Bonnier AB (), also the Bonnier Group, is a

privately held A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose Stock, shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in their respective listed markets. Instead, the Private equi ...

Swedish

media group A media conglomerate, media company, media group, or media institution is a company that owns numerous companies involved in mass media enterprises, such as music, television, radio, publishing, motion pictures, video games, amusement parks, or ...

of 175 companies operating in 15 countries. It is controlled by the

Bonnier family The Bonnier family is a Sweden, Swedish family, originally of History of the Jews in Germany, German Jewish descent, who since the beginning of the 19th century has been active in the book/literature industry and later also in the mass media indus ...

Background

The company was founded in 1804 by Gerhard Bonnier in Copenhagen, Denmark, when Bonnier published his first book, ''Underfulde og sandfærdige kriminalhistorier''. Gerhard's sons later moved to Sweden. The Bonnier book publishing companies in Sweden that are part of book publishing house Bonnierförlagen now include

Albert Bonniers förlag Albert may refer to: Companies * Albert Computers, Inc., a computer manufacturer in the 1980s * Albert Czech Republic, a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic * Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands * Albert Market, a street ma ...

, Wahlström & Widstrand, Forum, and Bonnier Carlsen, as well as other book publishers and imprints in Sweden. Bonnier Tidskrifter publishes magazines, including ''

Veckans Affärer ''Veckans Affärer'' (, lit. "the week's business") was a Swedish business magazine published on a weekly basis in Stockholm, dealing in all business-related matters both within and outside Sweden. It was in circulation between 1965 and 2019. ...

'', '' Damernas Värld'', '' Amelia'', '' Sköna hem'', '' Teknikens Värld'', '' Resume'', nearly a dozen

crossword A crossword (or crossword puzzle) is a word game consisting of a grid of black and white squares, into which solvers enter words or phrases ("entries") crossing each other horizontally ("across") and vertically ("down") according to a set of cl ...

magazines, and the tablet magazine ''C Mode''. Other subsidiaries include the film production companies

SF Studios SF Studios is Sweden’s largest film studio. It is involved in production, distribution, and movie theater market chains (both Swedish and international, including American) with headquarters in Stockholm and local offices in Oslo, Copenhagen ...

and Sonet Film; daily newspapers , , ''

Sydsvenskan ''Sydsvenska Dagbladet Snällposten'', generally known simply as ''Sydsvenskan'' (, ), is a daily newspaper published in Scania in Sweden. History and profile ''Sydsvenskan'' was founded in 1870. In 1871 the paper merged with ''Snällposten'' ...

'' and ''

Helsingborgs Dagblad (''HD'', lit. "Helsingborg's Daily Paper"), published in Helsingborg in Skåne is the largest (circ. 84,000) newspaper in Swedish outside the metropolitan cities of Malmö, Gothenburg and Stockholm. History and profile The newspaper was found ...

''; business daily '' Dagens Industri''; and medical journal ''Dagens Medicin''.

International operations

In Denmark, operations include magazine publisher Bonnier Publications, which has subsidiaries in Norway, Finland and Sweden; business daily ''

Dagbladet Børsen ''Børsen'' (full name: ''Dagbladet Børsen'') is a Danish newspaper specialising in business news published in Denmark. History and profile ''Børsen'' was founded in 1896 by merchant and editor Theodor Hans Carsten Green. In 1899, it was chan ...

''; film distributors SF Film and film producers SF Film Production. Finnish operations include book publishers Tammi and WSOY; plus magazines from Bonnier Publications and film productions by FS Film. In Germany, Bonnier Media Deutschland includes Ullstein Buchverlage,

Piper Verlag Piper Verlag is a German publisher based in Munich, printing both fiction and non-fiction works. It currently prints over 200 new paperback titles per year. Authors published by the company include Andreas von Bülow and Sara Paretsky. It is ow ...

, Thienemann Verlag and

Carlsen Verlag Carlsen Verlag is a subsidiary of the homonymous Danish publishing house which in turn belongs to the Swedish media company Bonnier. The branch was founded on 25 April 1953 in Hamburg. The publisher's program focuses on books for children, i.e ...

, among others. In

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

, Bonnier owned Evoke Gaming Ltd. This was divested in late 2017. In January 2007, the Bonnier Magazine Group acquired 18 magazines from the American media company Time Inc. (at the time owned by

Time Warner Warner Media, LLC ( doing business as WarnerMedia) was an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate owned by AT&T. It was headquartered at the 30 Hudson Yards complex in New York City. It was established as Time Warne ...

) and merged the operations with other publishing companies to create the U.S. based Bonnier Corporation. As a result, Bonnier Corporation owns over 40 magazines, including ''

Popular Science Popular science (also called pop-science or popsci) is an interpretation of science intended for a general audience. While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is more broad ranging. It may be written ...

'', ''

Saveur ''Saveur'' is an online gourmet, food, wine, and travel magazine that publishes essays about various world cuisines. The publication was co-founded by Dorothy Kalins, Michael Grossman, Christopher Hirsheimer, and Colman Andrews. It was started ...

'', '' Field & Stream'', '' Outdoor Life'' and '' Popular Photography'', a range of action sport magazines focused on motorcycling, as well as a number of niche travel and lifestyle titles. Book publisher Weldon Owen was also part of the company. In 2013, Bonnier signed a deal with Source Interlink where they bought motorcycle franchises ''Dirt Rider'', ''Motorcyclist'', ''Sport Rider'', ''Motorcycle Cruiser'', ''Hot Bike'', ''Baggers'', ''Super Streetbike'', ''Street Chopper'' and ''ATV Rider'', whereas they sold '' Sound & Vision'' and the TransWorld franchise. Bonnier's publishing in the United Kingdom has two main divisions: Igloo Books and Bonnier Books UK. A number of imprints operate within each division, most notably: Blink, Autumn Publishing, Hot Key Books, John Blake Publishing, Embla, Templar Publishing and Piccadilly Press, Zaffre and Studio Press. In 2015, Bonnier UK acquired commercial fiction publisher Totally Entwined. Weldon Owen UK and US was sold to Insight Editions in 2018. Former operations include Piccolia in France and Five Mile Press in Australia which have both been liquidated. Bonnier Publishing USA was formed in August 2016, then composed of the publisher Weldon Owen and the children's publisher, Little Bee. The president of Little Bee, Shimul Tolia, became the CEO of this group. Bonnier Publishing USA was sold to its management in 2019. Bonnier owns business newspapers in Estonia (''

Äripäev ''Äripäev'' (Estonian for "Business Day") is an Estonian financial newspaper in tabloid format. It was founded in 1989 by '' Dagens Industri'', a leading Swedish financial newspaper. The first issue of ''Äripäev'' was published on 9 October ...

''), Lithuania ('' Verslo žinios''), Poland ('' Puls Biznesu'') and Slovenia ('' Finance Business Daily''), as well as medical journals in Denmark, Norway, Finland, Poland, and Slovenia. Bonnier is also behind several digital startups, including the tablet publishing platform Mag+ and children's toy app producer, Toca Boca (sold in 2016 to

Spin Master Spin Master Corp. (formerly known as Spin Master Toys) is a Canadian multinational toy and entertainment company. Spin Master employs over 1,600 people globally with offices in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ital ...

). In 2017, the Bonnier Motorcycle Group bought the AMA EnduroCross Championship, an off-road motorcycling series. The group also promotes the Quail Motorcycle Gathering, HighPipe, Track Day Shootout, Adventure Rally Series and Hot Bike Tour. Also in 2017, Bonnier sold

Nordic Cinema Group Nordic Cinema Group AB is a Swedish company which owns 103 cinemas and 590 cinema saloons in six countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania). It was founded in 2013 through a merger of Filmstaden in Sweden, Odeon Kino in N ...

AMC Theatres AMC Entertainment Holdings, Inc. (doing business as AMC Theatres, originally an abbreviation for American Multi-Cinema; often referred to simply as AMC) is an American movie theater chain founded in Kansas City, Missouri, and now headquartered ...

. On 20 July 2018, Telia Company announced the proposed acquisition of the Bonnier Broadcasting Group (which owns

TV4 AB TV4 AB (formerly Nordisk Television AB; previously Trade name, traded as ) is a Swedish media company owned by Telia Company through TV4 Media (formerly known as Bonnier Broadcasting). The company owns the largest commercial television channel in ...

MTV Oy MTV Osakeyhtiö, Oy (formerly Oy Mainos-TV-Reklam Ab) is a Finnish media company owned by Telia Company through TV4 Media (formerly known as Bonnier Broadcasting). The company owns the largest commercial television channel in Finland, MTV3. On ...

and C More Entertainment) from Bonnier. The acquisition was completed on 2 December 2019. On 6 February 2020, Bonnier Books UK launched literary imprint, Manilla Press. In October 2024, the UK division announced a restructuring with four imprints (Nine Eight, Heligo, John Blake and Black & White London) suspended.

Ownership

Bonnier is controlled by around 75 descendants of three of Karl Otto Bonnier's six children, with the largest owners being Åke Bonnier and Jonas Bonnier.

Time Inc. magazines acquisition

In January 2007, the Bonnier Magazine Group agreed to acquire 18 magazines that Time Inc. was divesting. The estimated price was US$225 million in cash and the assumption of about US$42 million in unfulfilled subscription liabilities (subscriptions already paid but not yet delivered.) The magazines in the package employed 550 people and included '' Outdoor Life'', ''

'', '' Field & Stream'', ''Ski'', ''

Yachting Yachting is recreational boating activities using medium/large-sized boats or small ships collectively called yachts. Yachting is distinguished from other forms of boating mainly by the priority focus on comfort and luxury, the dependence on ma ...

'', and ''

Transworld Snowboarding ''Transworld Snowboarding'' was an American magazine and website dedicated to snowboarding culture. When it closed, the magazine had most recently been published four times a year (for many years, ''Transworld Snowboarding'' published 10 issue ...

'', as well as 11 other titles that were part of Time Inc.'s Time4 Media Group. Also included were ''

Parenting Parenting or child rearing promotes and supports the physical, cognitive, social, emotional, and educational development from infancy to adulthood. Parenting refers to the intricacies of raising a child and not exclusively for a biologica ...

'' and '' Babytalk'', which were part of the Parenting Group. That price was believed to be a multiple of about 11 times

cash flow Cash flow, in general, refers to payments made into or out of a business, project, or financial product. It can also refer more specifically to a real or virtual movement of money. *Cash flow, in its narrow sense, is a payment (in a currency), es ...

for a group that had

net income In business and Accountancy, accounting, net income (also total comprehensive income, net earnings, net profit, bottom line, sales profit, or credit sales) is an entity's income minus cost of goods sold, expenses, depreciation and Amortization (a ...

of around US$20 million and revenue of around $230 million. "We think we did a good deal, and we think Time did as well," said Jonas Bonnier, head of the Bonnier Magazine Group. Bonnier already had a small footprint in the US through a 50 percent stake in

Winter Park, Florida Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 29,795 according to the 2020 census. It is part of the Greater Orlando, Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winter Park was foun ...

-based World Publications, which owned the titles ''Islands and Spa'', ''

'', ''Water Skiing'', and ''Caribbean Travel & Life''.

References

External links

*
Company Overview of Bonnier AB
by

Bloomberg Businessweek ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'' (and before that ''Business Week'' and ''The Business Week''), is an American monthly business magazine published 12 times a year. The magazine debuted in New York City in Septembe ...

{{Authority control Mass media companies of Sweden Publishing companies established in 1804 Bonnier family Swedish companies established in 1804