This means that around 25 percent of the shares in “Kurier” and “Kronen Zeitung” are for sale in Austria. Speculation as to who could take over this has been going on for a long time. Both the Dichand family, Raiffeisen and the Funke media group are mentioned again and again.
Signa’s media investments are bundled in the WAZ foreign holding, 50.5 percent of which belongs to the German Funke media group and 49.5 percent to Signa. Signa Holding therefore has a stake in the two major Austrian daily newspapers via the Funke media group. In Austria, the German media company holds half of the “Kronen Zeitung” and 49.44 percent of the “Kurier” via the WAZ foreign holding company. In 2018, the Funke media group sold almost half of the WAZ shares to the Signa Holding of the Tyrolean real estate entrepreneur René Benko.
It was once agreed not to disclose the purchase price. A sum of around 80 million euros is rumored to have been invested by Benko for the shares. In view of the current major challenges for the media industry, such as the sharp rise in prices coupled with a simultaneous shift in advertising revenue and falling print circulation, this sum will hardly be achieved through a sale. According to the daily newspaper “Der Standard”, the “Krone” share in the asset status of the insolvency application is only valued at 45 million euros.
Right of first refusal at Funke media group
The other half of the “Kronen Zeitung” is in the hands of the Dichand family, which is in a decades-long shareholder dispute with the Funke media group. For example, the German group is seeking to terminate framework agreements that secure the founding Dichand family privileges such as guaranteed profits in the millions. The case has already involved several courts and continues to do so. The majority owner of the Kurier Medienhaus with 50.56 percent is the Raiffeisen Group through an investment company.
“Krone” managing director and editor-in-chief Christoph Dichand did not respond to APA’s request as to whether he was interested in the shares. Even at Raiffeisen, a large Signa creditor, no one commented on this in the short term. According to “Standard”, the right of first refusal should lie with the Funke media group, which has also remained silent so far.
