In 2010 Hubert Burda handed over the operational management of the media company to Paul-Bernhard Kallen. Now the 64-year-old is withdrawing from the top of the board, but retains an important role.
The CEO of Hubert Burda Media, Paul-Bernhard Kallen, is leaving the position after more than ten years.
On January 1, 2022, the 64-year-old will hand over the chairmanship of the Board of Management to Martin Weiss, as the media group announced on Thursday in Offenburg and Munich. The 54-year-old has been with Burda since 2015 and has been a board member responsible for international activities and the investment business since 2017. This brings a manager to the top who already knows the company well and is also known within the company.
After more than two decades, Kallen is withdrawing from the operative business for Burda, at the same time he remains the chairman of the board of directors. The committee represents the interests of the shareholders at Burda, the group of companies is 100 percent owned by the Burda family. The board reports to the board of directors. The committee includes publisher Hubert Burda, his two children Elisabeth Furtwängler and Jacob Burda and, in addition to Kallen, Andreas Rittstieg (65), who is also leaving the board. There he was responsible for the areas of law and compliance.
Broadly positioned
Hubert Burda Media has developed into an increasingly broadly based group over the past few decades. The journalistic flagships in Germany are the magazines “Bunte” and “Focus”. The majority of the company’s sales, which amounted to around 2.8 billion euros in 2020, were generated digitally. Well-known platforms are the Xing professional network and the holiday booking platform HolidayCheck. At the end of 2020, the group had around 11,000 employees. In 2009, total sales were still around 1.6 billion euros.
Kallen joined the Burda board in 1999 and then took over the management of the Burda group from publisher Hubert Burda at the beginning of 2010. He built the company into a European digital and media company. In interviews, Kallen repeatedly commented on media policy issues, for example criticizing the market power of the major US platforms and campaigning for regulation in Europe to guarantee equal opportunities in the competitive environment.
Personnel is being upgraded
The board of directors at Burda is now positioned as follows: In addition to Weiss as the new chairman, Katharina Herrmann (46), who has been HR director since 2018, will be appointed to the board on January 1, 2022, where she will be responsible for the newly created HR and compliance department. This is also intended to upgrade the topic of personnel in the company. Philipp Welte will remain on the board of directors for the national publishing business and Holger Eckstein will be responsible for finance as CFO. With this, Burda is reducing the board of directors from five to four members at this point in time.
Publisher Hubert Burda said: «In our 26-year collaboration, Paul-Bernhard Kallen and I have always agreed that we want to lead our family business boldly, with a lot of optimism and creative drive, so that we can pass it on to the next generation in excellent condition can pass. Every day in the past few years I could be sure that he was making the right decisions with this in mind and with entrepreneurial instinct. “
Kallen emphasized: “I came to Burda in 1996 because the publisher and entrepreneur Hubert Burda was obsessed with the digital revolution and wanted to realign his company accordingly. His courage to innovate, his willingness to take risks and his persistence in the event of setbacks were a great incentive for me and made this development of the company possible. ” The future CEO Martin Weiss emphasized that the group is well positioned for the future.
Jane Stock is a technology author, who has written for 24 Hours World. She writes about the latest in technology news and trends, and is always on the lookout for new and innovative ways to improve his audience’s experience.
