Orell Füssli
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Orell Füssli is a Swiss printing and bookselling company, established by Christoph Froschauer in 1519 as a book printer and publisher. It is currently operating in many print-related segments, such as
security printing Security printing is the field of the printing industry that deals with the printing of items such as banknotes, cheques, passports, tamper-evident labels, security tapes, product authentication, stock certificates, postage stamps and identity ...
,
bookselling Bookselling is the commercial trading of books which is the retail and distribution end of the publishing process. People who engage in bookselling are called booksellers, bookdealers, bookpeople, bookmen, or bookwomen. The founding of librari ...
and
publishing 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 ...
, with security printing being a primary contemporary product of company. Company's shares are traded on SIX Swiss Exchange () since 1897. It is the oldest continuously publicly traded company of Switzerland.


History


From Froschauer Druckerei (1519) to "Orell, Gessner, Füssli & Cie." (1770)

At the beginning of the 16th century, the
Imperial free city In the Holy Roman Empire, the collective term free and imperial cities (german: Freie und Reichsstädte), briefly worded free imperial city (', la, urbs imperialis libera), was used from the fifteenth century to denote a self-ruling city that ...
of Zurich became increasingly important as a location holding the Federal Diet of Switzerland. After the position of the ''Leutpriestertum'' (people's priest) of the
Grossmünster The Grossmünster (; "great minster") is a Romanesque-style Protestant church in Zürich, Switzerland. It is one of the four major churches in the city (the others being the Fraumünster, Predigerkirche and St. Peterskirche). Its congregation f ...
at Zurich became vacant in late 1518, the canons of the foundation in charge of the Grossmünster elected
Ulrich Zwingli Huldrych or Ulrich Zwingli (1 January 1484 – 11 October 1531) was a leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, born during a time of emerging Swiss patriotism and increasing criticism of the Swiss mercenary system. He attended the Univ ...
to become the stipendiary priest and on 27 December 1519 he moved permanently to Zurich from where he subsequently initiated the Swiss Reformation. Around the same time, a book printer Christoph Froschauer relocates from Altötting in Bavaria to Zurich to be granted the rights of citizen of Zurich in 1519. The city commissioned him with the task of setting up a printing press along with further assignments that would result in the establishment and expansion of the printers. Froschauersche Druckerei received the status of a state printer and ultimately published the works of Erasmus von Rotterdam,
Martin Luther Martin Luther (; ; 10 November 1483 – 18 February 1546) was a German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, and professor, and Order of Saint Augustine, Augustinian friar. He is the seminal figure of the Reformation, Protestant Refo ...
and Zwingli. Subsequently, Froschauer Druckerei expanded its product range to include historical, medical and scientific writings. From 1530 to 1585, the Druckerei emerged as one of the most prominent publishers in the German-speaking field and in the years to follow, the business would change owners within the Zurich wealthy elite. Among the families involved were Escher, Wolf, Bodmer, Heidegger and Rahn with the Druckerei also changing its name after being acquired by one family from another. In consequence of the progress of Counter-Reformation in Germany, the Druckerei was to scale down its product range to offer mainly theological writings and ''Sittenmandate''. It is not until 1744, as the Zurich Ratsherr Johann Rudolf Füssli joined the company as a partner and shifted the focus to the areas of
theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...
,
natural sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...
,
history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
and
arts The arts are a very wide range of human practices of creative expression, storytelling and cultural participation. They encompass multiple diverse and plural modes of thinking, doing and being, in an extremely broad range of media. Both ...
. In 1766, he becomes the sole owner of the business which from then on is referred to as "Füssli & Cie.". Hans Conrad von Orelli and his uncle
Johann Jakob Bodmer Johann Jakob Bodmer (19 July 16982 January 1783) was a Swiss author, academic, critic and poet. Life Born at Greifensee, near Zürich, and first studying theology and then trying a commercial career, he finally found his vocation in letters. In 1 ...
run "Orell & Cie.", a publishing house with a Druckerei. The Gessner family who also operated a Druckerei since 1670 and later a bookshop joined "Orell & Cie." in 1761. Consequently, the business was renamed to "Orell, Gessner & Cie." In 1770, both businesses - "Füssli & Cie." and "Orell, Gessner & Cie." - merged to become "Orell, Gessner, Füssli & Cie." In 1780 the company expanded its product range by entering into the newspaper business with the publication of the "Zürcher Zeitung" that was to become ''" Neue Zürcher Zeitung"'' in 1821. Almost 90 years upon expansion, the newspaper business was spun off in form of a separate Aktiengesellschaft in 1868. At the end of the 18th century, it was notable for its bookshop in Zurich. It specialized in disseminating literature of the French Enlightenment by means of written orders through the publishing house '' Société typographique de Neuchâtel'' (STN), which was known to print
banned book This is an index of lists of banned books, which contain books that have been banned or censored by religious authority or government. By country * Book censorship in Canada * Book censorship in China * List of books banned in India * Book c ...
s. From 1793 to 1794, Orell Füssli published
Marianne Ehrmann Marianne Ehrmann (née: Marianne Brentano-Corti, also ''Marianne Ehrmann-Brentano'' and ''Madame Sternheim'', born 25 November 1755; † 14 August 1795) was one of the first women novelists, publicists and journalists in the German-speaking count ...
's ''Die Einsiedlerinn aus den Alpen'', the first magazine published by a woman in Switzerland.


19th century

Upon the end of
Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
, the appeal of Zurich as a publishing location sharply diminished. As the competitive pressure increases on the market in Germany, the publishing program moves back to Switzerland related topics and the focus of the business shifts to printing. The evidence for the first printing of securities dates back to 1827 and the first share certificates for Escher Wyss are printed in 1839. In line with the developments of industrialisation in Switzerland, Orell Füssli becomes one of the first printers to introduce high-speed newsprint press and would use it in production of NZZ which from 1843 on is published daily. On March 1, 1843, the Canton of Zurich released the
Zurich 4 and 6 The Zürich 4 and 6 were the first postage stamps issued in continental Europe, on 1 March 1843. Both were inscribed "Zürich" at the top. The 4-rappen A Rappen (pl. Rappen) originally was a variant of the medieval Pfennig ("penny") coin ...
printed by Orell Füssli, the first postage stamps in Switzerland, and the second series worldwide, following the Penny Black issued in the UK in 1840. Upon the adoption of the Swiss Federal Constitution in 1848, the prerogative for operating postal services passes to the federal government in 1849 and the company did not further pursue this line of business. The second half of the century provides Orell Füssli with enormous growth opportunities. Switzerland's first advertisement office (''"Annoncenbüro"'') is established which would subsequently turn into ofa Orell Füssli Werbe AG. Railway advertising starts at a large scale requiring posters of all kinds alongside the emergence of tourist information offices who are looking for mass-printed travel brochures and timetables. Orell Füssli is able to accommodate for these demands. Upon introduction of the 10-colour Photochrom process for colour reproductions in 1880, Orell Füssli further expanded its range of product offerings to include reproductions of all kinds and, in particular, series of maps of foreign territories. In quick succession, the company opens numerous branches on the European continent and in the USA. On 15 February 1870, the ''"bank of the citizens of Zurich"'',
Zürcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonal Bank (german: Zürcher Kantonalbank, or ZKB) is the largest cantonal bank and fourth largest bank in Switzerland, as well as the leading financial services provider in the Greater Zurich area, with total assets of over CHF 150 bil ...
founded by the Canton of Zurich, opened its first bank counter. The mandate to print banknotes is assigned to Orell Füssli and the company begins to specialise in this field. A descendant company, Orell Füssli Filialen, still exists.


Acquisition history

The following is an illustration of the company's historical predecessors:


Products and services

Orell Füssli has printed some of Switzerland's banknotes for the
Swiss National Bank The Swiss National Bank (SNB; german: Schweizerische Nationalbank; french: Banque nationale suisse; it, Banca nazionale svizzera; rm, Banca naziunala svizra) is the central bank of Switzerland, responsible for the nation's monetary policy an ...
since 1911. Recently, it printed the Series C of the Israeli new shekel.


Group structure

After the Group's
reorganization A corporate action is an event initiated by a public company that brings or could bring an actual change to the securities—equity or debt—issued by the company. Corporate actions are typically agreed upon by a company's board of directors ...
into a holding structure in 1999, the following companies are
wholly owned subsidiaries A subsidiary, subsidiary company or daughter company is a company owned or controlled by another company, which is called the parent company or holding company. Two or more subsidiaries that either belong to the same parent company or having a s ...
of the Group: * Orell Füssli Security Printing Ltd; * OF IP Sicherheitsdruck Ltd; * OF IP Verlag Ltd; and * Orell Füssli Dienstleistungs Ltd. In 2013, as a result of the merger between the book retailing activities of Thalia Bücher Ltd and Orell Füssli Buchhandlungs Ltd, a new company, Orell Füssli Thalia Ltd was created with each parent company holding a 50% interest. The Orell Füssli Holding AG holds 51% of the capital of * Orell Füssli Buchhandlungs Ltd, while the Hugendubel Holding Ltd holds the remaining 49%. The Zeiser Group is another wholly owned subsidiary of the Orell Füssli Holding AG. The parent company of the Zeiser Group is * Zeiser GmbH with registered address in Emmingen, Germany and incorporated pursuant to German laws. Zeiser Group's wholly owned subsidiaries include Zeiser Inc.(domiciled in West Caldwell, US), Zeiser Ltd. (Andover, GB), and Zeiser SRL (Milano, Italy). The Orell Füssli Holding AG also holds a 24% interest in * Orell Füssli Kartographie Ltd. Company's auditor is
PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...
in Zürich.


Corporate governance


Board of directors


Group executive board


Shareholders

The share capital of the Orell Füssli Holding AG consists of 1'960'000 registered shares with a par value of CHF 1.00 each with shareholdings allocated as follows:


References and notes


Notes


References


External links

*
Orell Füssli Security Printing
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Orell Fussli Culture of Zürich Companies based in Zürich Economic history of Switzerland Swiss brands Security printing Banknote printing companies Retail companies of Switzerland Book publishing companies of Switzerland Multinational companies headquartered in Switzerland Companies listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange