Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ)

Logo of Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ)

The Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ), based in Essen, is not only the origin of today's FUNKE Media Group - it is also Germany's largest regional newspaper. It is the leading daily newspaper in the metropolitan areas of the Ruhr region in Essen, Bochum, Gelsenkirchen, Duisburg, Oberhausen and Mülheim. WAZ reaches around a third of the German population in its entire circulation area - from the southern Münsterland to the Niederberg region, from the Lower Rhine to the Unna area. Its sister newspapers, which also come under the umbrella of FUNKE Medien NRW, a member of the FUNKE Media Group, and with which the WAZ has some major editorial similarities, are the Neue Rhein / Neue Ruhr Zeitung (NRZ), the Westfälische Rundschau (WR), the Westfalenpost (WP) and the Iserlohner Kreisanzeiger (IKZ). The latter represents a minority holding. With its printed and digital offerings, FUNKE Medien NRW is a key component of the overarching FUNKE Media Group - and the umbrella brand for various media, services and business areas in and for North Rhine-Westphalia.
WAZ is published by Zeitungsverlag Niederrhein, which in turn is part of the FUNKE Media Group via FUNKE Medien NRW. Both the majority shareholder, FUNKE Mediengruppe, which operates numerous newspapers, magazines, radio stations and online services, pursues its own interests on the basis of its corporate strategy - as does the Presse-Haus NRZ foundation, which is a minority shareholder in Zeitungsverlag Niederrhein via Rheinisch-Westfälische Verlagsgesellschaft. It is also based in Essen.

Key Facts

Audience Share3.78%
Ownership TypePrivate
Geographic CoverageNational
Content TypePaid
Active Transparency
company/channel informs proactively and comprehensively about its ownership, data is constantly updated and easily verifiable

Ownership

Ownership StructureThe FUNKE Media Group is wholly owned by Jakob Funke Medien Beteiligungs GmbH & Co. KG and Funke Management GmbH. Its owners are the heirs of Jakob Funke via branched shareholder structures. The FUNKE Media Group is organised as a partnership limited by shares, or KGaA for short. This is a legal form for companies that combines elements of a stock corporation (AG) with elements of a limited partnership (KG). The legal form of a partnership limited by shares is not very common in Germany. The shares of the FUNKE Media Group are 100% owned by the family around Petra Grotkamp. The daughter of WAZ co-founder Jakob Funke holds 100 per cent of the shares together with her children Julia Becker, Nora Marx and Niklas Wilcke.
Voting RightsIt is not known what influence the individual shareholders have within the shareholders' meeting. The shares in the publishing house that publishes the WAZ and in the FUNKE Media Group are interwoven via far-reaching corporate structures, at the end of which are the four members of the Funke family.
Individual Owner

Media Companies / Groups

Facts

Founding Year1948
Founder
  • Erich Brost
    born in 1903 in Elbing in West Prussia, was an editor at the Danziger Volksstimme newspaper in his younger years. In the Free City, he tried to prevent the rise of the National Socialists. But the people of Gdansk, unaware that they were bringing about the downfall of their city and the loss of their homeland, drove him out.
  • Jakob Funke
    also worked as a journalist in his younger years. The period of National Socialism is a difficult chapter in his life. Various sources attest to his distanced relationship with the Nazis. Nevertheless, he became a member of the NSDAP. After the end of the Second World War, he and Brost receive a license from the British occupying power to set up an independent daily newspaper. Funke becomes a member of the CDU. In April 1948, Erich Brost founds the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) together with Jakob Funke. Brost takes on the role of editor-in-chief, Funke manages the publishing house. Brost was editor-in-chief of the WAZ until 1970 and then its publisher until his death in 1995.
CEO
  • Dr. Simone Kasik
    has been Group Managing Director of the FUNKE Media Group since 2021. She is also Managing Director of FUNKE Medien NRW, majority shareholder of Zeitungsverlag Niederrhein, which publishes the WAZ. As Chief Financial Officer, Kasik is responsible for the commercial management of FUNKE. She has worked at FUNKE since 1991 and most recently headed the Group Controlling division since 2010 and additionally the Corporate Finance division since 2017. During this time, she played a key role in the successful takeover and integration of Axel Springer's newspaper and magazine titles from 2014 onwards. During her time at FUNKE, Kasik also managed Group-wide strategy projects and implemented Group-wide process optimizations and financing projects with her teams.
  • Dr. Christoph Rüth
    has been Group Managing Director of the FUNKE Media Group since 2020. He is also Managing Director of FUNKE Medien NRW, the majority shareholder of Zeitungsverlag Niederrhein, which publishes the WAZ. The media manager comes from the MADSACK Media Group, where he was responsible for operations. Previously, he was Managing Director of the Financial Times Deutschland and the subscription newspapers at Axel Springer. The current FUNKE newspapers Berliner Morgenpost and Hamburger Abendblatt were part of his portfolio there. Christoph Rüth is responsible for the FUNKE newspaper brands across all distribution channels, including their marketing and the necessary units at FUNKE Digital.
  • Dr. Jörg Kurzeja
    is Managing Director of Zeitungsverlag Niederrhein, which is majority-owned by the FUNKE Media Group via FUNKE Medien NRW. Before joining the publishing house, he was responsible for legal and tax matters at IFIC Holding AG, based in Düsseldorf, from 2001 to 2003 as an authorized signatory and division manager. The company is said in media reports to be close to the Iranian mullahs.
  • Thomas Kloß
    has been Publishing Director of Funke Mediengruppe NRW since 2018. From 2015 to 2018, the journalist built up the FUNKE central editorial office in Berlin as Editor-in-Chief Online together with Jörg Quoos. As Managing Director of Publishing, he is responsible for the NRW business with the titles Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ), Neue Rhein / Ruhr Zeitung (NRZ), Westfalenpost (WP) and Westfälische Rundschau (WR) as well as the associated online presences, the advertising papers and the radio holdings of the FUNKE Media Group.
  • Thomas Hammacher
    has been Managing Director of Zeitungsverlag Niederrhein, which is majority-owned by FUNKE Mediengruppe via FUNKE Medien NRW, since February 2024. He is also Managing Director of numerous subsidiaries of the FUNKE Media Group and responsible for the Group's controlling.
  • Dr. Detlef Haaks
    is Managing Director of Zeitungsverlag Niederrhein, which is majority-owned by the FUNKE Media Group via FUNKE Medien NRW.
Editor-In-Chief
  • Andreas Tyrock
    is editor-in-chief of the WAZ. Born in 1963, Tyrock initially studied social sciences at the Georg August University in Göttingen. In 1991, he joined the Braunschweiger Zeitung as a trainee. Since 1996, Tyrock has been responsible for press and public relations for the Braunschweig district government and becomes press spokesman for the district president. In 2001, he returned to the Braunschweiger Zeitung as part of the editorial team responsible for the politics section. From 2008, Tyrock worked for the General-Anzeiger in Bonn before moving to the Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung as editor-in-chief in 2014.
Other Important People
  • Dr. Alexander Marinos
    is Deputy Editor-in-Chief of WAZ.
  • Dr. Anne Krum
    is Editor-in-Chief Digital & Development at WAZ.
  • Michael Krechting
    is Deputy Editor-in-Chief Digital & Development at WAZ.
  • Jörg Quoos
    is Editor-in-Chief of the Berlin Central Editorial Office of the FUNKE Media Group.
  • Carsten Erdmann
    is Editor-in-Chief Online of the Berlin editorial office of the FUNKE Media Group.
ContactZeitungsverlag Niederrhein GmbH / FUNKE Medien NRW GmbH
Jakob-Funke-Platz 1
45127 Essen
Germany
kontakt@funkemediennrw.de
+49 (0)800 - 60 60 760
www.funkemediennrw.de
RevenueMissing Data
Operating ProfitMissing Data
Advertising (in % of total funding)Missing Data
Market ShareMissing Data
Headlines
Meta DataSpecific financial information relating exclusively to Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung (WAZ) and its publishing house is not available. This data is included in the consolidated financial statements of FUNKE Mediengruppe GmbH & Co. KGaA.
Sources
Documents (PDF)
  • Auszug aus dem Handelsregister, FUNKE MEDIENGRUPPE GmbH & Co. KGaA
    File
  • Neustrukturierung, FUNKE MEDIENGRUPPE GmbH & Co. KGaA
    File
  • Satzung, FUNKE MEDIENGRUPPE GmbH & Co. KGaA
    File
  • Liste der Mitglieder des Aufsichtsrats, FUNKE MEDIENGRUPPE GmbH & Co. KGaA
    File
  • Liste der Gesellschafter, Rundschau-Haus Verwaltungs-GmbH
    File
  • Niderschrift der ordentlichen Hauptversammlung, FUNKE MEDIENGRUPPE GmbH & Co. KGaA
    File
  • Auszug aus dem Handelsregister, FUNKE Management GmbH
    File
  • Anmeldung beim Handelsregister, FUNKE Management GmbH
    File
  • Gesellschaftsvertrag, FUNKE Management GmbH
    File
  • Liste der Gesellschafter, FUNKE Management GmbH
    File
  • Schriftlicher Beshcluss des Gesellschafterausschusses, FUNKE Management GmbH
    File
  • Grundsatzerklärung zur Menschenrechtsstrategie der FUNKE Mediengruppe
    Link File