Ringier needs capital, Mobiliar internationalization

Marc Walder and Markus Hongler at the press conference on Monday morning (from left to right). (Image: Urs Seiler)

Ringier gives Mobiliar a 25 percent stake in its company. The Ringier Group, which historically came from the print business, is now actually already a technology company on the path to digital transformation. Ringier CEO Marc Walder said at the press briefing on Mobiliar's stake that 75 percent of the Group's profit is already "digitized" today, meaning it is generated by online media. And: "Cutting-edge technology is becoming increasingly important."

And that is precisely what Mobiliar is aiming to do by bringing its technology expertise in-house. Markus Hongler, CEO of Mobiliar, elaborated: "We want to build up our technology know-how. That is still vanishingly small at our company. We certainly couldn't do that without this participation," said Markus Hongler.

Ringier IPO not an issue

Does Ringier need money and why doesn't it go public, but instead looks for a company from outside the industry as a partner? As Marc Walder indicated, the traditional family-owned company will not be taking on outside shareholders in the future: "This is constantly being discussed at Ringier - but going public is still not an issue.

At the press briefing, Marc Walder emphasized how important the pillars of "long-termism" and "customer centricity" are as corporate values for Ringier. That is why Mobiliar is a perfect fit for Ringier. And: "Ringier needs a lot of capital for the transformation (note: of the core business Prints and towards new business models) and that means a lot of investment in cutting-edge technology."

Investors, business angels are anxious to get their investment back as quickly as possible. For Ringier and Mobiliar, however, long-term was an important reason for the closing of ranks, Marc Walder spoke in dimensions of at least 10 years. The two companies have agreed on a long-term cooperation.

Global ecosystems

Consumers today are not simply looking for a product, say a house to buy. In parallel, services such as insurance, mortgage banks, information portals, etc. are used. Marc Walder spoke of such ecosystems at the media conference. He emphasized how important these "platform economies" or ecosystems are for Ringier as well. Together, Ringier and Mobiliar are stronger in the creation of such ecosystems and in the competition among them.

Mobiliar, a 193-year-old cooperative, wants - or needs, given the competition - to grow. Markus Hongler made it clear that technology partnership, not the media part, is what Mobiliar is interested in. "Mobiliar today is Swiss-centric. But our competitors are internationally positioned, globalized companies. For us, this is a huge leap in the implementation of our digital strategy." Internationalization is a clear focus for Mobiliar: "Ringier, with its ecosystems, is the ideal partner for us. We also expect support in the European business," said Markus Hongler.

What do customers get out of it?

The participation in the pan-European Ringier Group is intended to be a step towards the internationalization of Mobiliar's core insurance business. Mobiliar is not interested in the journalism or publishing business. Mobiliar's customers will receive "better, faster solutions through the technological leap, which will allow for greater transparency in terms of offerings and competition. I don't want Switzerland to be at a disadvantage here, in competition with global insurance groups. You have to find new things that work."

Mobiliar already has a competitive advantage with its stake in Ringier's Scout24 platform, he said. "But we are looking for further solutions on digital platforms to be able to link them with our general agencies." In other words, digitization is not about rationalization (job cuts), but about proximity to the customer.

Marc Walder also said, "This is a very good day for Ringier. We have found a good company to take a 25 percent stake."