Tomorrow Focus
TOMORROW FOCUS AG
|
| Type |
Public |
| Industry |
Digital media content provider |
| Founded |
2000 |
| Headquarters |
Munich, Germany |
| Key people |
Stefan Winners, CEO
Christoph Schuh, CMO
Dr Dirk Schmelzer, CFO |
| Products |
Online portals |
| Revenue |
EUR 128.2 million (2010)[1] |
| Employees |
562 (FTE 2010)[1] |
| Website |
www.tomorrow-focus.de |
Tomorrow Focus AG, which has its registered office in Munich, Germany, is an exchange-listed internet group and one of the leading providers of digital media content in Germany. Its principal shareholder is Hubert Burda Media. TOMORROW FOCUS AG was created at the end of 2001 by the merger of Focus Digital AG and Tomorrow Internet AG. The company’s Management Board comprises Stefan Winners (Chief Executive Officer), Dirk Schmelzer (Chief Financial Officer) and Christoph Schuh.
Revenue amounted to EUR 128.2 million in 2010 (2009: 92.2 million). Earnings before tax (EBT) amounted from EUR 8.9 million to 15.9 million.[1]
History
Focus Digital AG was established in 2000, and went public in the same year. Focus Digital AG merged with Tomorrow Internet AG in 2001 to create TOMORROW FOCUS AG. In 2002, TOMORROW FOCUS AG acquired the licence to publish the German edition of Playboy Magazine. For its first few years in operation, TOMORROW FOCUS AG concentrated on its advertising-based online portals business. The company’s portfolio initially included various online brands of the Verlagsgruppe Milchstrasse publishing group, in addition to the news portal FOCUS Online.
In 2003, TOMORROW FOCUS was admitted to the Prime Standard of Deutsche Börse AG and listed at FWB Frankfurt Stock Exchange for the first time. In order to tap the internet potential of travel rating and dating agency portals, the company began the expansion of its Transactions division in 2006 by acquiring majority shareholdings in HolidayCheck AG and EliteMedianet GmbH. In 2008, it acquired an interest in AdJug Ltd., an international marketplace for online advertising inventory. In the same year it acquired a major stake in jameda, a physician ratings portal, and Finanzen100, a portal for finance and stock market news.
In 2010, TOMORROW FOCUS sold its shares in Playboy Deutschland Publishing GmbH to Focus Magazin Verlag GmbH in order to streamline its portfolio and concentrate on online products and services. In 2011, the company acquired the remaining outstanding shares in Finanzen100 GmbH and jameda GmbH.
Chronology
- 2000 Foundation of Focus Digital AG; IPO on the Neuer Markt of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange
- 2001 Merger of Focus Digital AG and Tomorrow Internet AG into Tomorrow Focus AG
- 2001 First listing as Tomorrow Focus AG (German securities code (WKN) 549 532, stock exchange symbol TFA, Neuer Markt, Frankfurt)
- 2002 Tomorrow Focus AG and Focus Magazin Verlag GmbH take over the license to publish the German PLAYBOY magazine from the Heinrich Bauer Verlag publishers
- 2003 Tomorrow Focus AG is listed in Deutsche Börse's Prime Standard trading segment
- 2004 Dr. Paul-Bernhard Kallen is appointed as chairperson of the Tomorrow Focus AG supervisory board
- 2005 Stefan Winners is appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer of Tomorrow Focus AG
- 2006 Tomorrow Focus acquires a majority shareholding in HolidayCheck AG, Kreuzlingen, Switzerland
- 2007 Tomorrow Focus Technologies sells the Travelnet software to Lufthansa Systems; Tomorrow Focus acquires an approximately 63 percent stake in Elitemedianet GmbH, which operates the online dating portal ElitePartner.de; The Handelsblatt publishing group acquires Tomorrow Focus AG's shares in Bellevue and More GmbH; Tomorrow Focus takes over another 29 percent of shares in HolidayCheck AG, taking the total up to 80 percent
- 2008
- Reappointment of the management board members Stefan Winners and Christoph Schuh and extension of their contracts by another five years; Tomorrow Focus AG and ADJUG Ltd., London, operator of an international online marketplace where advertisers can buy and sell available inventory, found Adjug Germany; Tomorrow Focus acquires a 17 stake in ADJUG; Acquisition of a shareholding in the physician rating portal jameda
- Tomorrow Focus acquires a 60 percent stake in Finanzen100,Cologne, Germany.
- Tomorrow Focus takes over 51 percent of Munichbased jameda GmbH
- 2009
- Tomorrow Focus acquires another 14 percent of shares in HolidayCheck AG, Bottighofen, Switzerland
- Acquisition of the remaining 36.93 percent of the shares outstanding in EliteMedianet GmbH, giving TOMORROW FOCUS 100 percent ownership of the company
- Interest in AdJug Ltd., London, increased to 55.8 percent
- 2010
- Establishment of AdAudience, a joint marketing venture by TOMORROW FOCUS, G+J Electronic Media Sales (EMS), IP Deutschland and SevenOne Media
- TOMORROW FOCUS Portal GmbH renamed as TOMORROW FOCUS Media GmbH
- TOMORROW FOCUS AG sells its shares in Playboy Deutschland Publishing GmbH to Focus Magazin Verlag GmbH
Business Operations
Structure
TOMORROW FOCUS AG performs the central management and holding function for the equity investments held by the TOMORROW FOCUS group. Depending on their area of activity, the equity investments are allocated to the Transactions, Advertising or Technologies business divisions.
- The Transactions division includes HolidayCheck, a hotel rating and travel booking portal, ElitePartner , a premium dating agency portal, and jameda, a physician ratings portal.
- The Advertising division comprises TOMORROW FOCUS Media and AdJug. According to the German Working Group for Online Media Research (AGOF), TOMORROW FOCUS Media is one of the leading German online marketing companies. In addition to its own portals, such as FOCUS Online and Finanzen100, it also markets partner portals such as CHIP Online, FAZ.NET, gutefrage.net and meinestadt.de. AdJug Ltd. is an online marketer of residual advertising space, which operates two online marketplaces, in the UK and Germany.
- The Technologies segment comprises TFT and Cellular, which provide comprehensive services for stationary and mobile internet users.
External links
Sources
- ^ a b c Tomorrow Focus AG: annual report 2010. Retrieved on 31. März 2011. (PDF)