Basler Zeitung moves new holding newspaper house to Zug

The Zuger Woche, one of the 25 free newspapers that BaZ Holding bought from Zehnder Wochenzeitungsverlag in August, is based in Baar. With the change of name and domicile of the holding company as of 2018, the holding company's Board of Directors remains unchanged, with Rolf Bollmann as Chairman, Christoph Blocher and Somm as members (Werbewoche.ch reported).

Newspaper house has two subsidiaries: in the first quarter of 2018, the 25 ex-Zehnder newspapers will be merged into the new Swissregio Media AG in Baar, whereby six legal entities will be merged. The newspapers will retain their previous titles and form. The existing employment relationships will be continued.

The other subsidiary, the BaZ publisher National Zeitung and Basler Nachrichten, will remain in Basel. The formal double name goes back to the BaZ predecessor papers that merged in 1976. In recent years it has been known as Basler Zeitung Medien (BZM). In future, however, it will also have a different name: formally, it will become Basler Zeitung AG.

Ex-SVP General Secretary present

Under the holding umbrella of Zeitungshaus AG, Basler Zeitung AG will in future be on the same level as Swissregio Media AG, according to the organizational chart available to SDA. BZM's shares in Presse-TV (20 percent) and Fricktaler Zeitung (21 percent) will remain with the Basel subsidiary, as Somm explained on Thursday.

Former SVP Switzerland Secretary General Martin Baltisser is to chair the Board of Directors of both subsidiaries as a representative of the Blocher family company Robinvest AG. According to the BZM website, the latter acquired 20 percent of the shares in 2013.

Markus Somm is listed as managing director and publisher of Basler Zeitung AG, while Rolf Bollmann is listed as managing director and publisher of swissregio media AG. Both also sit on both boards of directors. The executive boards of the two subsidiaries are therefore virtually mirror-inverted.

On Thursday, Somm did not want to comment on a possible cooperation between the BaZ and the Südostschweiz the Chur-based Somedia for the purpose of saving, through which the Daily News had reported. When asked, Somedia CEO Andrea Masüger acknowledged discussions about this, but told SDA that the report was "completely speculative". Somedia has been providing proofreading and layout for BaZ since spring.

New print shop

It is also unclear whether a new printing plant, which is currently being set up in the old building of the BaZ printing plant, which closed in 2013, will print the BaZ again in future. A report by the Northwestern Switzerland A spokeswoman for MedienCentrum in Bern, which is in charge of the project, said that printing operations would start "at the beginning of 2018" and that staff had already been hired. However, she did not disclose any figures or names.

According to the spokeswoman, the people behind it see market opportunities for a printing plant that is not tied to a publishing house. BaZ had just overtaken itself with its new printing plant inaugurated in 2004: After losing major contracts, the former owner family sold the shares in 2010. Christoph Blocher then stepped in, first covertly and then openly. He closed the print shop in 2013, cutting around 100 jobs. (SDA)