Christian Michael Schibsted (21 February 1812 – 17 June 1878) was a

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe *Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway *Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including the ...

printer and publisher, known for establishing Schibsted Forlag and ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 million ...

''.

Early life and career

He was born in Christiania as a son of Frederik Schibsted (1766–1822) and his wife Maria Larsen (c.1779–1818). At the age of ten he had lost both his parents, and already the year before he had been sent to an

orphanage An orphanage is a Residential education, residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the Childcare, care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared for by their biological families. The parent ...

. He studied book printing between 1829 and 1833, and was hired by the newspaper ''

Morgenbladet ''Morgenbladet'' is a Norwegian weekly, newspaper, covering politics, culture and science. History ''Morgenbladet'' was founded in 1819 by the book printer Niels Wulfsberg. The paper is the country's first daily newspaper; however, Adresseavi ...

'' in 1836. In 1839 he acquired burghership and established the publishing house

Schibsted Schibsted Media Group is an international media group. The company has its headquarters in Oslo, Norway, and is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. The CEO is Kristin Skogen Lund. In 2019, Schibsted spun off the majority of their online marketplac ...

together with Johan Jørgen Krohn. The publishing house got the name Schibsted in 1843, when Christian Schibsted bought Krohn's share. In June 1845 Schibsted married Therese Amalie Dahl, but she died already in February 1846. In 1848, then, he married Thomine Halvorsen. They had the son Amandus Schibsted, born 1849, but Thomine Halvorsen died in November 1857. In August 1860 Schibsted married a sister of his second wife, Edel Elise Dorothea Halvorsen, who outlived him by twenty years.

Later career

From the beginning, the publishing house Schibsted had issued various periodicals, magazines and textbooks. From 1849 it published the satirical magazine ''

Krydseren ''Krydseren'' was a Norwegian language, Norwegian satirical magazine published between 1849 and 1855. History and profile ''Krydseren'' was established in 1849 by Ditmar Meidell, and published by Christian Schibsted. It is regarded as the first ...

'', edited by

Ditmar Meidell Ditmar Meidell (24 January 1826 – 13 July 1900) was a Norwegian magazine and newspaper editor. He was born in Bergen as a son of Lieutenant Colonel and customs inspector Christopher Pritzier Meidell (1783–1851) Laura Fogh (1793–1864). He tri ...

. From 1855 ''Krydseren'' was replaced by a newspaper of the name ''

Aftenbladet ''Aftenbladet'' ("The Evening Paper") was a daily newspaper in Oslo, Norway. History and profile ''Aftenbladet'' was established in 1855 as a continuation of the satirical magazine '' Krydseren'', and had the same editor-in-chief, Ditmar Meidel ...

''. Schibsted sold ''Aftenbladet'' in 1860, and instead issued ''Christiania Adresseblad'', which got the name ''

'' from 1 January 1861. Schibsted never edited the newspaper himself. In 1876 he bought a suitable locality for the newspaper, in "Norway's

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

" Akersgaten, which was in use until 2003. For the last month of his life, Christian Schibsted was father-in-law of Thrine Schibsted, née Munthe, who married Amandus Schibsted in May 1878. Christian Schibsted died in June 1878, and is buried at

Vår Frelsers gravlund The Cemetery of Our Saviour ( no, Vår Frelsers gravlund) is a cemetery in Oslo, Norway, located north of Hammersborg in Gamle Aker district. It is located adjacent to the older Old Aker Cemetery and was created in 1808 as a result of the great ...

in Oslo. After his death, Amandus Schibsted inherited the newspaper, and became the sole owner and chief editor in 1879. He is credited with turning the newspaper into an important political publication. ''Aftenposten'' was the largest newspaper in Norway between 1901 and 1981, and is now the second largest. The publishing house Schibsted still owns ''Aftenposten'', but has grown into a

multinational corporation A multinational company (MNC), also referred to as a multinational enterprise (MNE), a transnational enterprise (TNE), a transnational corporation (TNC), an international corporation or a stateless corporation with subtle but contrasting senses, i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schibsted, Christian 1812 births 1878 deaths Norwegian printers Norwegian newspaper publishers (people) Norwegian company founders Businesspeople from Oslo Burials at the Cemetery of Our Saviour