Ringier CEO Marc Walder acquires 10 percent of the media group

Media company Ringier announced at a management conference that acting CEO Marc Walder has acquired a 10 percent stake in the company. The shares are owned equally by the Group's three family trunks. Marc Walder will remain CEO of the company and is also Michael Ringier's designated successor as Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Marc Walder took over as CEO of Ringier and Chairman of the Group Executive Board in April 2012. He began his career at Ringier in 1991. The 52-year-old was, among other things, Editor-in-Chief of the Swiss Illustrated, editor-in-chief of the SonntagsBlick and publishing director of the Blick Group. Since September 2008, Marc Walder has been CEO of Ringier Switzerland and Germany and a member of the Ringier Group Executive Board. Walder is also the founder of the Digitalswitzerland location initiative, in which around 100 of the largest Swiss companies and institutions are committed to the digital transformation of Switzerland. Walder is married, has two daughters and lives near Zurich.

In Marc Walder, we have a CEO on board who has been instrumental in driving the transformation of Ringier in recent years.

"With Marc Walder, we have a CEO on board who has been instrumental in driving the transformation of Ringier in recent years," Ringier Chairman of the Board Michael Ringier was quoted as saying in a press release. "I am pleased to welcome him now also as Managing Partner in the circle of shareholders."

Ringier nephew gets leadership role

In addition, Ringier announced that Robin Lingg will assume the leadership role of the sixth generation of the owner family in the medium term. As a member of the Group Executive Board, the 38-year-old will continue to focus on his responsibility for the Marketplaces division.

Robin Lingg has been a member of Ringier's Group Executive Board since 2014 and is responsible for the International Marketplaces business unit, which bundles Ringier's digital brands. These include Scout24 Switzerland, JobCloud, DeinDeal, Geschenkidee.ch and the digital marketplaces in Romania, Africa and Asia. Previously, Lingg was CEO Ringier Africa and Asia and Head of Business Development. He has been a member of the Board of Directors at Ringier since July 2011.

Robin Lingg is the son of Evelyn Lingg-Ringier, who owns Ringier together with her brother Michael Ringier and sister Annette Ringier. Lingg graduated in languages, economics and cultural studies from the University of Passau in Germany. Since 2006, he has worked in various positions at the internationally active pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, most recently for several years in Mexico. Lingg is married, father of three children and lives in Zurich.

"By appointing my nephew Robin Lingg as the future Chairman of the Shareholders' Family, we are setting the course for generational succession at an early stage," says Michael Ringier. "I am pleased that with Robin we will have an accomplished manager as a family representative on the boards."

Michael Ringier himself began his journalistic career in 1973. 68-year-old Ringier has worked, among other things, for the Munich Evening Newspaper, the Star and impulse. In 1983, he joined the management of Ringier and became Chairman of the Board two years later. From 1991 to 1997, he was Chairman of the Board of Directors. In 1997, he stepped down as Chairman and took over the operational management of Ringier, to again assume the office of Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ringier Holding in 2003. Michael Ringier is a passionate and renowned collector and promoter of contemporary art. He is married, the father of two daughters, and lives near Zurich. (ank/pd/SDA)