Weltbild
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Verlagsgruppe Weltbild (English: Weltbild Publishing Group) is a major German publisher and media retailer based in Augsburg. It is owned by the dioceses of the Roman Catholic Church of Germany. The name Weltbild roughly translates to "world image" or "world view".
As of 2006, Weltbild claims to be Germany's largest media and mail-order company, with a market share of ten percent. It also says it is No. 2 among online book retailers (presumably after Amazon.de). Weltbild employs some 4'500 employees and has a revenue of 1,4 billion EUR. According to the enterprise, some 5,5 million customers in the German-speaking countries buy Weltbild books by mail order, in one of the 300 Weltbild shops or over the Internet. Its mail-order catalogue has a print run of four million.
Weltbild mostly publishes mass market and discount books. Together with the Bild newspaper, it has launched a bestseller line of cheap sports- and nature-themed books, novels, comics and bibles.
Due to its aggressive pricing policy and substantial market impact, Weltbild has been the subject of criticism among Germany's small publishers and booksellers. It is also the full or partial owner of several other book retailers and publishers in Europe.
Despite being owned by the Catholic dioceses, Weltbild is no different from most mass-market publishers and retailers in distributing and publishing numerous books dealing with esotericism, sex and the like. It also sold the 2003 bestseller The Da Vinci Code, which was condemned by Church representatives. In that regard, Weltbild states that "to bring a Christian worldview in line with the requirements and demands of the market – and doing so convincingly –– is our daily challenge".
