00

BURDA Media 2000 s.r.o., Prague/Czech Republic

100.00

Burda Media Polska Sp. z o.o., Wroclaw/Poland

100.00

Burda Media Service GmbH, Offenburg (in the future: Burda Service-Handel-Märkte GmbH)

100.00

Burda Medien Vertrieb GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda News Druck GmbH, Darmstadt

100.00

Burda NG Polska Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland

100.00

Burda NG Polska Sp. z o.o. Spol. Komandytowa, Warsaw/Poland

100.00

Burda Praha spol. s r.o., Prague/Czech Republic

100.00

BURDA PRINT CEE s.r.o. - v likvidácii, Bratislava/Slovakia

100.00

Burda Publishing Polska Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland

100.00

Burda Publishing Polska Sp. z o.o. Spol. Komandytowa, Warsaw/Poland

100.00

Burda Romania S.R.L., Bucharest/Romania

100.00

Burda Senator Verlag GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Service AG, Basel/Switzerland

100.00

Burda Services GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Singapore Pte. Ltd., Singapore

100.00

Burda Sports Group GmbH, Munich

100.00

Burda Taiwan Co. Ltd., Taipei/Taiwan

80.00

Burda Verlag Osteuropa GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Burda Wireless GmbH, Munich

100.00

BurdaStyle, Inc., New York/USA

100.00

Burda-Ukraina, Kiev/Ukraine

100.00

BZV Zeitschriften Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Munich

100.00

BZV Zeitschriften Verlag Verwaltungs-GmbH, Munich

100.00

Cellular GmbH, Hamburg

100.00 3)

CHIP Communications GmbH, Munich

100.00

CHIP Digital GmbH, Munich

100.00

CHIP Holding GmbH, Munich

100.00

Cinema Verlag GmbH, Hamburg

100.00

computeruniverse GmbH, Friedberg

100.00

CP-Retail GmbH, Berlin

100.00 4)

Cyberport GmbH, Dresden

96.00

Cyberport Services GmbH, Dresden

100.00 4)

daskochrezept.de GmbH, Wetzlar

100.00

Debitor-Inkasso GmbH, Bad Schwartau

100.00

BURDA Annual Report

139

Financial Statements 2013

49.00

Burda Holding Publishing Polska Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland

Shares in %

DLD Media GmbH, Munich

100.00

DLD Ventures GmbH, Munich

100.00

edelight GmbH, Stuttgart

100.00

Editions DIPA Burda SAS, Schiltigheim/France

100.00

EDITIONS HUBERT BURDA MEDIA SAS - PARIS, Paris/France

100.00

Editions Nuit & Jour SAS, Paris/France

100.00

Elitemedianet GmbH, Hamburg

100.00 3)

Essential Publishing Limited, Colchester/Great Britain

100.00

Exposure Media Marketing Private Ltd., New Delhi/India

100.00

fi services gmbh, Pleidelsheim

100.00 5)

Finanzen100 GmbH, Cologne

100.00 3)

Fit for Fun Verlag GmbH, Hamburg

100.00

Focus Magazin Verlag GmbH, Munich

100.00

Focus Money Redaktions-GmbH, Munich

100.00

Focus TV-Produktions GmbH, Munich

100.00

Freedreams B.V., Nimwegen/Netherlands

100.00

freundin Verlag GmbH, Munich

100.00

FTM Freizeit- und Trendmarketing GmbH & Co. KG, Cleves

100.00

FTM Freizeit- und Trendmarketing Verwaltungsgesellschaft mbH, Cleves

100.00

Globus Verlag GmbH, Munich

100.00

Grupo Galenicom Tecnologias de la Informacion (eConozco), S.L., Barcelona/Spain

100.00 1)

HolidayCheck AG, Bottighofen/Switzerland

100.00 3)

HolidayCheck Polska Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland

100.00 3)

Hubert Burda Media France SAS, Paris/France

100.00

Hubert Burda Media Hong Kong Limited, Hong Kong/China

100.00

Hubert Burda Media India Private Limited, New Delhi/India

100.00

Hubert Burda Media Limited, Colchester/Great Britain

100.00

Hubert Burda Media UK LP, Colchester/Great Britain

100.00

Hubert Burda Media, Inc., New York/USA

100.00

IGV-Treuhand GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

INO24 AG, Pleidelsheim

86.08

ino24 clever versichert GmbH, Pleidelsheim

100.00 5)

Institut f端r Medien- und Konsumentenforschung IMUK Gesch辰ftsf端hrungs-GmbH, Erding

100.00

Institut f端r Medien- und Konsumentenforschung IMUK GmbH & Co. KG, Erding

100.00

Internet Magazin Verlag GmbH, Munich

100.00

InTime Media Services GmbH, Oberhaching

51.00

jameda GmbH, Munich

100.00 3)

Komunikace 2000 s.r.o., Prague/Czech Republic

100.00

kununu GmbH, Vienna/Austria

100.00 1)

Kurbaum GmbH, Baden-Baden

100.00

M.I.G. Medien Innovation GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

matina GmbH, Munich

100.00 2)

MAX Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Hamburg

100.00

Media Market Insights GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Medienpartner International GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

Meteovista B.V., Zeist/Netherlands

100.00 3)

140

BURDA Annual Report

MFI Meine Familie und ich Verlag GmbH, Munich

100.00

Mirabo AG, Basel/Switzerland

100.00

mobileminds GmbH, Munich

100.00

NetMoms GmbH, Cologne

100.00 3)

Neue Verlagsgesellschaft mbH, Offenburg

100.00

OOO Burda Distribution Services, Moscow/Russia

100.00

OOO Everest Distribution, Moscow/Russia

100.00

OOO Press Point International, Moscow/Russia

100.00

OOO TK Pressexpo, Moscow/Russia

100.00

organize.me GmbH, Munich

100.00 3)

Ortenauer Papierverarbeitung GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

PaketPLUS Marketing GmbH, Berlin

50.08

P-Eleven GmbH, Hamburg

100.00

Pixelate Ventures Sp. z o.o., Krakow/Poland

100.00

Playboy Deutschland Publishing GmbH, Munich

100.00

Publicité Nuit et Jour SARL, Paris/France

100.00

ROSEA Grundstücks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt BURDA Medien Park KG, Düsseldorf

100.00

ROSEA Grundstücks-Vermietungsgesellschaft mbH & Co. Objekt BURDA Offenburg KG, Düsseldorf

100.00

RPC Voyages SAS, Courbevoie/France

55.00 3)

sevenload GmbH, Cologne

100.00

Silkes Weinkeller GmbH, Velbert

74.90

Smart Inkasso Service GmbH, Lüneburg

100.00

STARnetONE GmbH, Berlin

100.00

Super Illu Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin

100.00

Super Illu Verlag Verwaltungs-GmbH, Berlin

100.00

10betterpages GmbH, Munich

89.04

TF Digital GmbH, Munich

100.00 3)

The Entertainment Company GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

TOMORROW FOCUS AG, Munich

58.84

TOMORROW FOCUS Content & Services GmbH, Munich

100.00 3)

TOMORROW FOCUS Media GmbH, Munich

100.00 3)

Tomorrow Travel B.V., Woerden/Netherlands

100.00 3)

TOMORROW Travel Solutions GmbH, Munich

100.00 3)

TOV Burda Distribution Services Ukraina, Kiev/Ukraine

100.00

Treehouse Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland

100.00

TV Spielfilm Verlag GmbH, Hamburg

100.00

tv.gusto GmbH, Cologne

83.50

Valentins GmbH, Mörfelden-Walldorf

100.00

Valiton GmbH, Munich

100.00

Verlag Aenne Burda GmbH & Co. KG, Offenburg

100.00

Verlagsgruppe Milchstrasse GmbH, Hamburg

100.00

Verwaltungsgesellschaft MAX Verlag mbH, Hamburg

100.00

VSG Advertising Italy S.r.l., Milan/Italy

100.00

Webassets B.V., Zeist/Netherlands

50.99 3)

XING AG, Hamburg

50.63

XING Events GmbH, Hamburg

100.00 1)

BURDA Annual Report

141

Financial Statements 2013

Shares in %

XING International Holding GmbH, Hamburg

100.00 1)

XING Networking Spain, S.L., Barcelona/Spain

100.00 1)

XING Switzerland GmbH, Sarnen/Switzerland

100.00 1)

Xino-Media GmbH, Offenburg

100.00

ZAO Burda Interaktiv, Moscow/Russia

100.00

ZAO Sales, Moscow/Russia

100.00

ZAO Verlagshaus Burda, Moscow/Russia

100.00

zooplus AG, Munich

50.92

zooplus france S.A.R.L., Strasbourg/France

100.00 2)

zooplus italia s.r.l., Genoa/Italy

100.00 2)

zooplus Pet Supplies Import and Trade Ltd., Istanbul/Turkey

100.00 2)

zooplus polska sp. z.o.o., Krakow/Poland

100.00 2)

zooplus services ESP S.L., Madrid/Spain

100.00 2)

zooplus service Ltd., Oxford/Great Britain

100.00 2)

Zoover France SARL, Courbevoie/France

100.00 3)

Zoover GmbH, Cologne

100.00 3)

Zoover International B.V., Zeist/Netherlands

100.00 3)

Zoover International Holland Filiaal, Zeist/Netherlands

100.00 3)

Zoover Media B.V., Zeist/Netherlands

100.00 3)

Zoover Travel B.V., Zeist/Netherlands

100.00 3)

ZVB Zeitschriften-Vertriebs AG, Basel/Switzerland

100.00

b) Proportionately consolidated companies pursuant to Sec. 310 HGB

B+B Media Services GmbH, Offenburg

50.00

BB RADIO Länderwelle Berlin/Brandenburg Beteiligungs GmbH, Potsdam

50.00

BB Radio Länderwelle Berlin/Brandenburg GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft, Potsdam – Group –

50.00

Burda Hearst Publishing GmbH, Munich

50.00

DOGAN BURDA DERGI YAYINCILIK VE PAZARLAMA A.S., Istanbul/Turkey

48.61

Güll GmbH, Lindau

49.00

HPB Press Holding Sdn Bhd, Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia

50.00

Musicstarter GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin

50.00

M.O.R.E. Lokalfunk Baden-Württemberg GmbH & Co. KG, Ulm

50.00

M.O.R.E. Lokalfunk Baden-Württemberg Verwaltungs-GmbH, Ulm

50.00

Presse-Service Güll GmbH, St. Gallen/Switzerland

49.00

SEG Stegenwaller Entertainment Group GmbH & Co. KG, Essen

50.00

SEG Stegenwaller Entertainment Group Verwaltungs GmbH, Essen

50.00

TOO Burda-Alatau Press, Almaty/Kazakhstan

50.00

c) Affiliated companies pursuant to Sec. 311 HGB

AlphaSights Ltd., London/Great Britain

28.80

Dergi Pazarlama Planlama ve Ticaret Anonim Sirketi, Istanbul/Turkey

44.00

Escapio GmbH, Berlin

47.20

Gesellschaft für integrierte Kommunikationsforschung mbH & Co. KG, Munich

25.00

Lidyana Elektro Hitzmetler Ithalat Ihracat Pazarlama A.S., Istanbul/Turkey

24.10

Mediaprint & Kapa Pressegrosso spol. s r.o., Prague/Czech Republic

38.78

MZV Export-Import Zeitschriften-Vertrieb GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft, Unterschleißheim

40.00

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BURDA Annual Report

Shares in %

MZV Export-Import Zeitschriften-Vertrieb Verwaltungs-GmbH, Unterschleißheim

40.00

MZV Moderner Zeitschriften-Vertrieb GmbH & Co. Kommanditgesellschaft, Unterschleißheim

40.00

MZV Moderner Zeitschriften-Vertrieb Verwaltungs-GmbH, Unterschleißheim

40.00

NEVA Media GmbH, Berlin

43.10

Radio Arabella Studiobetriebsgesellschaft mbH, Munich

20.56

Showroom Sp. z o.o., Warsaw/Poland

25.09

Tripsbytips GmbH, Berlin

35.20

United Ambient Media AG, Hamburg

42.31

Webguidez Entertainment GmbH, Berlin

37.01

40.21

Beijing Vogel Burda Media Advertising Ltd., Beijing/China

49.00

Burda Hong Kong Limited, Hong Kong/China

82.15

Cyberport S.a.r.l., Luxembourg/Luxembourg

100.00 4)

Dialog Service Center GmbH, Neckarsulm

50.77

Europe Online Deutschland GmbH, Munich

100.00

FamilyBook GmbH, Cologne

100.00 3)

HolidayCheck France SAS, Paris/France

100.00 3)

Gesellschaft für integrierte Kommunikationsforschung Verwaltungs GmbH, Munich

25.00

IncGamers Ltd., Falkirk/Great Britain

33.33

Nachtagenten GmbH, Munich

29.97

NEVA Media GmbH, Berlin

43.10

Online International Beteiligungs-GmbH, Munich

100.00

Privatradio Landeswelle Mecklenburg-Vorpommern GmbH & Co. Studiobetriebs KG, Rostock

47.15

Privatradio Landeswelle Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Verwaltungs GmbH, Rostock

29.40

Studio Gong GmbH & Co. Studiobetriebs KG, Munich – Group –

41.67

Tifuve GmbH, Munich

100.00 2)

Virtueller Bau-Markt Aktiengesellschaft, Meerbusch

26.02

Vogel Burda (Beijing) Advertising, Beijing/China

100.00

Vogel Burda Medya Yayimcilik ve Tic. A.A., Istanbul/Turkey

100.00

zooplus Eastern Europe TOV, Kiev/Ukraine

100.00 2)

zooplus Kroatien d.o.o., Zagreb/Croatia

100.00 2)

zooplus Nederland B.V., Rotterdam/Netherlands

100.00 2)

Zoover Internet Teknolojileri Tuzim Ticaret Ltd., Kusadasi/Turkey

95.00 3)

Zoover Italia SARL, Monza/Italy

95.00 3)

1) Indirect participating interest of XING AG 2) Indirect participating interest of zooplus AG 3) Indirect participating interest of TOMORROW FOCUS AG 4) Indirect participating interest of Cyberport GmbH 5) Indirect participating interest of INO24 AG

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143

Financial Statements 2013

d) Companies pursuant to Sec. 296 HGB or Sec. 313 (2) no. 4 HGB

Acton GmbH & Co Heureka KG, Munich

The following translated auditor’s opinion relates to the German version of the complete consolidated financial statements and group management report:

The preceding consolidated financial statements and group management report intended for publication conform with legal requirements and supplementary provisions of the company’s Articles of Association. We have issued the following auditor’s opinion on the complete (German version of the) consolidated financial statements and group management report:

Auditor’s Opinion “We have audited the consolidated financial statements prepared by Hubert Burda Media Holding Kommanditgesellschaft, Offen burg – comprising the balance sheet, profit and loss statement, and the notes – and the group management report for the fiscal year from 1 January to 31 December 2013. The company’s Management Board and General Partner are responsible for the preparation of the consolidated financial statements and group management report in accordance with the provisions of German commercial law and the supplementary provisions contained within the company’s Articles of Association. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the consolidated financial statements and the group management report based on our audit. We conducted our audit of the consolidated financial statements in accordance with Sec. 317 HGB (German Commercial Code) and in compliance with the (German) principles of proper audit ing adopted by the Institut der Wirtschaftsprüfer (IDW). Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit in such a way that there is reasonable assurance of detecting inaccura cies and violations that materially affect the presentation of the net assets, financial position and results of operations, as given in the consolidated financial statements and management report, with due regard for general accepted accounting principles. Knowledge of the business activities and the economic and legal environment of the Group, as well as expectations in regard to

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BURDA Annual Report

possible errors, are taken into account in the determination of audit procedures. In the audit, the effectiveness of the account ing-related internal control system and the evidence supporting the information in the consolidated financial statements and group management report are assessed primarily on the basis of random samples. The audit includes assessment of: the annu al financial statements of the companies included in the consoli dated financial statement; the definition of the consolidation group; the accounting and consolidation principles applied; and the significant estimates made by the company’s Management Board and General Partner. In addition, it also includes evalua tion of the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements and group management report. We are confident that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion. Our audit has not led to any reservations. In our opinion, based on the findings of our audit, the consolidat ed financial statements comply with the legal regulations and the supplementary provisions contained within the company’s Articles of Association and give a true and fair view of the net assets, financial position and results of operations of the group, in accor dance with (German) principles of proper accounting and the supplementary provisions contained within the company’s Articles of Association. The group management report is consistent with the consolidated financial statements and as a whole provides an accurate view of the group’s position and accurately presents the opportunities and risks of future development.” Karlsruhe, 26 March 2014 PricewaterhouseCoopers Aktiengesellschaft Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft Andreas Fell, Wirtschaftsprüfer Dr. Martin Nicklis, Wirtschaftsprüfer

Imprint Publisher: Burda GmbH Corporate Communications Arabellastraße 23, 81925 Munich Tel. + 49 (0) 89 92 50 25 75 www.hubert-burda-media.de www.burda-news.de Oversight Philipp Wolff Management Julia Korn Managing Editor Bernd Hölzner Art Direction Marcus Reichle Editorial Support Christin Apel, Christiane Blana, Verena Bücher, Jonas Grashey, Berthold Heidbüchel, Lisa-Marie von Raepke, Marianne Lena Reif, Alice Schwetz, Dorothee Stommel Production Michael Schekatz Group Management Report Heinz Spengler Publishing Company: Burda Creative Group GmbH Arabellastraße 23, 81925 Munich Tel. + 49 (0) 89 92 50 13 20 www.burdacreativegroup.de Management and Concept Christine Fehenberger Editor-in-Chief Fabrice Braun Managing Editor Britta Schmidt Managing Editor, International Susan Sablowski Art Direction Veronika Schmidt Authors Christoph Henn, Alexandra-Katharina Kütemeyer, Anne Lehwald, Anatol Locker, Niclas Müller, Lisa von Ortenberg, Sascha Sarmast, David Schumacher Editors Leonie Adeane, David Barnwell, Richard Mote, Asa Tomash Photo Editors Michaela Beck, Anka Müller Image Processing Silvana Mayrthaler Proofreader Asa Tomash Production Wolfram Götz (Dir.), Rüdiger Hergerdt, Cornelia Sauer Printing Kastner & Callwey Medien GmbH Paper Sirio Pearl Ice white, 300 g/m2; PlanoScript, 120 g/m2; Argenta matte satin, 90 g/m2

Printed in Germany © 2014 Hubert Burda Media Photo Credits 04, 06, 08, 44-49, 78-83 Michael Hudler; 04, 10-17 Stefen Chow; 04, 1825, 26-35, 36-43, 72-77 Robert Fischer; 50-55, 66-71 Matthias Haslauer; 56-65 Martin Adolfsson, Illustrations: 86-92 Clemens Maurer