Weltbild Publishing Group (german: Verlagsgruppe Weltbild) is a major

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

and media retailer based in

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

. It is partner of the holding company DBH Deutsche Buch Handels GmbH & Co. KG and itself it is owned by the

diocese In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

s of the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

of Germany. The name ''Weltbild'' roughly translates to "worldview". Since 2001, Weltbild had had a joint venture with OZ-Verlag in the magazine sector (Living & More GmbH, Offenburg). There were also 50/50 joint ventures with the Belgian media company Belgomedia (Bayard Presse, France, and Roularta Media, Belgium). Weltbild published magazines in the Parenting and Family, 40-plus/50-plus, and Home and Garden segments. In fiscal 2007/2008, Weltbild sold its entire magazine division to the French Bayard Group. As of 2006, ''Weltbild'' claims to be Germany's largest media and mail-order company, with a market share of ten percent. It also says it is No. 2 among online book retailers (presumably after

Amazon.de Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential econ ...

). ''Weltbild'' employs some 6,400 employees and has a

revenue In accounting, revenue is the total amount of income generated by the sale of goods and services related to the primary operations of the business. Commercial revenue may also be referred to as sales or as turnover. Some companies receive reven ...

of 1,7 billion EUR. According to the enterprise, some 5,5 million customers in the German-speaking countries buy ''Weltbild'' books by mail order, in one of the 300 ''Weltbild'' shops or over the Internet. Its mail-order catalogue has a print run of four million.

Bankruptcy

Weltbild filed for Bankruptcy on 10 January 2014. On 2 August 2014 the financial investor ''Droege International Group'' bought 60% of the company's shares and started a recapitalisation.

Controversy

Erotica books in the assortment of the company caused a controversy in 2011. In June 2013, Weltbild ran into controversy when they notified Canadian based publishing house Icon Empire Press that they would no longer be carrying their book titles. Weltbild informed the publishing house that they were owned by the Diocese of the Catholic Church of Germany and the book titles carried by Icon Empire Press did not meet the standards of traditional values.

References

External links

*
German-language Official Weltbild website
Book publishing companies of Germany Bookstores of Germany Online retailers of Germany Mass media in Augsburg Companies based in Augsburg {{Germany-company-stub