The storm in the Swiss press - a chronicle since 1991
No stone has been left unturned in the Swiss press landscape in recent decades. These are the most important stages of the concentration process among the daily newspapers.
1991: The NZZ becomes the majority shareholder of the St. Galler Tagblatt.
1991: The Vaterland and Luzerner Tagblatt merge with their head papers to form the Luzerner Zeitung.
1991: The Journal de Genève and the Gazette de Lausanne merge to form the Journal de Genève et Gazette de Lausanne.
1993: Merger of the Jura daily newspapers Le Pays and Le Démocrate to form Le Quotidien Jurassien.
1993: The Aargauer Tagblatt, the Zofinger Tagblatt and the Oltner Tagblatt agree to work together and from1994: bear the joint subtitle Mittelland-Zeitung.
1994: The Thuner Tagblatt, the Berner Oberländer and the Oberländische Volksblatt appear together under the subtitle Berner Oberland Zeitung (BOZ) and work together editorially.
1994: The Geneva daily newspaper La Suisse goes under for economic reasons.
1996: The Ringier paper Luzerner Neuste Nachrichten and the Luzerner Zeitung become the Neue Luzerner Zeitung.
1996: The Aargauer Tagblatt and Badener Tagblatt merge to form the Aargauer Zeitung.
1996: The two Neuchâtel daily newspapers L'Express and L'Impartial announce their collaboration.
1997: Ten titles from Graubünden, Glarus, St. Gallen and Schwyz make up the new daily newspaper Südostschweiz, which also includes the Bündner Zeitung, the Bündner Tagblatt and the Romansh-language La Quotidiana.
1997: After 105 years, the Berner Tagwacht ceases publication for economic reasons.
1997: Le Nouveau Quotidien and Le Journal de Genève merge to form Le Temps.
1998: Eastern Switzerland goes out of business after 125 years. 80 employees are made redundant.
1998: The NZZ acquires a majority stake in the Berner Bund.
1999: Scandinavian publishing houses launch 20 Minuten in Switzerland and shortly afterwards Metropol, two free daily newspapers. In 2003, Metropol is discontinued and 20 Minuten comes under the wing of Tamedia.
2001: The Aargauer Zeitung, Solothurner Zeitung, Oltner Tagblatt and Zofinger Tagblatt merge to form the Mittelland Zeitung, which will be published with a joint cover section at the beginning of 2002.
2003: Espace Media brings the Confederation under its roof by acquiring part of the NZZ shares.
2004: The NZZ Group acquires a majority stake in LZ Medien Holding, the publisher of the Neue Luzerner Zeitung.
2005: In French-speaking Switzerland, the publisher Edipresse launches the free newspaper le matin bleu.
2006: Tamedia presents 20 minutes, a sister newspaper of 20 Minuten, as a competitor.
2006: Ringier launches the free evening newspapers Heute and Cash Daily, a free newspaper for business information. Heute is replaced by Blick am Abend in 2008 and Cash Daily is discontinued in 2009.
2007: Through the acquisition of Espace Media, Tamedia takes over the Berner Zeitung and the Bund as well as shareholdings in Berner Oberländer and Thuner Tagblatt.
2007: Tamedia and Basler Zeitung launch the commuter newspaper News. Following the withdrawal of BaZ, the paper is discontinued in 2009.
2007: AZ Medien buys the Basellandschaftliche Zeitung. 2009: Tamedia gradually takes over Edipresse by 2011 and thus the daily newspapers 24 Heures, Tribune de Genève and Le Matin as well as the Sunday newspaper Le Matin Dimanche. le matin bleu is discontinued.
2009: AZ Medien takes over Solothurner Vogt-Schild and thus the Solothurner Zeitung in its entirety. In the same year, they announce the reduction of 65 jobs.
2010: The Thurgauer Zeitung is being sold by Tamedia to the NZZ media group. In return, NZZ sells its interests in the rural newspapers Zürcher Unterländer, Zürichsee Zeitung and Zürcher Oberländer to Tamedia.
2010: Financier Tito Tettamanti and media lawyer Martin Wagner buy the Basler Zeitung. Suspicions that Christoph Blocher was involved in the background were confirmed in 2013. In 2014, BaZ was sold outright to the SVP's chief strategist, Editor-in-Chief Markus Somm and CEO Rolf Bollmann.
2010: The introduction of the newsroom at the Blick Group has resulted in 25 redundancies.
2010: The French media group Hersant acquires a majority stake in Nouvelliste in the Lower Valais and joins the joint editorial platform of the Hersant titles La Côte, L'Impartial, L'Express and Journal du Jura.
2014: Tamedia acquires a majority stake in Landbote from Winterthur-based Ziegler Druck- und Verlags-AG.
2014: Ringier secures a majority stake in Le Temps.
January 23, 2017: Ringier is cutting 37 jobs by discontinuing the magazine L'Hebdo and restructuring Le Temps.
August 22, 2017: Tamedia is merging the editorial teams of 20 minutes and Le Matin at the beginning of 2018. Six people will be made redundant.
August 23, 2017: Tamedia is reorganizing its newspaper editorial offices and creating competence centers. (SDA)
