Bride from Basel is adorned

Newspapers Lüdin AG in Liestal is spinning off the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung. This fuels speculation.
"We talk to everyone." For years
repeats Mathis Lüdin, publisher of the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung
(bz), this sentence when asked about the future plans for his paper
asks. Furthermore, he never showed his cards in advance. And so
He states that he works sporadically with both Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM) and
also hold talks with AZ Medien, NZZ and Tamedia. Undoubtedly
he is courted by all four to a greater or lesser extent.

Lüdin has his reasons for the talks: He has to keep the small hand
(paid circulation: 23456 copies) urgently to the national
advertising market, the regional market alone no longer provides enough
here. In the medium term, the 60-year-old publisher also needs a
Succession solution, with none in sight in the family. And
In the longer term, in five to eight years' time, the company's own
web offset press gives up the ghost. One thing is certain for the publisher now
that it will no longer be replaced. So Lüdin is also looking here
a cooperation.

In this increasingly acute situation, the
family business Lüdin AG, which in addition to the newspaper publishing
customer printing as well as in the book and photo trade, is now
Flagship in a yet-to-be-founded Basellandschaftliche Zeitung AG
out. At the same time, Lüdin announced the termination of the
director's contract with Publicitas in order to renegotiate it. No wonder,
speculation about an imminent sale of the bz has now
Boom.

Company structure as a stumbling block
But Mathis Lüdin waves off the keyword "fit for sale". "Fit for
cooperation," he corrects, but excludes the possibility of a complete
sale is not out of the question. But nothing is concrete yet, he emphasizes.
"We talk to everyone." So far, the structure of the
family business, however, the possibilities for cooperation are too narrow
set. He now wants to free the bz from these.

In fact, it is unlikely that Lüdin will be able to keep his traditional newspaper
all too quickly completely into foreign, let alone Zurich hands
there are. Other scenarios are more likely to be in the foreground, such as further
cooperation with the Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM), which is already the
early delivery of the bz. In addition, the bz has the Saturday
job market of the Basler Zeitung. In addition, since the
Cooperation with the Neue Fricktaler Zeitung (minority interest
of a mere 21 percent) in April 2005, much of their terror as
power-hungry corporation has lost.

The main question for Lüdin is therefore: Can bz, together with
of the Neue Fricktaler Zeitung at the Metropool, the combination of
Tages-Anzeiger, BaZ and Berner Zeitung. Corresponding
Discussions have been ongoing for some time.

For Lüdin, the Mittelland Zeitung association is probably also a
option. Lüdin, on the other hand, would hardly be happy with a connection to the NZZ Group.
solve one of its problems. There are hardly any synergies with Tamedia either,
In addition, an entry into the bz would be too risky for the Zurich group.
costly: the BaZ would hardly appreciate such an affront and the
Metropool and magazine partnerships.

Lüdin still has one last option: A merger with Schaub
Media in Sissach, also a family-owned company, which is the
Volksstimme (circulation: 8,000 copies). But although this
sheet only just closed the year 2005 with a black zero and
a round of savings and probably also layoffs is imminent, shows
Peter Schaub, Chairman of the Board of Directors, rejected the advances of bz and BaZ.
cold shoulder. "I don't know what cooperation would do for me.
should", he said coolly. However, if cooperation were nevertheless to
If this were to happen, it would not really solve Lüdin's problems. The bz
would be even more attractive as a bride.

Markus Knöpfli