Cartel office clears Holtzbrinck's sole control of Zeitverlag

Holtzbrinck acquires the 50% stake held by Dieter von Holtzbrinck Medien GmbH in the publisher of the weekly DIE ZEIT, moving from joint to sole control; the authority saw no competition concerns as Holtzbrinck has no other national daily or weekly newspapers.

On 24.09.2026 Germany's Federal Cartel Office cleared the purchase by the Georg von Holtzbrinck publishing group of the half of Zeitverlag Gerd Bucerius previously held by Dieter von Holtzbrinck Medien GmbH. The publisher (DIE ZEIT, ZEIT CAMPUS, ZEIT WISSEN, ZEIT LEO) has belonged to Holtzbrinck since 1996; Dieter von Holtzbrinck Medien took a 50% stake in 2009. Authority president Andreas Mundt called the deal unproblematic from a competition standpoint (Bundeskartellamt, 24.09.2026).