Hubert Burda assets

Short introduction

Hubert Burda is a German publisher and owner of Hubert Burda Media.

Early life

Hubert Burda was born in Heidelberg in 1940 as the son of the pair of Publishing Franz and Aenne Burda. In his school he took a painting lesson and since then pursues the desire to become a painter. His father was not surprised by this desire and wanted a different career for his son. Franz Burda made a compromise with Hubert that he could learn art history if he completed the subject at the age of 25, including a doctorate. After graduating from high school, Burda studied the history of art, archeology and sociology at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich and at universities in Rome, Paris and London. At the age of 26 he received a doctorate in art history.

Career

After receiving his doctorate, Burda went to the United States for a while, where he became a volunteer in advertising agencies and publishers. He then worked until 1974 in Germany as head of publishing in the in-house magazine “Bild und Funk”. In 1969 he tried his own magazine “M – the magazine for men”. The magazine project was stopped after a year, the decision of Father Franz. The last one was truly Catholic and did not agree with the contents of the magazine. From 1965 to 1975 Hubert Burda was the editor in chief of the illustrated “Bunte” magazine. After his father Franz died in 1986, the publishing house passed to Hubert Burda and his brothers Frieder and Franz. Hubert Burda acquired the shares of the two brothers and became the shareholders and CEO of Burda Holder. In 1999 the name Burda Holding was changed to Hubert Burda Media.

Career highlights

With the news magazine “Focus”, Hubert Burda, along with journalists and media entrepreneurs Helmut Markwort, managed to compete with a big rival “Der Spiegel”. In addition to the successful “focus” magazine, Burda continues to expand many magazines and thus can produce main added value. The series of products Hubert Burda Media no longer only includes publishing, but also large digital offers such as HolidayCheck, Xing and Cyberport, international cooperation (including with French publishers “Hachette”) and expansion abroad, such as in Russia or India. All divisions of the company together have around 12,000 employees. Together, the company produced sales of around 2.7 billion euros. With a total wealth of 3.7 billion euros, Hubert Burda is one of the richest people in the world according to the 2018 Forbes list with 588 places. In Germany, he was the third richest publisher after Friede Springer and Elisabeth Mohn.

Amazing facts

In 2001 Hubert Burda founded the “Felix Burda Foundation” along with his ex-wife Christa Maar. This campaign is to increase early detection of colorectal cancer. Felix Burda, the oldest son of the publisher of Hubert Burda, died of colorectal cancer at the age of 33, where his parents founded this non-profit foundation. In addition, Burda contributed several prizes, such as the survival of international literature “Petracar” (1975) or Hermann Lenz Prize for German-speaking literature in 1999. In addition, the publisher is committed to the reconciliation of German-Jewish and supporting the Jewish museum in Munich with a million contributions euro. Hubert Burda received several awards, including the “Honorary Professor of the State Prime Minister of Baden-Württemberg” and “Big Cross Services with Stars”.