The maker

Fredy Hämmerli is a journalist, but also a book author. He was editor-in-chief and program director, but also managing director, owner and reorganizer. Today, he is Chairman of the Board of Swisscontent AG, but also the company's Publishing Director. And he still likes to take the keyboard under his own fingers. "Journalism is my home, but I also like to steer business and set the entrepreneurial course. I need both," he says of himself. Writing and managing go hand in hand for Hämmerli. Fredy Hämmerli was born in Zurich 62 years ago. After studying and attending the Ringier School of Journalism, he started his career at Roger Schawinski's "Tat." "In every paper review, Schawi clearly expressed his opinion," Hämmerli recalls. "He was very demanding. But Urs P. Gasche, the head of the consumer department at the time, also kept a tight rein on me. That was a tough school of journalism that taught me a lot." This was followed by positions at Bilanz, Berner Zeitung, Cash, Bund, Tele Bärn, K-Tipp and Xproductions, mostly in management positions. At the age of 32, Hämmerli was already appointed Deputy Editor-in-Chief of the Berner Zeitung. "It wasn't easy, I was still wearing journalistic diapers, so to speak, and I was supposed to help run one of the biggest Swiss daily newspapers, " says Hämmerli. "Intuitively, I probably did a lot of things right, but I also did some things wrong. I learned an unspeakable amount during that time."

Pioneer times up close

In 1997, Hämmerli set up the editorial department of the Federal Parliament for Cash, followed by the news department for the Swiss Confederation. After that, the print man took a detour into television: He helps set up the first Swiss private station Tele Bärn and becomes its program director, he takes over as editorial director of K-Tipp and helps set up a television production company for the private station TV3. "At Tele Bärn, it was a matter of installing the first Swiss private station; at TV3, I took over a consumer show and a daily talk," Hämmerli recounts. "At that time there was no private television in Switzerland, we were looking to Germany and trying to make television with the most primitive means, with no experience and no budget. That was a tough time, but with a little courage it was above all a great challenge. Because nobody had done that before." He never had to apply for any position, Hämmerli says. "I was always asked by someone who knew me and my work if I would like to take the job. They obviously thought I could do it, and it didn't turn out too badly. "Fredy Hämmerli: a doer.

Sense for fabrics

As a journalist, Hämmerli repeatedly attracts attention through investigative research: In 1979, he finds out that there are hundreds of wealth millionaires living in Switzerland who do not pay income taxes. The ensuing media hype leads to the tightening of cantonal tax laws. In 1981, he reveals that National Councilor Christoph Blocher has unnoticedly bought up the shares of Oswald-Holding, which controls the majority of the plastics group Ems-Chemie. And in 2009, he reveals that UBS is forced to liquidate its flagship real estate fund with business properties worth $10 billion. More than 100,000 wealthy UBS private clients are affected. "Of course, it also takes luck to find out something like this ", says the journalist. "Nevertheless, it is no coincidence that I stumbled upon it. I researched with tenacity and bite. And asked questions where others didn't." Hämmerli is an old-school journalist: clean research as well as fair and credible reporting are a high priority for him: "The greatest compliment was once paid to me by an entrepreneur who said he would have been happy if the article I had written about his company had never appeared. But at least it was super researched and fairly written. I try to live up to that standard with my work." Even as a boy, Hämmerli wanted to become a journalist, and he has never seriously questioned this choice: "It's my profession, my calling. I don't have to be exclusively a journalist, but I want to be a journalist. Something else would be out of the question for me - except perhaps in my next life: I'd like to be an astronomer then."

Entrepreneurship in the blood

Since 2001, Hämmerli's name has been closely associated with the content service provider Swisscontent. "When TV3 was discontinued, Bendicht Luginbühl, the then managing director of Swisscontent, asked me if I would like to take over as editor-in-chief of Swisscontent," Hämmerli recounts. At that time, Swisscontent was Switzerland's first Internet agency, with 80 employees producing texts, videos and audios for online. A great idea - but one that comes too soon: because of the users' lack of technical equipment, they can at best watch jerky images in the style of Blair Witch Project. Others would have declined with thanks, but Hämmerli jumped at the chance. After a year, he takes over the management of Swisscontent in addition to being editor-in-chief, and in 2003 he buys the entire company. "For someone as entrepreneurial as I am, it took a surprisingly long time before I finally had my own company," Hämmerli himself marvels. "But before that, I guess I lacked the courage and especially the financial means to start a company myself. " Now the opportunity is there. "The takeover was certainly very risky, because Swisscontent was deep in the red. It was clear that a new business model was needed: back to print, expansion to corporate publishing, staff reductions." Within a few months, Hämmerli turned Swisscontent around.

He's laying off half the staff and cleaning out the topic belly store: Instead of continuing to offer a content potpourri, he's focusing the topics on business, finance, real estate and health - the areas in which he knows himself. "I think that's what saved us. Many other agencies that started out with the same business model as us have long since ceased to exist." Today, Swisscontent employs 40 journalists, layouters, translators, project managers, consultants as well as multimedia and app specialists who regularly supply media such as 20 Minuten, NZZ am Sonntag, SonntagsZeitung or K-Geld with journalistic content; various corporate publishing products from illustrious clients such as UBS, Zurich, Galenica/ Amavita, Franke, C-Level Media or Medela are also fed with Swisscontent articles. Some media were even completely developed by Swisscontent. Hämmerli counts taking over the content service provider and leading it into the black as his greatest professional success.

Content is King

Since 2007, Daniel Kaczynski has gradually taken a stake in Swisscontent as a partner and assumed more and more operational management responsibilities. In 2013, after ten years as owner, Hämmerli hands over his last shares to Daniel Kaczynski, who has since taken over the management. He himself remains Chairman of the Board of Directors and Publishing Director of the content provider. "This is a great combination of activities," Hämmerli emphasizes. "On the one hand, as Chairman of the Board of Directors, I can work strategically, have responsibility for finances and personnel, and can thus help steer Swisscontent's medium- and long-term development. On the other hand, as Head of Publishing, I can continue to do about a quarter of the editorial work. It is important for me to write myself, because I allow myself to criticize texts, and I therefore also want to expose myself to the criticism of others. I can only do that with my own articles. Our customers should also see: He can do that. I want to pass on my journalistic values - clean research, credibility, fairness - to our employees. And I try to convey to them that it takes courage and a dose of self-confidence to be a good journalist. You have to represent your cause."

Retreat in installments

With the handover of ownership to Daniel Kaczynski, Hämmerli is gradually preparing his retirement from Swisscontent. Since the beginning of the year, he has been working only 60 percent and using his free time for traveling, hiking, skiing, golfing and reading. "I really enjoy having more space for private things," Hämmerli admits. "Nevertheless, I work for Swisscontent every day." Someone like Hämmerli is always 100 percent involved - at least with his heart. That's why he doesn't want to hear anything about retirement. "We have left open how long the 60 percent rule will apply. I can't imagine simply dropping the pen at 65. I simply enjoy my work too much," emphasizes Hämmerli. He'd rather think about further projects, perhaps the eighth book, perhaps a consulting mandate for a company in crisis. But he wouldn't be satisfied with just consulting; he'd rather be involved in getting the company back on track. Fredy Hämmerli: a doer.

Anne-Friederike Heinrich