Bonnier AB (), also the Bonnier Group, is a
privately held
A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...
Swedish
media group
A media conglomerate, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as music, television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, theme parks, or the Internet. According to the ...
of 175 companies operating in 15 countries. It is controlled by the
Bonnier family
The Bonnier family is a Swedish family, originally of German Jewish descent, who since the beginning of the 19th century has been active in the book industry and later also in the mass media industry. They own the media group Bonnier Group, with ...
.
Background
The company was founded in 1804 by Gerhard Bonnier in
Copenhagen
Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
, Denmark, when Bonnier published his first book, ''Underfulde og sandfærdige kriminalhistorier''. Gerhard's sons later moved to Sweden. The Bonnier book publishing companies in Sweden that are part of book publishing house Bonnierförlagen now include
Albert Bonniers förlag
Albert Bonniers Förlag is a publishing company based in Stockholm, Sweden. Albert Bonniers Förlag is part of the book publishing house Bonnierförlagen, which also includes Wahlström & Widstrand and Bonnier Carlsen.
History
Albert Bonnier ...
,
Wahlström & Widstrand
Wahlström & Widstrand is a Swedish book publishing company.
Wahlström & Widstrand was established in 1885 by two book sellers in Stockholm, Per Karl Wahlström and Wilhelm Widstrand. The company started publishing fiction in the 1890s and la ...
, Forum, and Bonnier Carlsen, as well as other book publishers and imprints in Sweden. Bonnier Tidskrifter publishes magazines, including ''
Veckans Affärer
''Veckans Affärer'' (, lit. "the week's business") was a Swedish business magazine published on a weekly basis in Stockholm, dealing in all business-related matters both within and outside Sweden. It was in circulation between 1965 and 2019.
H ...
'', ''
Damernas Värld
''Damernas Värld'' (Swedish language, Swedish: ''Women's World'') is a Swedish language monthly fashion and women's magazine published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the oldest magazines in the country.
History and profile
The magazine was ...
'', ''
Amelia'', ''Sköna Hem'', ''
Teknikens Värld
''Teknikens värld'' ( en, World of Technology) is a leading motor magazine published in Stockholm, Sweden.
History and profile
''Teknikens Värld'' was founded in 1948. The magazine is owned by Bonnier Group. Its publisher is Bonnier Tidskrifte ...
'', ''
Resume'', nearly a dozen
crossword
A crossword is a word puzzle that usually takes the form of a square or a rectangular grid of white- and black-shaded squares. The goal is to fill the white squares with letters, forming words or phrases, by solving clues which lead to the answ ...
magazines, and the tablet magazine ''C Mode''. Other subsidiaries include the film production companies
SF Studios
SF Studios is a Swedish film and television production and distribution company (both Swedish and international) with headquarters in Stockholm and local offices in Oslo, Copenhagen, Helsinki and London. The studio is owned by Nordic media congl ...
and
Sonet Film
Bonnier AB (), also the Bonnier Group, is a privately held Swedish media group of 175 companies operating in 15 countries. It is controlled by the Bonnier family.
Background
The company was founded in 1804 by Gerhard Bonnier in Copenhagen, Den ...
; daily newspapers ''
Dagens Nyheter
''Dagens Nyheter'' (, ), abbreviated ''DN'', is a daily newspaper in Sweden. It is published in Stockholm and aspires to full national and international coverage, and is widely considered Sweden's newspaper of record.
History and profile
''Da ...
'', ''
Expressen
''Expressen'' (''The Express'') is one of two nationwide evening newspapers in Sweden, the other being '' Aftonbladet''. ''Expressen'' was founded in 1944; its symbol is a wasp and its slogans are "it stings" or "''Expressen'' to your rescue".
...
'', ''
Sydsvenskan'' and ''
Helsingborgs Dagblad
''Helsingborgs Dagblad'' (''HD'', lit. "Helsingborg's Daily Paper"), published in Helsingborg in Skåne is the largest (circ. 84.000) newspaper in Swedish outside the metropolitan districts of Malmö, Göteborg and Stockholm.
History and profi ...
''; business daily ''
Dagens Industri''; and medical journal ''Dagens Medicin''.
International operations
In Denmark, operations include magazine publisher Bonnier Publications, which has subsidiaries in Norway, Finland and Sweden; business daily ''
Dagbladet Børsen
''Børsen'' (full name: ''Dagbladet Børsen'') is a Danish newspaper specialising in business news published in Denmark.
History and profile
''Børsen'' was founded in 1896 by merchant and editor Theodor Hans Carsten Green. In 1899, it was chang ...
''; film distributors
SF Film
SF may refer to:
Locations
* San Francisco, California, United States
* Sidi Fredj, Algeria
* South Florida, an urban region in the United States
* Suomi Finland, ISO_3166-1_alpha-2#SF-Transitional, former vehicular country code for Finland
...
and film producers SF Film Production.
Finnish operations include book publishers
Tammi and
WSOY; plus magazines from Bonnier Publications and film productions by FS Film.
In Germany, Bonnier Media Deutschland includes
Ullstein Buchverlage,
Piper Verlag
Piper Verlag is a German publisher based in Munich, printing both fiction and non-fiction works. It currently prints over 200 new paperback titles per year. Authors published by the company include Andreas von Bülow and Sara Paretsky. It is owne ...
, Thienemann Verlag and
Carlsen Verlag
Carlsen Verlag is a subsidiary of the homonymous Danish publishing house which in turn belongs to the Swedish media company Bonnier. The branch was founded on 25 April 1953 in Hamburg.
The publisher's program focuses on books for children, i.e. ...
, among others.
In
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
, Bonnier owned
Evoke Gaming Ltd.
Evoke may refer to:
* Evocation, the act of calling upon or summoning a spirit, demon, deity or other supernatural agent
* E'voke, a British female vocal duo
* Evoke (album), ''Evoke'' (album), a 2005 electro-industrial album by Wumpscut
* Evoke ...
This was divested in late 2017.
In January 2007, the Bonnier Magazine Group acquired 18 magazines from the American media company
Time Inc.
Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
(at the time owned by
Time Warner
Warner Media, LLC ( traded as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City, United States.
It was originally established in 1972 by ...
) and merged the operations with other publishing companies to create the U.S. based
Bonnier Corporation
Bonnier LLC (formerly Bonnier Corporation) is an outdoor adventure company that fuels passion for fishing, boating, sailing, motorsports, hunting and travel. Bonnier has the nation’s leading portfolio of experiential events and iconic media bra ...
.
As a result, Bonnier Corporation owns over 40 magazines, including ''
Popular Science
''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...
'', ''
Saveur
''Saveur'' is an online gourmet, food, wine, and travel magazine that publishes essays about various world cuisines. The publication was co-founded by Dorothy Kalins, Michael Grossman, Christopher Hirsheimer, and Colman Andrews, who was also the ...
'', ''
Field & Stream
''Field & Stream'' (''F&S'' for short) is an American online magazine focusing on hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities. The magazine was a print publication between 1895 and 2015 and became an online-only publication from 2020.
History ...
'', ''
Outdoor Life
''Outdoor Life'' is an outdoors magazine about camping, fishing, hunting, and survival. It is a sister magazine of ''Field & Stream''. Together with ''Sports Afield'', they are considered the Big Three of American outdoor publishing by Money (m ...
'' and ''
Popular Photography
''Popular Photography'', formerly known as ''Popular Photography & Imaging'', also called ''Pop Photo'', is a monthly American consumer website and former magazine that at one time had the largest circulation of any imaging magazine, with an edit ...
'', a range of action sport magazines focused on motorcycling, as well as a number of niche travel and lifestyle titles. Book publisher Weldon Owen was also part of the company. In 2013, Bonnier signed a deal with
Source Interlink
Source Interlink is an American magazine publishing and logistics company. It owns Source Interlink Distribution and Motor Trend Group. It maintains a strong position in automotive and action sports media, publishing a variety of magazines includ ...
where they bought motorcycle franchises ''Dirt Rider'', ''Motorcyclist'', ''Sport Rider'', ''Motorcycle Cruiser'', ''Hot Bike'', ''Baggers'', ''Super Streetbike'', ''Street Chopper'' and ''ATV Rider'', whereas they sold ''
Sound & Vision'' and the TransWorld franchise.
Bonnier’s publishing in the United Kingdom has two main divisions: Igloo Books and Bonnier Books UK. A number of imprints operate within each division, most notably: Blink, Autumn Publishing, Hot Key Books,
John Blake Publishing, Embla, Templar Publishing and Piccadilly Press,
Zaffre and Studio Press. In 2015, Bonnier UK acquired commercial fiction publisher Totally Entwined. Weldon Owen UK and US was sold to Insight Editions in 2018.
Former operations include Piccolia in France and Five Mile Press in Australia which have both been liquidated.
Bonnier Publishing USA was formed in August 2016, then composed of the publisher Weldon Owen and the children's publisher, Little Bee. The president of Little Bee, Shimul Tolia, became the CEO of this group. Bonnier Publishing USA was sold to its management in 2019.
Bonnier owns business newspapers in Estonia (''
Äripäev
''Äripäev'' (Estonian language, Estonian for "Business Day") is an Estonian financial newspaper in tabloid format. It was founded in 1989 by ''Dagens Industri'', a leading Swedish financial newspaper. The first issue of ''Äripäev'' was publ ...
''), Lithuania (''
Verslo žinios
''Verslo žinios'' (English: ''Business news'') is a leading Lithuanian business newspaper published in Vilnius since 1995 and online since 2001. Swedish Bonnier Business Press group holds a 73% stake in ''Verslo žinios''. The remaining owners ...
''), Poland (''
Puls Biznesu
''Puls Biznesu'' (lit. ''Business' Pulse'') is a Polish-language daily newspaper devoted to business and economic issues.
History and profile
''Puls Biznesu'' was established by Dagens Industri in 1997. It is published by Bonnier Business (Pols ...
'') and Slovenia (''
Finance Business Daily''), as well as medical journals in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Poland, and Slovenia.
Bonnier is also behind several digital startups, including the tablet publishing platform Mag+ and children's toy app producer,
Toca Boca (sold in 2016 to
Spin Master).
In 2017, the Bonnier Motorcycle Group bought the
AMA EnduroCross Championship The AMA EnduroCross Championship is an endurocross championship held in North America since 2007. It is held in stadiums or arenas, recreating enduro obstacles such as rocks, boulders and logs.
Motorsport promoters Eric Peronnard and Tim Clark orga ...
, an off-road motorcycling series. The group also promotes the Quail Motorcycle Gathering, HighPipe, Track Day Shootout, Adventure Rally Series and Hot Bike Tour. Also in 2017, Bonnier sold
Nordic Cinema Group
Nordic Cinema Group is a Swedish company which owns 103 cinemas and 590 cinema saloons in six countries ( Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania). It was founded in 2013 through a merger of Filmstaden in Sweden, Odeon Kino in N ...
to
AMC Theatres
AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (d/b/a AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC and known in some countries as AMC Cinemas or AMC Multi-Cinemas) is an American movie theater chain fou ...
.
On 20 July 2018,
Telia Company
Telia Company AB is a Swedish multinational telecommunications company and mobile network operator present in Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Telia also owns TV4 Media which includes TV4 in Sweden, MTV Oy in F ...
announced the proposed acquisition of the
Bonnier Broadcasting Group (which owns
TV4 AB
TV4 AB (formerly Nordisk Television AB; previously traded as ) is a Swedish media company owned by Telia Company through TV4 Media (formerly known as Bonnier Broadcasting). The company owns the largest commercial television channel in Sweden, ...
,
MTV Oy
MTV Oy (formerly Oy Mainos-TV-Reklam Ab) is a Finnish media company owned by Telia Company through TV4 Media (formerly known as Bonnier Broadcasting). The company owns the largest commercial television channel in Finland, MTV3.
On 20 July 2 ...
and
C More Entertainment
C More Entertainment AB is a pay television company that previously operated as Canal+. It targets Nordic countries and has a separate channel in Sweden (C More Film).
The main competitors of C More Entertainment are Viasat Film and Viasat Sp ...
) from Bonnier. The acquisition was completed on 2 December 2019.
On 6 February 2020, Bonnier Books UK launched literary imprint, Manilla Press.
Ownership
Bonnier is controlled by around 75 family members, including some seventh-generation heirs. Some well-known relatives and descendants of the Bonnier family include:
Time Inc. magazines acquisition
In January 2007, the Bonnier Magazine Group agreed to acquire 18 magazines that
Time Inc.
Time Inc. was an American worldwide mass media corporation founded on November 28, 1922, by Henry Luce and Briton Hadden and based in New York City. It owned and published over 100 magazine brands, including its namesake ''Time'', ''Sports Illu ...
was divesting.
[ The estimated price was US$225 million in cash and the assumption of about US$42 million in unfulfilled subscription liabilities (subscriptions already paid but not yet delivered.) The magazines in the package employed 550 people and included '']Outdoor Life
''Outdoor Life'' is an outdoors magazine about camping, fishing, hunting, and survival. It is a sister magazine of ''Field & Stream''. Together with ''Sports Afield'', they are considered the Big Three of American outdoor publishing by Money (m ...
'', ''Popular Science
''Popular Science'' (also known as ''PopSci'') is an American digital magazine carrying popular science content, which refers to articles for the general reader on science and technology subjects. ''Popular Science'' has won over 58 awards, incl ...
'', ''Field & Stream
''Field & Stream'' (''F&S'' for short) is an American online magazine focusing on hunting, fishing and other outdoor activities. The magazine was a print publication between 1895 and 2015 and became an online-only publication from 2020.
History ...
'', ''Ski'', ''Yachting
Yachting is the use of recreational boats and ships called ''yachts'' for racing or cruising. Yachts are distinguished from working ships mainly by their leisure purpose. "Yacht" derives from the Dutch word '' jacht'' ("hunt"). With sailboats, t ...
'', and ''Transworld Snowboarding
''Transworld Snowboarding'' was an American magazine and website dedicated to snowboarding culture. When it closed, the magazine had most recently been published four times a year (for many years, ''Transworld Snowboarding'' published 10 issues ...
'', as well as 11 other titles that were part of Time Inc.'s Time4 Media Group. Also included were ''Parenting
Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical, emotional, social, spiritual and intellectual development of a child from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a ...
'' and ''Babytalk
Baby talk is a type of speech associated with an older person speaking to a child or infant. It is also called caretaker speech, infant-directed speech (IDS), child-directed speech (CDS), child-directed language (CDL), caregiver register, parent ...
'', which were part of the Parenting Group. That price was believed to be a multiple of about 11 times cash flow
A cash flow is a real or virtual movement of money:
*a cash flow in its narrow sense is a payment (in a currency), especially from one central bank account to another; the term 'cash flow' is mostly used to describe payments that are expected ...
for a group that had net income
In business and accounting, net income (also total comprehensive income, net earnings, net profit, bottom line, sales profit, or credit sales) is an entity's income minus cost of goods sold, expenses, depreciation and amortization, interest, a ...
of around US$20 million and revenue of around $230 million.
"We think we did a good deal, and we think Time did as well," said Jonas Bonnier, head of the Bonnier Magazine Group. Bonnier already had a small footprint in the US through a 50 percent stake in Winter Park, Florida
Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 30,183 according to the 2022 census population estimate. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Winter Park was fo ...
-based World Publications, which owned the titles ''Islands and Spa'', ''Saveur
''Saveur'' is an online gourmet, food, wine, and travel magazine that publishes essays about various world cuisines. The publication was co-founded by Dorothy Kalins, Michael Grossman, Christopher Hirsheimer, and Colman Andrews, who was also the ...
'', ''Water Skiing'', and ''Caribbean Travel & Life''.
References
External links
*
Company Overview of Bonnier AB
by Bloomberg Businessweek
''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...
{{Authority control
Mass media companies of Sweden
Publishing companies established in 1804
Bonnier family
Swedish companies established in 1804