Motor-Presse-Verlag

Gruner + Jahr

Type	Subsidiary of Bertelsmann
Genre	Publishing house
Founded	1965
Founder	Henri Nannen Gerd Bucerius John Jahr Sr. Richard Gruner
Headquarters	Hamburg, Germany
Area served	Europe
Key people	Bernd Klaus Buchholz (CEO) Torsten-Jörn Klein (head of International Magazines)
Products	Newspapers, magazines
Number of employees	12,500
Subsidiaries	Prisma Media (100%) Motor Presse Stuttgart (59,9%)
Website	http://www.guj.de/

Gruner + Jahr AG & Co KG is one of the largest publishing houses in Europe. It is headquartered in Hamburg.

Founded on 1 August 1948 as the Henri Nannen publishing house, Gruner + Jahr was created in 1965 from a merger by acquisition, by publishers John Jahr Sr. and Gerd Bucerius joining the printing firm of Richard Gruner. In 1969, Richard Gruner retired, and thanks to the entrepreneurship of Reinhard Mohn, Bertelsmann acquired 25% of the ownership. Over the next fifteen years, the firm grew by expansion, acquisition (publishers Kindler & Schiermeier) and merger (Spiegel Verlag and Motor-Presse Verlag). By 1976, Bertelsmann owned a 74.9% stake, and the Hamburg publishing family Jahr owned 25.1%, a balance which has been maintained through 2007.

In 1978, Gruner + Jahr became the first German publishing house to expand into other European and International markets. Over the next twenty years, publishing houses in France, the USA, and Spain were purchased, and a number of new magazines were started in Germany including Impulse, Schöner Essen, and Gala. In 1990 Gruner + Jahr moved into its new headquarter at Neustadt's Baumwall, a 88,000 m² (947,000 sq ft) large, metal clad office complex designed by Otto Steidle. In 2005, Gruner + Jahr exited the U.S. magazine business, selling its women's magazine portfolio to the Meredith Corporation and its business magazine portfolio to Mansueto Ventures. In 2005-2006, Gruner + Jahr participated in the Du bist Deutschland marketing campaign.

Gruner + Jahr publishes approximately 285 magazines and newspapers in 22 countries, including Poland, Spain, Russia, France and the People's Republic of China. As of 2007^[update], Gruner + Jahr publications include:

Bernd Kundrun is Chairman of the Board, and also a member of the executive committee of Bertelsmann. Gruner + Jahr has more than 12,500 employees and had gross profits for 2005 of 2.62 billion euro, of which 57% were from outside Germany.